Yeast Viability: 45 Million Years??

[jrhammonds]

I just ran across this article today:

Ancient Yeast Reborn in Modern Beer : Discovery News

I guess this settles the yeast viability issue. And I thought 6 months in my fridge was too long. ha!

I wondered if anyone has tried this brew, yet?

 

[bull8042]

There have been a couple of other threads on this before. I don't know if I would want to try it or not. it is kind of freaky.... And besides, do we really know where they are getting the cavemen for the Geico commercials. I think that beer may have ill side-effects, but if you are looking at getting into commercials. Hmmm, may be worth it.

 

[tdavisii]

I would love to try it. I think it would be fine.

 

[bull8042]

I would love to try it. I think it would be fine.

Yeah.... until you started growing hair on your palms. Then try to convince the SWMBO that it is the beer causing it!

 

[-Dan-]

Isn't that sort of "old" news? That news has been around for a while or at least I have read about it more than twice over the last couple of months.

 

[Tenchiro]

Isn't that sort of "old" news? That news has been around for a while or at least I have read about it more than twice over the last couple of months.

45 million year old news to be precise.

Anyone know if they will sell to homebrewers?

 

[Brew-Happy]

I would try this! Given the millions of wild yeast cells we eat nearly daily, these can not be that bad. Just less evolved and less able to convert all sugars.

The article mentions that the brewer is keeping some base yeast to maintain an original set of cells. Given this, I doubt this will ever be available to homebrewers.

 

[Damonic]

That's awesome.

 

[jrhammonds]

Can anyone get a bottle? Perhaps we could culture from the bottle dregs?

 

[ben the brewman]

thought this was awesome and would share with everybody else. i will have to see if i can have my friend in cali get me a few bottles and try it for myself.New Craft Beer Brewed Using 45 Million Year Old Yeast - Beer News & Opinions - Beer Advocate

 

[menschmaschine]

Wow, I wonder what size yeast starter Jamil's pitch calculator would require.

 

[bashe]

Wow, I wonder what size yeast starter Jamil's pitch calculator would require.

They would not require much of a started because the yeast are the size of a buick

 

[PseudoChef]

The article mentions that the brewer is keeping some base yeast to maintain an original set of cells. Given this, I doubt this will ever be available to homebrewers.

Why's that? All breweries do this and store them in yeast banks. White Labs/Wyeast aren't just yeast companies that sell to homebrewers. They are also largely responsible for banking yeast strains for all commercial breweries.

 

[Brew-Happy]

Why's that? All breweries do this and store them in yeast banks. White Labs/Wyeast aren't just yeast companies that sell to homebrewers. They are also largely responsible for banking yeast strains for all commercial breweries.

White Labs and Wyeast are in the business of selling yeast as you stated. This guy is selling beer. The moment he releases the yeast to the open market with new viable cells and not ones salvaged from the bottle, he loses his niche in the market of brewing.

Then everyone else would have what he worked so hard to collect.

This is how I meant my statement. Sorry about the confusion. Sometimes I think faster than I type, most times it is reversed.

 

[TwoHeadsBrewing]

Found this article on reddit.com...pretty interesting.

Ancient yeast reborn in modern beer - Discovery.com - MSNBC.com

 

[WortMonger]

Cool. I love how they are finding all this stuff from so long ago and bringing it back to life like this. Makes you wonder how many "perfect" yeast cultures for beer there are just waiting to be captured and used in brewing. The article about lager yeast having two sources not just one is pretty interesting too.

 

[ohiobrewtus]

Cool. I think I remember seeing something about this a few months ago. It will be interesting to see what the end result is.

 

[dismantle360]

Hopefully it will be at GABF I want to try this beer.

 

[Edcculus]

Cool idea in theory, stupid in practice. Aside from lambics, all other beer yeast has been cultivated specifically for fermenting beer.

If it was from an ancient preserved beer, yea it would be cool...but cmon.

 

[zoebisch01]

Cool. I think I remember seeing something about this a few months ago. It will be interesting to see what the end result is.

Hopefully it won't revive some ancient disease.

 

[lilzaphod]

Cool idea in theory, stupid in practice. Aside from lambics, all other beer yeast has been cultivated specifically for fermenting beer.

If it was from an ancient preserved beer, yea it would be cool...but cmon.

So have you tried it before you started sneering at it from afar?

 

[Edcculus]

I'm not sneering, I'm just a bit skeptical.

 

[ben the brewman]

its only availble in draft at the place in cali. there not even sure if they are gonna bottle it. fossil fuels brewing sublet all of their brew work out to kelly brothers brewing to do it for them.

 

[bull8042]

Hopefully it won't revive some ancient disease.

Oooh yeah! Some form of pterodactyl herpes that can be seen from across the street through heavy clothing.... no good!