Wild Yeast

Share your experiences of using brewing yeast.
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6470zzy
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Wild Yeast

Post by 6470zzy » Sat Jun 10, 2017 12:03 pm

A short video on an interesting topic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChHcR9qaxj0

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"Work is the curse of the drinking class"
Oscar Wilde

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Peatbogbrewer
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Re: Wild Yeast

Post by Peatbogbrewer » Sat Jun 10, 2017 2:16 pm

6470zzy wrote:A short video on an interesting topic.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChHcR9qaxj0

Cheers

Fascinating! I am looking at harvesting wild yeast and was wondering about the various sources, not only of sacch species but bretts, pediococcus etc. this link is interesting to read http://mutedog.beer/blog/wasp-yeast

clarets7

Re: Wild Yeast

Post by clarets7 » Sun Jun 11, 2017 5:19 pm

Sounds very interesting. I've got oak trees in the garden which no one has been near for over 20 years, what's the best way to go about collecting this wild yeast?

McMullan

Re: Wild Yeast

Post by McMullan » Sun Jun 11, 2017 8:16 pm

I find this misleading. Where does the leaf litter come from? Oak is the predominant habitat, in the northern hemisphere, for wild Saccharomyces. In fact, the paper the guy refers to concludes:

'Here we confirm [oak trees as a primary habitat] of S. paradoxus. We find higher abundance in leaf litter [under oak trees] than on the surface of the trees themselves, [but abundance declines with distance from a tree]. We propose therefore that S. paradoxus [grows] primarily in leaf litter or soil associated with oaks. Further, we find the oak leaf litter contains more S. paradoxus than the litter under other tree genera.’

He has erroneously assumed that higher abundance must be the source. It isn’t. If the oaks were removed, the Saccharomyces (those suitable for brewing) in the leaf litter would disappear once oak debris were consumed. Also, I wouldn’t recommend culturing from leaf litter, there’s a lot more down there than you’ll find on an oak tree. If you’re interested in isolating wild Saccharomyces for brewing, sample from a mature oak tree. Oak bark is naturally acidic, like beer. You’ll also find Saccharomyces on oak leaves and acorns of mature trees late in the season. Yeast are rubbish at dispersal. The older the oak, the more likely it is to become a habitat for wild Brewer’s yeast. Simply by chance.

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6470zzy
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Re: Wild Yeast

Post by 6470zzy » Wed Jun 14, 2017 9:15 pm

Always good to hear different viewpoints. :beer:

Cheers
"Work is the curse of the drinking class"
Oscar Wilde

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