Scott Ickes
Grandmaster Brewer
As the subject line states, I'm trying to harvest wild yeast from my garden.
I followed the suggestions of Michael Tonsmiere from his website (link below)...
http://www.themadfermentationist.com/2011/04/ambient-spontaneous-yeast-starters.html
I started by making up 1 liter of 1.030 hopped (with a small handful of aged Magnum hops) starter, with a small dose of yeast nutrient. I cooled it down to 75F and then poured into my starter flask. I didn't aerate the wort, but I also wasn't careful about creating foaming as I poured it in. I then threw in a small handful of raspberries from my garden and two over-ripe strawberries from my garden. I then put an airlock on it. It's in my garage/home brewery at about 63F ambient temperature.
A friend/homebrewer of mine harvests yeast from fruits and honey quite often and has made some excellent beers with wild yeasts, so I thought I'd give it a whirl. Most of his end up with a Belgiany thing happening, which would be alright by me.
I have a photo of the flask right after throwing in the fruit and one from 24 hours later. The close up photo is Day 2. Nothing happening yet, but....we'll see how it progresses.
I followed the suggestions of Michael Tonsmiere from his website (link below)...
http://www.themadfermentationist.com/2011/04/ambient-spontaneous-yeast-starters.html
I started by making up 1 liter of 1.030 hopped (with a small handful of aged Magnum hops) starter, with a small dose of yeast nutrient. I cooled it down to 75F and then poured into my starter flask. I didn't aerate the wort, but I also wasn't careful about creating foaming as I poured it in. I then threw in a small handful of raspberries from my garden and two over-ripe strawberries from my garden. I then put an airlock on it. It's in my garage/home brewery at about 63F ambient temperature.
A friend/homebrewer of mine harvests yeast from fruits and honey quite often and has made some excellent beers with wild yeasts, so I thought I'd give it a whirl. Most of his end up with a Belgiany thing happening, which would be alright by me.
I have a photo of the flask right after throwing in the fruit and one from 24 hours later. The close up photo is Day 2. Nothing happening yet, but....we'll see how it progresses.