[S. cerevisiae]

Those who have taken the time to study the brewing empire that Peter Ballantine founded know that Ballantine ran two plants in Newark, New Jersey.  The larger of the two plants was the ale brewery and the maltings.  The smaller plant was originally the Schalk Brothers Brewery.  Like many breweries from that period of time, Schalk Brothers found itself in debt to its maltster, which was Ballantine.  Ballantine acquired the Schalk Brothers Brewery in order to enter the booming lager beer market.
 
With that said, it is an open secret that Siebel Bry 96 (a.k.a. "Chico," 1056, WLP001, and US-05) is a Ballantine strain.  However, recent discoveries have to led many to question whether Bry 96 was used in the ale brewery or the beer brewery, as there are two separate Ballantine cultures in the ARS NRRL collection.

NRRL Y-7407
  Accession numbers in other collections: Lange 2
  Isolated from (substrate): BR, Beer pitching yeast
  Substrate location: Ballantine Brewery, New Jersey, USA
  Comments: ID from 26S renal partial sequences.
 
NRRL Y-7408
  Accession numbers in other collections: Lange 4
  Isolated from (substrate): BR, Ale pitching yeast
  Comments: ID from 26S rDNA partial sequences
 

Bry 96 is unlike most ale yeast strains in that it is a diploid (GSY708 in Dunn and Sherlock's paper: http://genome.cshlp.org/content/early/2008/09/11/gr.076075.108.full.pdf).  Most ale strains are polyploids.  Bry 96 also behaves unlike any other ale strain, which leads me to believe that it was indeed used in the beer brewery on Freeman Street.  However, the evidence that solidifies my belief that Bry 96 was used in the beer brewery is this photograph of a brewery worker skimming an open fermentation vessel at the Ballantine ale brewery.



Bry 96 is not a top-cropping yeast strain.  However, Bry 97 is a top-cropping strain.  The fact that both of these strains are one accession number apart leads me to believe that Bry 96 is NRRL Y-7407 and Bry 97 is NRRL Y-7408.  The accession numbers are too low to be microbrewery cultures.  For reference, the Christian Schmidt strain is Bry 118.  Siebel has been in business since 1882.

[erockrph]

I have to admit, I'm definitely not familiar with enough technical detail of yeast genetics to follow everything in your post. If I am following this correctly, the suggestion is that Chico may actually be a lager strain (or at least a strain previously used by a lager brewery). Is that correct? If so, that's very interesting and actually makes a bit of sense to me.

Also, this brings up another tangential question. I am not too familiar with Siebel's yeast strains, (or Ballantine, for that matter - a bit before my time), but is the yeast that Danstar is currently marketing as BRY-97 the same as the BRY-97 from Ballantine?

[S. cerevisiae]

Danstar is a Lallemand brand.  Lallemand owns Siebel.  Siebel's microbiological services unit is actually part of Lallemand.  The Bry 97 that is sold under the Danstar label is in fact Siebel Bry 97.  Many people believe that Bry 97 is Danstar's "Chico;" however, that would be Bry 96.

Bry 96

This is a flocculent top fermenting ale yeast from a brewery formerly operating on the East Coast of the United States. It produces a very clean ale flavor which has been well accepted in a number of breweries.


I am not 100% positive that Bry 97 is a Ballantine strain, but the circumstantial evidence points in that direction.  The circumstantial evidence also points in the direction of Bry 96 having been used to make beer, not ale.  Bry 96 ferments down into the fifties.   The Schalk Brothers Brewery predates pure lager cultures.   In fact, Ballentine acquired the Schalk Brothers Brewery before Emil Hansen isolated the first pure lager strain.  All lager brewing up until that point was performed using mixed cultures.  As I mentioned above, Bry 96 is fairly unique for an ale yeast.   It would not surprise me if yeast geneticists determine that it is a hybrid.

[hopfenundmalz]

I have read in other places, maybe the HBD or on here, that the two Siebel strains were the Ballantine Ale and Beer strains. The differences in genetics is interesting.

I remember that East Coast Yeast has the 2 Ballantine strains available to the homebrewer, ECY 10 a and ECY 12.
http://eastcoastyeast.com/products---brewer-s-yeast.html

[HoosierBrew]

Great info.  I've known for years that Chico ferments well at lower temps than advertised by WY and WL, so maybe this shows why. Thanks !

[dmtaylor]

Fantastic information.  I'm going to share with all my buddies.

[S. cerevisiae]

I remember that East Coast Yeast has the 2 Ballantine strains available to the homebrewer, ECY 10 a and ECY 12.
http://eastcoastyeast.com/products---brewer-s-yeast.html

There is zero doubt in my mind that Al Buck obtained his cultures from the ARS NRRL.  The ARS NRRL collection contains many heirloom brewing cultures (e.g., Pabst Ale).  However, the ARS NRRL only ships to laboratories. 

[tschmidlin]

However, the ARS NRRL only ships to laboratories. 

Are you looking to get something and lacking a lab?  If you want to pay, I can order it for you and send it to you.

[erockrph]

I remember that East Coast Yeast has the 2 Ballantine strains available to the homebrewer, ECY 10 a and ECY 12.
http://eastcoastyeast.com/products---brewer-s-yeast.html

There is zero doubt in my mind that Al Buck obtained his cultures from the ARS NRRL.  The ARS NRRL collection contains many heirloom brewing cultures (e.g., Pabst Ale).  However, the ARS NRRL only ships to laboratories.

Just hearing the term "heirloom brewing cultures" whets my palate. This is the kind of stuff that got me into homebrewing in the first place - being able to work with ingredients that you just don't find in commercial brews. I'm not at the point where I'm ready to start yeast ranching, but between the seasonal strains from WL and Wyeast, and the wider availability of the smaller "boutique" labs like ECY and Gigayeast, I'm hoping we start seeing more of these heirloom cultures available to the homebrewer.

[S. cerevisiae]

Are you looking to get something and lacking a lab?  If you want to pay, I can order it for you and send it to you.

I appreciate the offer. I work for a life sciences research organization; therefore, the ARS will ship cultures to my work address.  I haven't found anything that was worth cutting into my organization's quota.   The ARS limits distributions to twenty-four cultures per year per organization, and I would hate to be the guy who caused us to not be able to order a culture for a funded research project.   I have been able to find cultures that I wanted through fee-oriented culture collections. 

A culture that I recommend wholeheartedly is Phaff 40-219 (The Phaff Yeast Culture Collection is held at UC Davis).  Phaff 40-219 is the pitching yeast that was used at the ACME Brewing Company in San Francisco.  The culture was deposited in 1942.  The ACME Brewing Company was founded in 1907 by Leopold Schmidt.  If that name rings a bell, it's because Leopold Schmidt founded the ACME Brewing Company after founding the Olympia Brewing Company in Tumwater, Washington.   I am willing to bet that Phaff 40-219 was brought to the ACME Brewing Company from the Olympia Brewing Company, which would make it Olympia's pre-Prohibition yeast culture.

[tschmidlin]

Are you looking to get something and lacking a lab?  If you want to pay, I can order it for you and send it to you.

I appreciate the offer. I work for a life sciences research organization; therefore, the ARS will ship cultures to my work address.  I haven't found anything that was worth cutting into my organization's quota.   The ARS limits distributions to twenty-four cultures per year per organization, and I would hate to be the guy who caused us to not be able to order a culture for a funded research project.   I have been able to find cultures that I wanted through fee-oriented culture collections. 

A culture that I recommend wholeheartedly is Phaff 40-219 (The Phaff Yeast Culture Collection is held at UC Davis).  Phaff 40-219 is the pitching yeast that was used at ACME Brewing Company in San Francisco.  The culture was deposited in 1942.  The ACME Brewing Company was founded in 1907 by Leopold Schmidt.  If that name rings a bell, it's because Leopold Schmidt founded the ACME Brewing Company after founding the Olympia Brewing Company in Tumwater, Washington.   I am willing to bet that Phaff 40-219 was brought to the ACME Brewing Company from the Olympia Brewing Company, which would make it Olympia's pre-Prohibition yeast culture.

Cool.  If you ever change your mind let me know.  My current lab doesn't do any yeast work so the limits would be irrelevant.  And even after I leave I still have friends in yeast labs who would be happy to order for me, they typically never use anything except the S228C derived strains.

[S. cerevisiae]

Cool.  If you ever change your mind let me know.  My current lab doesn't do any yeast work so the limits would be irrelevant.  And even after I leave I still have friends in yeast labs who would be happy to order for me, they typically never use anything except the S228C derived strains.

That yeast culture appears in more papers than just about any other culture except CBS 1171, which I also have in my collection.  CBS 1171 was isolated in 1925 by A.C. van Wijk at the Orangeboom Brewery.  I have only used CBS 1171 in one fermentation. However, it produced slightly above threshold isoamyl acetate in that batch, so I have been hesitant to use it again.

[reverseapachemaster]

That Pabst Ale strain is not much different from Chico or any other neutral strain.