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Author Topic: ISO: WLP076 - Old Sonoma Ale (aka New Albion)  (Read 2397 times)

Offline Chino Brews

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ISO: WLP076 - Old Sonoma Ale (aka New Albion)
« on: April 28, 2015, 11:01:07 am »
I'm looking for a culture of WLP076 (Old Sonoma Ale). White Labs is not offering it in their 2015 Platinum Series.

If anyone is maintaining a culture of this strain, and would be willing to provide some to me, I'm happy to reciprocate with anything in my small yeast bank, to pay for expenses and shipping, or work out some other acceptable remuneration.

Thanks in advance!

-- Chino
If how I brew makes you mad or somehow ruins home brewing for you, maybe you need a less stressful hobby than making and drinking beer! :D

S. cerevisiae

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Re: ISO: WLP076 - Old Sonoma Ale (aka New Albion)
« Reply #1 on: April 28, 2015, 10:10:21 pm »
All you need to do is to acquire a relatively fresh bottle Mendocino Red Tail Ale. Mendocino acquired their house yeast strain from New Albion.   

Offline brulosopher

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Re: ISO: WLP076 - Old Sonoma Ale (aka New Albion)
« Reply #2 on: April 29, 2015, 06:42:03 am »
Not sure why, but I was under the impression WLP013 London Ale was "the same" as New Albion's strain.

S. cerevisiae

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Re: ISO: WLP076 - Old Sonoma Ale (aka New Albion)
« Reply #3 on: April 29, 2015, 09:42:00 am »
WLP013 is the same strain as Wyeast 1028, which is Worthington White Shield.  Like the strain used to ferment Anchor Steam, the New Albion strain originally came from the Wallerstein Labs Culture Collection.
« Last Edit: April 29, 2015, 09:43:33 am by S. cerevisiae »

Offline Chino Brews

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Re: ISO: WLP076 - Old Sonoma Ale (aka New Albion)
« Reply #4 on: April 29, 2015, 01:05:38 pm »
All you need to do is to acquire a relatively fresh bottle Mendocino Red Tail Ale. Mendocino acquired their house yeast strain from New Albion.

Mendocino doesn't distribute here unfortunately. I actually had a couple bottles I had brought back when I was in Calif. in January, but drank them before I froze my yeast bank. TL;DR: I basically moved my beer and yeast out of my dedicated fridge and into the garage at my SO's behest, and didn't realize it was hitting sub-zero temps in the garage because my "cold-conditioning" saison seemed liquid.

Anyway, thanks for your reply, and it looks like I'm going to have to use your method, picking bottles up the next time I'm in California.
If how I brew makes you mad or somehow ruins home brewing for you, maybe you need a less stressful hobby than making and drinking beer! :D

Offline Stevie

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Re: ISO: WLP076 - Old Sonoma Ale (aka New Albion)
« Reply #5 on: April 29, 2015, 01:52:24 pm »
Call around to shops. My lhbs had some past date a month or two back.

S. cerevisiae

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Re: ISO: WLP076 - Old Sonoma Ale (aka New Albion)
« Reply #6 on: April 29, 2015, 03:25:57 pm »
Anyway, thanks for your reply, and it looks like I'm going to have to use your method, picking bottles up the next time I'm in California.

My method, if ever get around to it, will be purchasing the strain on slant.  I know the U.C. Davis accession number for the deposit that Jack made in the seventies as well as the original Wallerstein Labs accession number for the strain. 

Offline Chino Brews

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Re: ISO: WLP076 - Old Sonoma Ale (aka New Albion)
« Reply #7 on: May 11, 2015, 02:01:00 pm »
My method, if ever get around to it, will be purchasing the strain on slant.  I know the U.C. Davis accession number for the deposit that Jack made in the seventies as well as the original Wallerstein Labs accession number for the strain.

I'm not set up to plate from a slant right now. The ironic thing is that I had brought back a couple Red Tail Ales returning from a rare trip to California, but drank them in January about a week before I accidentally froze my small culture collection.

My interest in the yeast is in keeping New Albion Ale alive, sort of.

I was aware of the connection with Mendocino because of some extensive research I did on how the recipe for New Albion Ale evolved over time (contrary to McAuliffe's recounting to BYO magazine, it was not a simple 2-row and Cascade SMaSH). So I knew that McAuliffe sold the brewhouse, fermentors, culture, etc. to Hopland, which turned into Mendocino, that Mendocino in fact used that equipment in production until the mid-2000s, and that they continue to use the same strain.

What is relevant to culturing it is the fact that Mendocino doesn't bottle condition in the traditional sense. Rather, they filter the beer, force carbonate to just below the desired level of carbonation, and then add a tiny amount of primings and house culture in order to absorb O2 picked up during bottling.

I'm thinking it may take dregs from several bottles to be assured of a good culture if I propagate it straight up (I don't have the ability to plate it right now.)
If how I brew makes you mad or somehow ruins home brewing for you, maybe you need a less stressful hobby than making and drinking beer! :D

Offline jdpils

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Re: ISO: WLP076 - Old Sonoma Ale (aka New Albion)
« Reply #8 on: October 06, 2015, 09:03:36 am »
I totally disagree that yeast rinsing is an unacceptable practice.  If done properly it saves the time and cost of a new yeast pack and making a starter.  I have evolved my process and routinely use yeast 4 times.  When rack off primary I remove most ot the green beer and add about 1/2 gallon of preboiled water that has added calcium to get to 50 - 100 ppm and lactic acid to drop the pH to about 5.  I then shake and swirl and dump into a 1 gallon jug.  Fill to 85% and tighten the lid and shake vigourously.  Then allow to separate and capture the middle or top 1/2 gallon by pouring into a 1/2 gallon mason jar.  Use in one week.  This yields 4 to 8 oz of clean yeast.  One can also "jump start" the yeast by chilling 1 qt of wort after 20 min boiling and put on a starter.

Offline erockrph

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Re: ISO: WLP076 - Old Sonoma Ale (aka New Albion)
« Reply #9 on: October 06, 2015, 07:41:34 pm »
I totally disagree that yeast rinsing is an unacceptable practice.  If done properly it saves the time and cost of a new yeast pack and making a starter.  I have evolved my process and routinely use yeast 4 times.  When rack off primary I remove most ot the green beer and add about 1/2 gallon of preboiled water that has added calcium to get to 50 - 100 ppm and lactic acid to drop the pH to about 5.  I then shake and swirl and dump into a 1 gallon jug.  Fill to 85% and tighten the lid and shake vigourously.  Then allow to separate and capture the middle or top 1/2 gallon by pouring into a 1/2 gallon mason jar.  Use in one week.  This yields 4 to 8 oz of clean yeast.  One can also "jump start" the yeast by chilling 1 qt of wort after 20 min boiling and put on a starter.
This works just as well (if not better) if you skip the rinsing steps and just store the slurry under a bit of the finished beer. The yeast has already created a protective environment for itself, might as well use it.
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Offline HoosierBrew

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Re: ISO: WLP076 - Old Sonoma Ale (aka New Albion)
« Reply #10 on: October 07, 2015, 06:01:16 am »
This works just as well (if not better) if you skip the rinsing steps and just store the slurry under a bit of the finished beer. The yeast has already created a protective environment for itself, might as well use it.

+1
Jon H.

S. cerevisiae

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Re: ISO: WLP076 - Old Sonoma Ale (aka New Albion)
« Reply #11 on: October 07, 2015, 01:42:49 pm »
I totally disagree that yeast rinsing is an unacceptable practice.

Yeast rinsing is an unnecessary practice that exposes the culture to the possibility of infection.  Nothing is gained by rinsing yeast with and storing it under boiled water, but much is risked.  Yeast cells do not need to be physically clean.  They need to be kept biologically clean, and the best way to do that is to leave them in the environment that they created.  Brewing yeast cultures have been selected through repitching to be able to survive in a low pH, low O2, ethanol laden environment.  Most wild microflora do not stand a chance of taking a yeast culture on in green beer.


https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/forum/index.php?topic=19850.msg252492#msg252492
« Last Edit: October 07, 2015, 01:52:54 pm by S. cerevisiae »