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Author Topic: Hoping to slowly return to brewing and yeast culturing  (Read 3466 times)

Offline denny

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Re: Hoping to slowly return to brewing and yeast culturing
« Reply #30 on: August 05, 2020, 08:21:40 am »
Was and still is.  We have some yeast storage info from her coming up on the next podcast.

I will have to check that one out.  It is amazing how much impact Maribeth and the Falcons made on amateur brewing. She taught an entire generation of brewers how to collect and manage yeast cultures. The number of yeast cultures available to the amateur brewing community exploded after she put together her yeast culturing book and kit. I learned how to pour almost condensation-free plates from Maribeth.

https://www.experimentalbrew.com/podcast/episode-120-answer-brewing-wind
Life begins at 60.....1.060, that is!

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Offline hopfenundmalz

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Re: Hoping to slowly return to brewing and yeast culturing
« Reply #31 on: August 05, 2020, 11:43:33 am »
Was and still is.  We have some yeast storage info from her coming up on the next podcast.

I will have to check that one out.  It is amazing how much impact Maribeth and the Falcons made on amateur brewing. She taught an entire generation of brewers how to collect and manage yeast cultures. The number of yeast cultures available to the amateur brewing community exploded after she put together her yeast culturing book and kit. I learned how to pour almost condensation-free plates from Maribeth.

https://www.experimentalbrew.com/podcast/episode-120-answer-brewing-wind

Listened. When I hit your link, a picture of a Drewry beer add came up. My dad used to drink that brand for a while.
Jeff Rankert
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Offline Saccharomyces

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Re: Hoping to slowly return to brewing and yeast culturing
« Reply #32 on: August 05, 2020, 09:33:28 pm »
https://www.experimentalbrew.com/podcast/episode-120-answer-brewing-wind

I used to keep master and working slants, but I found that I was not using the working slants before it was time to subculture the master, so I started to subculture a new master followed by inoculating 40ml of autoclaved 1.020 wort as the first step in making a starter. I usually step at a rate of 25-to-1, 40ml to 1L, but my 40ml first level starter is inoculated using ascetic technique with absolutely sterile wort.

By the way, my 40ml starter is also an SNS starter.

Offline Saccharomyces

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Re: Hoping to slowly return to brewing and yeast culturing
« Reply #33 on: August 07, 2020, 01:30:38 pm »
I have my own amusing batch gone bad story to add Denny's and Drew's from the podcast.  It was my third batch.  I made it using a Bruce's Dogbolter Kit.  I am fairly certain that that kit beer was made by EDME.  I did the partial boil followed by topping off with boiled and cooled water thing before pitching EDME dry yeast.  To say that EDME dry yeast was dreadful is being kind. That beer ended up having a potato chip-like aftertaste and was affectionately known in local circles as the potato chip beer.  That fermentation gone bad was the straw that broke the camel's back. I brewed my fourth beer using yeast I cultured from the bottom of a bottle of SNPA.  The first sip of my fourth beer was a lightbulb moment.  My experiences with dry yeast in the bad old days is why I still cringe at the thought of pitching dry yeast even though I know that dry yeast has come a long way.

Offline BrewBama

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Re: Hoping to slowly return to brewing and yeast culturing
« Reply #34 on: August 07, 2020, 02:45:45 pm »
... affectionately known in local circles as the potato chip beer.  ...

In today’s market, that might be a huge hit.


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Offline denny

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Re: Hoping to slowly return to brewing and yeast culturing
« Reply #35 on: August 07, 2020, 02:48:53 pm »
I have my own amusing batch gone bad story to add Denny's and Drew's from the podcast.  It was my third batch.  I made it using a Bruce's Dogbolter Kit.  I am fairly certain that that kit beer was made by EDME.  I did the partial boil followed by topping off with boiled and cooled water thing before pitching EDME dry yeast.  To say that EDME dry yeast was dreadful is being kind. That beer ended up having a potato chip-like aftertaste and was affectionately known in local circles as the potato chip beer.  That fermentation gone bad was the straw that broke the camel's back. I brewed my fourth beer using yeast I cultured from the bottom of a bottle of SNPA.  The first sip of my fourth beer was a lightbulb moment.  My experiences with dry yeast in the bad old days is why I still cringe at the thought of pitching dry yeast even though I know that dry yeast has come a long way.

I brewed that kit in my first year of brewing.  I was so new I didn't realize how bad it was until I'd brewed a few more batches and could compare
Life begins at 60.....1.060, that is!

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The best, sharpest, funniest, weirdest and most knowledgable minds in home brewing contribute on the AHA forum. - Alewyfe

"The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts." - Bertrand Russell

Offline jeffy

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Re: Hoping to slowly return to brewing and yeast culturing
« Reply #36 on: August 07, 2020, 03:07:25 pm »
I have my own amusing batch gone bad story to add Denny's and Drew's from the podcast.  It was my third batch.  I made it using a Bruce's Dogbolter Kit.  I am fairly certain that that kit beer was made by EDME.  I did the partial boil followed by topping off with boiled and cooled water thing before pitching EDME dry yeast.  To say that EDME dry yeast was dreadful is being kind. That beer ended up having a potato chip-like aftertaste and was affectionately known in local circles as the potato chip beer.  That fermentation gone bad was the straw that broke the camel's back. I brewed my fourth beer using yeast I cultured from the bottom of a bottle of SNPA.  The first sip of my fourth beer was a lightbulb moment.  My experiences with dry yeast in the bad old days is why I still cringe at the thought of pitching dry yeast even though I know that dry yeast has come a long way.

I brewed that kit in my first year of brewing.  I was so new I didn't realize how bad it was until I'd brewed a few more batches and could compare
Dogbolter Bitter was my first or second batch, back in 1990.  About 10 years ago, I had a taste of that kit at a homebrew store and was surprised at how strikingly similar I remembered the flavor.
Jeff Gladish, Tampa (989.3, 175.1 Apparent Rennarian)
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Offline Saccharomyces

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Re: Hoping to slowly return to brewing and yeast culturing
« Reply #37 on: August 07, 2020, 04:29:48 pm »
In today’s market, that might be a huge hit.


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I was thinking about you as I was composing that post because your house yeast is Lallemand BRY-97.  That is about the only dry yeast strain that I really like.  It is a nice strain once it starts fermenting.  It clears beautifully.  Another strain that I love has apparently been available dry for quite some time; namely, 34/70.  At this point, I am almost certain that that strain was sold as BrewTek CL-660 N. German Lager (maybe, I can get it re-labled  as "Mark's Favorite 660" :).  If I am correct, 34/70 is the most forgiving lager strain I have ever used.  It was my house strain in my first brew house. I used to primary it in the low 60s high 50s in my basement without artificial attemperation.  At that temperature, it produced beautiful lagers that tasted like lagers.

Offline denny

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Re: Hoping to slowly return to brewing and yeast culturing
« Reply #38 on: August 07, 2020, 04:59:08 pm »
In today’s market, that might be a huge hit.


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I was thinking about you as I was composing that post because your house yeast is Lallemand BRY-97.  That is about the only dry yeast strain that I really like.  It is a nice strain once it starts fermenting.  It clears beautifully.  Another strain that I love has apparently been available dry for quite some time; namely, 34/70.  At this point, I am almost certain that that strain was sold as BrewTek CL-660 N. German Lager (maybe, I can get it re-labled  as "Mark's Favorite 660" :).  If I am correct, 34/70 is the most forgiving lager strain I have ever used.  It was my house strain in my first brew house. I used to primary it in the low 60s high 50s in my basement without artificial attemperation.  At that temperature, it produced beautiful lagers that tasted like lagers.

Yeah, I've used 34/70 for both ales and lagers and they all came out well.  BTW, I was against calling it Denny's Favorite, but I didn't get a say in the matter.  I was pushing for Noti Pub Ale, in keeping with the original name.
Life begins at 60.....1.060, that is!

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The best, sharpest, funniest, weirdest and most knowledgable minds in home brewing contribute on the AHA forum. - Alewyfe

"The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, and wiser people so full of doubts." - Bertrand Russell

Offline Saccharomyces

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Re: Hoping to slowly return to brewing and yeast culturing
« Reply #39 on: August 09, 2020, 04:51:25 pm »
It does not matter what Wyeast labeled the strain. You did a service to the community by keeping the culture alive. What I would not give for an hour with Maribeth to discuss the origins of the BrewTek strains. She will probably take that information to her grave.  :)

Offline Cliffs

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Re: Hoping to slowly return to brewing and yeast culturing
« Reply #40 on: August 11, 2020, 09:43:19 pm »
It does not matter what Wyeast labeled the strain. You did a service to the community by keeping the culture alive. What I would not give for an hour with Maribeth to discuss the origins of the BrewTek strains. She will probably take that information to her grave.  :)
Do you happen to know anything about the brew-tek scottish ale yeast strain and if it is similar/teh same as white labs edinburgh ale yeast?

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Re: Hoping to slowly return to brewing and yeast culturing
« Reply #41 on: August 14, 2020, 02:40:37 pm »
Hey guys,

After over a four-year hiatus from brewing, my life has settled down enough to consider brewing again on a limited scale.  For those who have yet to learn, I suffered a heart attack and had to undergo coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery in 2016. Having one's chest cracked open is not something that I would recommend to anyone. I also separated from my now ex-wife the same year. I did not just vanish from the face of the earth.  Those who know me more closely on this forum knew what was up. Coming back from open-heart surgery and divorce in the second half of one's fifties takes a toll on a human being.  I also had to give up my old user name in 2016, which is why many of you who have read my old posts due not recognize my user name. 

I have been watching people quote my old posts from afar during the last four years.  I remember the amount of push-back I received when I first posted my quick-and-easy (Shaken, not Stirred) method for making and pitching a starter.  To see it become a mainstream yeast propagation technique within the amateur brewing community has been both rewarding and humbling.  Hopefully, I can once again add value to the community, but it may be slow in coming because I gave away or sold everything over the last four years thinking that I would not return to brewing.

Count me as someone glad to see you back Mark. Very much a welcome addition to any forum.