culturing from bottles

[mookie1010]

I don't know why I keep seeking out this thread and updating it, but the beer brewed with the pacman culture was kegged yesterday. It finished out at 1.017, which is where BeerSmith had it ending, so I got proper attenuation. I've got a few weeks before there will be a spot for it in the fridge, so it's conditioning.

We'll see soon. Though I really wanted to, I did not wash and save the yeast because I simply ran out of time. Smoking 3 turkeys for work, kegging 2 beers, laundry, dinner and being responsible for the 11.5 week old was about all I could take yesterday. I'm off tomorrow, though, so it's beer night tonight.

[Charlie]

Many do, but not all. Here is a list that I ran across awhile back. I can't comment on its accuracy though.

Cool list, dude!

If I were to do this (and I will if a Fat Tire wanders by) I'd swirl the last oz and pour the sediment into a sterilized culture tube, let it settle an hour (or a day), pour off the supernatant, and innoculate some slants from the yeast goo.

You can speed up the process if you have a centrifuge handy.

I got some PacMan from Austin Homebrew a while ago. Last I looked they still had some. Production date was 06 July, so maybe still good.

Charlie (Doesn't have a centrifuge. Yet.)

[DBear]

I recultured Ommegang Witte for a belgian blonde stepping up 400ml, 800ml, then built an appropriate starter and it came out great. The beer took gold in the belgian strong category at the 2009 Franco-Belgian Challenge Cup in Madison WI.

[Brandon]

I'm trying to culture Pacman from a bomber of Shakespeare Stout. Here's hoping........

Before Pacman was easy to find I would step up from a bottle. It did take me about 4 steps to get it up to proper pitching. I would brew a 5 gallon batch of low gravity ale to step it up for my barleywine.

[mookie1010]

I'm trying to culture Pacman from a bomber of Shakespeare Stout. Here's hoping........

Before Pacman was easy to find I would step up from a bottle. It did take me about 4 steps to get it up to proper pitching. I would brew a 5 gallon batch of low gravity ale to step it up for my barleywine.

I wish I had done it that way. I did 3 or 4 steps from the bottle, but I should have planned on doing something a little smaller than what I did and culturing from the cake. Oh well. Next time, I suppose.

[Brandon]

its a hell of a yeast. one of my favs.

[mookie1010]

I'm drinking the beer I used the cultured pacman in now. It's good. I might be a little paranoid and looking for things to be wrong, but it does taste really good. Even my wife went over and pulled a pint from the keg last night after tasting from my glass.

It's an IPA / IIPA - 1.073 OG, 1.018 TG. 60ish IBU's - I mashed too hot, I think, (154 or so - I wanted some malt balance, and if I do this recipe again I'll back off a few degrees to try to accentuate the hops) and the only thing I notice from a fermentation side is that there's a tiny hint of uncooked bread in the aroma, the flavors are nice overall. I say the hint of uncooked bread is tiny, it might be a little more that tiny, but it's certainly not unpleasant at all. I think the bready aroma would be nice if it were less "raw."

Also, there's less up front bitterness than I expected. It's almost got the bittering qualities of a balanced American Amber rather than a nice AIPA - I don't know if that's a product of an underpitch or not - maybe someone can tell me. It's very balanced and given the ABV, might be a little too easy to drink! I was looking for something a little more palate bruising.

If I were to do this again I would:

1. Step up the culture over more steps and more time. The beer took off quickly, seemed to do well and attenuated well, but I'd still like the peace of mind that I started with an appropriate amount of yeast - I'm not convinced at this point that I did.

2. Pitch the first into a smaller beer, then move up to the high gravity beer after a few pitches and rinses of the yeast.

3. Use more original "dregs." I can't remember if this came from one or two bottles, but I think it might have been a better idea to start with 4 or 5 or 10 bottles worth of dregs.

I'll do something like this again, I suppose. I think in the meantime, I'll make this with 1056 or 1098 instead and try to compare.

[brewinhard]

Not to steal the thread, but if you want are looking for more of a palate bruiser IPA, then definitely mash lower (at least 150-152). This will help to dry the beer out more which will accentuate the hops more. IMO, 60 IBU's or so for an AIPA is too minimal. That seems like more of the English IPA level. Try bumping up your IBU's to at least 80 for a start. This well help give you that dry bitterness you are looking for. Last summer I brewed up the Green Flash IPA recipe from the CYBI. The beer cost a good 50 bucks to make, but was one of the best strong IPA's I have ever made. I dialed my IBU's in to about 105 and dried it out to a FG of 1013. Unfortunately, it did not last more than 2 wks. in the keg, but hey, its a fresh hop IPA and needs to be consumed quickly.