Giving Credit Where Credit is Due

Part of the reason to start this whole blog thing, other than a convenient log for me, is to try and get some of these concepts out in the public. With most things on the Internet, information is usually sketchy, or scattered all around on subjects like these, and sometimes even non-existent or when it comes to scientific papers, very expensive.

Not to say I'm any type of expert in any means, what you see here is more like "The Yeasty Adventures of a Home Brewer". There are odds, very high ones in fact, that some of what I am going to do here will fail, and you'll see that too in it's comic splendor.

So when I find a gem like the book you see in the picture, I want to make sure it gets noticed. I would definitely say a lot of what I have learned has come from said book.

The Fungus Among Us: Yeast Culturing for HomeBrewers by Yuseff Cherney and Chris White

This is quite simply the most straight forward reference on culturing yeast. The illustrations are simple, easy to understand, and the techniques (a lot of what I do here) are time tested by one of the authorities in yeast harvesting and storage today (Chris White is the CEO of White Labs). Don't let the "Pamphlet size" of the book fool you, the content within is great for starting out.

So I just wanted to give credit where credit is due. Thanks to Yuseff Cherney and Chris White for putting together a terrific, informative, and affordable book on the subject.

Been Caught Stealing...

"I've been caught stealing; 

once when I was 5... 

I enjoy stealing. 

It's just as simple as that.

Well, it's just a simple fact. 

When I want something,

I don't want to pay for it." 

- Jane's Addiction

If there has been one fact that took the longest to get though my tough head in brewing it would be that yeast, more than anything, contributes the largest part of the flavor profile of a finished beer.

Well, it's just a simple fact.

You can take some pale DME (or two row if you're into the all-grain thing) and you can make 6 different beers simply by your choice of yeast. A Belgian will make a lemon, sharp, fizzy beer, an American ale yeast like Safale US-o5 will make a clean crisp ale with some light fruity esters, or a heff yeast will again produce something totally different with banana esters and a hazy profile. All from changing one element. The Yeast.

So when it comes to enjoying the fruits of another breweries labor, I first go to the yeast. In this example, we are culturing yeast from a local brewery that in my opinion has some of the greatest ale yeast flavors I've found, Real Ale Brewing Company out of Blanco, TX. In this example their "Full Moon Rye Pale Ale".

Generally I've found good results, if I'm unsure the amount of yeast sediment or the viability of the dregs in the bottle, by creating a 10ml mini-starter. I then take the beer, pour off the good stuff in a glass to enjoy, and take the last little bit of the dregs swirl them around and then pour 5ml into the test tube to get a total of about 15ml of a mini-starter.

Wait that out for a couple of days to concentrate and wake up the dormant yeast (swirl or gently rock tube from time to time if you are the touchy feely type). This is also is a good time to prepare a few plates for the next step (See previous post on Beer Agar & Broth).  

Then with a very clean work area, working around a flame, and as always flame openings of containers when pouring (*You are flaming right!? Right?!?), open the tube with the broth and captured yeast and pour all but the very bottom sediment into another container (like a 50ml flask you see in the pic). Then get your inoculating loop red hot and get a film of the slurry/ sediment on the loop.

Next carefully half open the plate and streak the plate in four sections, rotating the plate counter clockwise (see image left). With each new section try to overlap with the streaks you did prior. Then close the lid, and place plate upside down in a clean place undisturbed.

The concept is that the streak in 1 is going to be the most concentrated (with yeast and other unmentionables), so we are trying to reduce the amount of cells with each new section in order to attain a single yeast cell to start a colony when we get to section 4.

After 24-48 hours you should see some activity. Yeast colonies will look like white puffy globes. What those look like and what you can do with them will come in a later post...

* - I haven't really covered sanitation or "Flaming" at this point, but I intend to at some point. I figure if you get this far, you should have a basic knowledge of sanitizing your equipment or at least Google some of these concepts before continuing.

Budweiser American Ale

So BMC wants to play "Craft Brew"? 

I've been seeing the commercial spots during the football games, and actively looking for the stuff for weeks. Being an avid follower of the American craft beer revolution, I was more than curious what the big guns could bring to the table!

First off, they are REALLY trying to sell this as "THE AMERICAN ALE". Like they invented the concept, never mind Sierra Nevada has been doing this for years (and in a much better way IMO). Also to note there is a lot of "American" in every sentence on the bottle. Which I could understand, trying to play the local pride thing.

So enough bickering. How does this stuff actually taste? 

Other than the metallic aftertaste, honestly pretty good. I mean it's no hop bomb, the malty profile isn't going to give a British bitter a run. It's generally very mild in all flavors in a way that only a huge commercial brewery would do. I mean it tries to be hoppy, and it tries to be malty, but it doesn't try ether one enough to upset your average American beer drinker or leave the hard core feeling left out. I would say what it really tries to do is appeal to the masses.

I can see that. To the average Budweiser drinker I could only imagine this might be fairly exotic. A beer that actually has taste!! Compared to the average BMC that strives so hard to taste mostly like... well nothing. Which has it's place, any given week I've been known to enjoy my fair share of Miller High Life (My BMC of choice!) and I can imagine this would make it into my rotation from time to time.

In that regard I'd say it does a good job at becoming a gateway beer to real ales. It's about what you would expect from Bud. A balanced ale that makes no intention to offend ether side.

The Zythophile nor the Joe 6-Pack.

Beer Agar & Broth

This is my current work in progress for a beer agar and broth for culturing yeast samples. The broth is sort of the first step and from that recipe you can just add agar to make plates and slants.

The recipe is in it's smallest form, you can adjust it for size. Generally you should be around a gravity of 1.030 with this formula. I assume this is sufficient, but I don't really have any other reference to go by.

Broth for culturing yeast in a test tube

OG 1.030 - Makes 10ml

• 10ml water
• 1g Light Dried Malt Extract (DME)
• .01g yeast nutrient

Boil 5 minutes and cool. You can adjust the amounts to make larger amounts for starter or multiple tubes.

Beer Agar for Plates or slant

OG 1.030 - Makes 50ml (enough for 5x100mm plates)

• 50ml water
• 1g Agar
• 5g Light Dried Malt Extract (DME)
• .05g yeast nutrient

Boil 5 minutes and cool to touch swirling often to keep from setting up. Pour about 10ml per plate and tilt to fully cover (do this one at a time or else you'll get at the end and the plates will have already set up).

Use immediately or store in zip top bags in the refrigerator.

A world in the dregs

Sierra Nevada Pale Ale yeast @ 400X.... They were delicious. ;)

This sample was done by getting a film on my inoculating loop from what was left in the bottom of the bottle, and placing that on a slide.

Building a Homebrew Gorilla Lab

To get started, I think I'll cover the lab. The basics of what you might need, some tips, and why even bother.

I mean, seriously, your not going to save money doing this. So why do it at all? I guess each person has their own reason. For me its the satisfaction of the knowledge gained. Its something fun to do, and the results are delicious.

Ok so.. Here we go!

Workspace - Clean, low air movement (away from fans a/c ducts, etc), preferably a permanent location that you can set up your experiments and leave the results in the same place (an unused closet works great). A sanatizable flat surface that is somewhat heat resistant and resistant to staining and spills.

I try to separate my work area into 3 segments. A top shelf that I store all the larger glassware and equipment that I use less often. The middle area for active cultures or experiments (as seen by the acrylic shelf in the photo), and my actual work area where I have all the items within close reach when I am working (Yes including a home brew to drink while you work ;).

Equipment - Generally you are going to need various glassware, alcohol burner, inoculating loop, microscope, storage vials, etc. Here's a basic inventory for what I have.

• Erlenmeyer Flasks - 50ml(4), 250ml, 500ml, 1000ml, 2000ml
  
• Glass Petri Dish (at least 2) - 100mm x 10mm
• Test Tubes (6) & Rack - 15ml
• Inoculating Loop
• Wax pencil (marks on glass) - For labeling glass
  
• Alcohol Burner - Preferably a wickless
• Microscope, Slides & Covers - Preferably something capable of 400X magnification
• Scale - Capable of measuring down to a 10th of a gram.
• Test Tube Brush & Test Tube Clamp
• 1 Dram autoclavable vials for storage of yeast samples

Chemicals - These are more like the "Soft goods" that chemicals really. But it's a general small list of things used to cultivate yeast, and build starters for pitching.

• Dried Malt Extract (DME) - Preferably light or pilsen
• Agar - Dried for making wort agar (I'll cover that in another post)
• Yeast Nutrient
• Potasium Metabisulfite - For sanitation
• Gram Staining Kit
• Methylene Blue
  
• Denatured Alcohol

For the most part that is all you need and you'll never have to buy a commercial brewing yeast again, and the best part is that you can steal yeast from just about any unpasteurized beer on the planet. As for sourcing most of this can be found on www.cynmar.com and I've used www.homesciencetools.com as well.

Honestly do you really NEED all of this stuff? No. Not really. I guess you could make due with a few flasks, a couple of vials and a clothes hanger, but it's nice knowing for sure what your working with. Which is where a microscope comes in very handy. Check eBay, you would be amazed at how cheep you can get a "student" microscope (I found mine for $38).

In later post I'll cover the details of what you do with all this crap once you've amassed it!