Not living in the right valley in Europe, I still find the idea of using
wild yeast interesting. Has anyone tried this (deliberately) and if so
what were the results?

--
-bill davidsen )
"The secret to procrastination is to put things off until the
last possible moment - but no longer" -me
Beer blog: http://www.tmr.com/~davidsen/beer

[it's probably better to post this on rec.crafts.brewing, but anyway...]

In article > ,
says...
> Not living in the right valley in Europe, I still find the idea of using
> wild yeast interesting. Has anyone tried this (deliberately)

Not deliberately...

> and if so what were the results?

Pretty disgusting!

You'll find that very few wild yeasts make a palatable beer. By all
means, go ahead and try it, but typically you wind up with something
unpleasantly phenolic that is best used as slug bait.

The wild yeasts predominant in my area produce a very funky, unpleasant
clove-like character with a sourness that is not clean. Nothing like a
pleasant Belgian yeast strain or yeast/bacterial fermentation common to
some belgian ales.

This is in contrast to wild yeast fermentation of apples for cider - for
some reason that works quite nicely here.

--
Bill

I've had some experiments from a local micro that have used
"cultivated" wild yeast. They have a staff microbiologist who
cultivated 7 wild yeast isolates from wild raspberries growing in
Cheyenne Canyon Colorado. They didn't ferment out their beers with the
yeast but rather innoculated finished conventional beers with honey and
the wild yeast isolates.

The results have been good to phenominal IMO. At the merely good side
the beers have been slightly lactic but rather one-dimensional and
sometimes "Orvallish". On the phenominal side they made a "sour wheat"
that went through the entire sweet-tart profile I haven't tasted the
like of since I had Cantillon Iris on tap.

_Randal

In article . com>,
says...
> I've had some experiments from a local micro that have used
> "cultivated" wild yeast. They have a staff microbiologist who
> cultivated 7 wild yeast isolates from wild raspberries growing in
> Cheyenne Canyon Colorado. They didn't ferment out their beers with the
> yeast but rather innoculated finished conventional beers with honey and
> the wild yeast isolates.
>
> The results have been good to phenominal IMO. At the merely good side
> the beers have been slightly lactic but rather one-dimensional and
> sometimes "Orvallish". On the phenominal side they made a "sour wheat"
> that went through the entire sweet-tart profile I haven't tasted the
> like of since I had Cantillon Iris on tap.

Pretty interesting - I do know a mycologist who works in a related are
of research as I do who isolated strains of "blue stain fungi"
associated with bark beetles (don't ask) and made experimental beers
with them.

I didn't get a chance to taste any of them, but I was told that some, at
least, turned out quite well.

Note that this is *very* different than simply exposing wort to
atmospheric critters (where I suspect you get a yeast/bacteria mix).

--
Bill

Bill Davidsen wrote:
> Not living in the right valley in Europe, I still find the idea of using
> wild yeast interesting. Has anyone tried this (deliberately) and if so
> what were the results?
>

I am currently using wild yeast to ferment an 'elderflower champagne'.
It relies on wild yeasts living on the elderflowers.
--
___________________________________________
Sam Wigand

"Quaggy River Brewery"