Looking for some effective methods of capturing/cultivating wild yeast.

Tried to avoid it, but I've never actually WANTED to use it, so I'm clueless
as to how one would go about gathering it.

The only methods I've seen suggest leaving your wort out in the open, hoping
it catches hold of some floating yeast.

Is trial and error all there is?

"Chris" <rrufiange@cfl.rr.com> wrote in message
news:eM9Db.18565$Dt6.569194@twister.tampabay.rr.com...[color=blue]
> Looking for some effective methods of capturing/cultivating wild[/color]
yeast.[color=blue]
>
> Tried to avoid it, but I've never actually WANTED to use it, so I'm[/color]
clueless[color=blue]
> as to how one would go about gathering it.
>
> The only methods I've seen suggest leaving your wort out in the open,[/color]
hoping[color=blue]
> it catches hold of some floating yeast.
>
> Is trial and error all there is?[/color]

Try looking up some old recipes for beer and wine -- ones that didn't
have added yeast.

Generally, the natural yeast on the skin of the fruit was used. I
expect that it was a crap shoot -- if the bacteria that turns ethanol
into acetic acid (alcohol into vinegar) was also there, the results
would be different (though useful).

I don't know any of the details, but there is a tree that bears a fruit
that almost universally ferments while still on the tree. Birds get
drunk and fly into things from consuming the berries. A few of those
would make for a good starter.

If I wanted to culture wild yeast, I would start by making a bunch of
small batches of wine and beer. I would then get a culture sample from
the batches that worked well and use the techniques described in various
beer and wine making literature to propagate it.


Ray Drouillard

"Ray Drouillard" <cosmicNospam@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:brje8c$3vi0o$1@ID-193109.news.uni-berlin.de...[color=blue]
> Try looking up some old recipes for beer and wine -- ones that didn't
> have added yeast.
>
> Generally, the natural yeast on the skin of the fruit was used. I
> expect that it was a crap shoot -- if the bacteria that turns ethanol
> into acetic acid (alcohol into vinegar) was also there, the results
> would be different (though useful).
>
> I don't know any of the details, but there is a tree that bears a fruit
> that almost universally ferments while still on the tree. Birds get
> drunk and fly into things from consuming the berries. A few of those
> would make for a good starter.
>
> If I wanted to culture wild yeast, I would start by making a bunch of
> small batches of wine and beer. I would then get a culture sample from
> the batches that worked well and use the techniques described in various
> beer and wine making literature to propagate it.[/color]

Much thanks, Ray.

;-)

If you want to be systematic about it, here is a tip from a former
microbiologist. Get some agar (which you can buy at oriental food
stores) or gelatin. Mix up a batch of wort, but add the gel in the
prescribed amount. See if you can get petri dishes from some surplus
store or something. If you pour the hot wort into the dishes, then you
will have an agar plate.

Get a bunch of tongue depressors, and boil them for a while in water (I
don't know for a fact that your average tongue depressor can survive
this experience... you just need something you can smear across an agar
plate that isn't too expensive). Take the clean end of a tongue
depressor, and rub it against the skin of a fresh fruit. Now take that
end and gently smear it all around 1/4 of one of the plates. Now take a
fresh tongue depressor, touch it to the part of the plate you just
smeared, and smear it all around another 1/4 of the plate. Repeat this
twice more. This will spread microbes more and more thinly across the
plate. If you leave the plate upside down, some place warm and dark,
little round microbial colonies should appear.

By sampling a single colony, you can ensure that your wild yeast is of a
single species (a "monoculture). Plus, you get to do a cool science
experiment.

Chris wrote:[color=blue]
> Looking for some effective methods of capturing/cultivating wild yeast.
>
> Tried to avoid it, but I've never actually WANTED to use it, so I'm clueless
> as to how one would go about gathering it.
>
> The only methods I've seen suggest leaving your wort out in the open, hoping
> it catches hold of some floating yeast.
>
> Is trial and error all there is?
>
>[/color]