Wednesday
Aug102011
Brewing TV - Episode 42: King's Coolship
Wednesday, August 10, 2011 at 8:34PM Original postdate: Aug. 12, 2011
The King is in the building! NB foot soldier and determined yeast junky Jeremy King (you remember him from Episode 4, right?) is back with yet another twisted yeast experiment. This time he's trying wrangle wild yeast from his environs in Milwaukee, WI for eventual commercial use. He's got a very interesting way of going about it - utilizing a coolship. Wild yeast, microscopes, fire, and fermented fish. You never know what you're going to get when you're hanging out with J-King. Prepare to be - KING'D!
Other version: Vimeo (downloadable) / iTunes / blip.tv / YouTube
Related Links
Brewing TV - Episode 4: Open Fermentation (The King's first BTV appearance)
The Ways of the King:
- 2 Things Literature Says You Shouldn't Do That You Shouldn't
- Better Brewing Through Chemistry
- Beer and Your Body: The Alcohol Hangover
- Eat Your Beer Like a King
Reader Comments (27)
Excellent ending shot. Nice job hosting, King.
Awesome! I've done some yeast wrangling off of wine grapes that I grow in my yard with some good results. I wish I could use lakefront's lab to check out what I got.
I'm excited for the follow up episode.
King needs to sit down Mono A Mono with Dawson and have a brewing nerd off! Awesome episode!
Best episode yet. It reminded me of many reasons why I homebrew. All the mold in the koolship is exactly why I don't play with spontaneous fermentation in the summer, but if you're going to be plating/isolating yeast overtime I can see the justification. You definitely need to make King a regular host. I'm looking forward to the Lake Front episode, that was the first brewery tour I took. Nice work Chip!
Fan-Freaking-Tastic! I started an open fermentation a few months ago with some second runnings and a bucket. It might be time to taste that and find out what is in my air around here.
No Vorlauf and short mashing, thank you for putting that out there! I get told all the time that my practices shouldn't make good beer. After testing conversion with a tincture of iodine I too came to the 15 minute conversion realization. My LHBS told me about it and so I have not mashed a full hour in months. Pilsner, Wheat, Oats, doesn't matter they all convert in time (since I've always got pale or 2-row in the mash)
Aussies brew in a bag and I used to for a very long time as well. There is no vorlauf with that method so it stands to reason I don't need to when mashing in a cooler. Still turning out great beer here. I support your conclusions!
sell the yeast maybe?
This was fun. Experimentation is such an important part of brewing, but it's especially possible on the homebrew level. It's cool that he is working with Lakefront too. Please do some kind of short pour episode about the progress of this in a couple months or so. It will be fun to see if a yeast strain is isolated and then used. Or it would be interesting to know how it tastes. I really should do a half gallon or so of wort like this just to see what happens some time. Good work as usual.
That is some serious beer geekery right there!
To: Yeast geek, fermented/pickled fish guy, and friend of yeast geek and fermented/pickled fish guy.
Thank you for wasting 22 minutes and 3 seconds of my life.
I will never get this time back.
I should have listened to Chip's warning.
Keep up the good work.
How about a screen over that coolship, to keep the insects out? And talking over it?!? Seems like bacteria might overrun any yeast in there. Maybe I don't have the right mindset for open fermentation, but I still wish you and your experiments success!
That was fabulous!!! I am in awe of the fermentation taking place in your basement.
SWAMBO will not be happy when I get to that point!!
So im diggin the reggae music that fills this episode!, and I too have a bob or 4 that watches over my brew sessions! great stuff! good job yall!
I really enjoyed this episode a lot. I am not really a particular yeast-head, but there was a lot of good information here. I hope we will get to see how this beer turned out.
Absolutely rad! i love it how you are doing no chilling (well, not the normal way haha) but glad to see it's being used!
great job to both of you. and i fully agree about the beer nerdiness brew off! but that episode would be VERY long i gather!
I'm with Adam; a screen will cut out the insects and their transfered bacteria and mould but let the yeast through. What're your thoughts Kinger?
This was definitely my favourite episode yet!!! Very interesting and great to learn something new! Especially about something as complex as yeasts! Thanks BTV!!!
you are a nut. you are the antichrist of brewing. i like it. looking forward to hearing the results.
Great episode. I can't wait to see what comes of this. I love the enthusiasm for homebrewing you guys put out there. Always makes me wish I could brew more often.
I agree that a screen to keep the bugs out would have been a good idea. As an experiment in my highschool biology class we sampled and plated a housefly. All bacteria and mostly acetobacter at that.
Great show!!!!! Loved the Coolship and King's total disregard for brew law. I did have to turn my head and gag during the fish eating. NASTY, You midwesterners and your fish. Gross! Keep up the good work!!! Brew For All
@Crezzer among others: While flies and other insects do carry a bunch of bacteria, especially acetobacter, they are the least of my concerns. No matter what I could have done, yeast would have inoculated this brew... And if it is spoiled, I don't care too much because I can still recover the wild yeast(s) and clean the culture(s) via acid washing, chlorine dioxide, and/or plating methods. I am not overtly concerned with drinking this particular batch. The truth is, the beer I have recovered from this is pretty clean - at least there are no signs of acetobactor, mold, or any other major contaminant. I will likely age this beer under Orval-esque conditions and see how it ends up in terms of flavor. The cleaned yeast, I will immediately harvest, purify, and re-pitch into a Pilsner-based wort with minimal hops (<5 IBU). Then, we'll see how it tastes and decide what to do with it after that... Stay tuned. Keep the inquiry coming. Email me: jeremy@northernbrewer.com
Thank you all for the support. Keep on watching and mention BTV every time you order anything from Northern Brewer!
Cheers!