Can you mix yeast strains?

[mikeofa2]

I was re-activating some yeast today for a rum run when I realized I had mixed 2 different strains . One was Lalvin K1-V1116 and the other was Lalvin RC212. It reactivated fine so I went ahead and pitched it. What can I expect?

[blind drunk]

Yes you can ... Each has its own flavor profile. Could be good. What are you making? bd.

OFA2 - Occupational First Aid Level 2??

[mikeofa2]

I'm riffing on the sweet feed whiskey recipe. I found a feed store near me that sells molassas for .20 cents a pound. I got a 5 gallon bucket for about $11. I didn't realize I was almost out of sugar for my next run so I add 3 lbs. brown sugar and about 6 cups of molasses. We shall see.......

[mikeofa2]

Ok. So I've killed my yeast. Here's what I did.

I've read in other posts that you can use the hot dunder to cook your next batch of mash. Sooooo

I put 4" of sweet feed in a bucket , siphoned off enough of the hot (~200F) dunder to cover. added 3 lbs of brown sugar 6 cups of molasses and 2t of amylase enzyme and let it sit covered for 2 hrs. At this point the temp was still up around 150F I added 4 quarts cold water to lower the temp to 70F and pitched my yeast. Sealed and airlock. Got up in the morning and nothing. Stirred it and added 6 T of bakers yeast to wake it up and still nothing. Any comments?

[Usge]

It's possible to end up with a different strain. But more than likely one of the yeast will simply win out over the other one. Could still leave a residual effect on the flavor profile though.

[Usge]

mike, could be your PH too low and/or a lack of oxygen. Backset lowers PH. If you use too much of it and PH gets too low...it could completely stall. The other thing yeasties need in the beginning stage is oxygen...and boiled out backset ain't got much in it. Fresh water does, and you should still thrash it around good to oxygenate it prior to pitching your yeast. If it doesn't start soon, split it into two fermenters, balance the recipe and use more water. Give it a good thrashing around.

Not sure pitching enzymes at higher temps is a good idea either. You should not pitch your enzymes until the temp "drops" to around 155-150F. Most likely, if you pitched them at much higher temps..they were denatured as soon as you put them in the pot.

[mikeofa2]

Thanks Usge. I'll keep you posted

[rad14701]

When pitching multiple yeast strains the worst case scenario is that the strongest yeast strain will eat the weaker strains as nutrients... Neither yeast or enzymes will survive ~150F+ temperatures... Most yeast won't survive above ~115F...

Bakers yeast will almost always kick in within ~15 minutes, at 75F - 95F, by design... Other strains may take as long as 2 - 12 hours and may have a broader temperature range...

[rubber duck]

I also suspect your ph is to low, do what usage said and it might recover.

[mikeofa2]

Good News! Looks like the little monsters were just being a little lazy. Came back from the beach and they are just bubblin' away

[Husker]

very likely a lack of dissolved O2. That can happen on a backset run. There is zero O2 (unless you add a little splashing/pouring it into the fermenter.

Be sure to agitate A LOT when using backset, to shove some fresh air (and O2) into the mix.

H.