Juniper Yeast experiment

[woodshed]

On 2-5-14 I took five gallons of Smoke Shine wort and added six ounces of Juniper berries to it and sealed it up. Added berries @ 80F. Thought it would never take off but 48 hours later was bubbling lightly which it did for the 10 days it took to stop. Temp was kept @ 80f for the duration of ferment.

Smoke Shine is an all corn spirit. Normally with this recipe I use a yeast propagated onsite and based off of a White Labs Whiskey and SuperStart yeasts with a measure of creativity.

With this yeast the ferment tastes like a pear cider with light bread and apple notes.
With the Juniper yeast obvious evergreen with a pink grapefruit, vanilla finish.

OG was 1.062, finished @ 1.002. I will harvest this yeast and continue to experiment with it by itself and with other yeast. Next is a 25 gallon batch to run through the still. Curious to see what that taste like. Anyone out there ever experimented with this? Would love to here about it or any ideas others may have about it. Mitchy? Jimbo?

[MitchyBourbon]

That's an excellent approach woodshed. Good to see someone having success catching a useful wild yeast.

I have to admit that I have only attempted to capture wild yeast a couple of times. Two years back in fall, I set up a few petri dishes under one of my pear trees. I ended up with what looked like several different colonies of yeast and some bacteria. I propagated each of the colonies of yeast. I tested each of them in separate 1 liter containers of DME at sg 1.030.

None of them seemed suitable. I tried again later that same fall and got the same results. I may try it again with wild concord grapes this fall. I hope I have better luck with the grapes. Maybe I just gotta let them know who they're dealing with.

[PhatFil]

MB.. next time try taking a scrape of the bloom straight from the fruit and smear a plate with that. your bound to get a few viable colonies that way.

[midwest shinner]

That sounds awesome and very interesting woodshed, I've always wanted to try wild yeast... i hope you bring some samples of your works when you visit as I'm always excited to try others efforts. keep up the good work, i may have to finally try some wild yeast myself

[MitchyBourbon]

The colonies were viable I ruled them out for things like off smells, off taste, inability to finish to dry and all of them refused to settle. The method of collection may seem somewhat hit or miss but it allows me to easily isolate each colony. What I concluded was that my pear tree did not posses any suitable yeast. I was barking up the wrong tree.

[woodshed]

That sounds awesome and very interesting woodshed, I've always wanted to try wild yeast... i hope you bring some samples of your works when you visit as I'm always excited to try others efforts. keep up the good work, i may have to finally try some wild yeast myself

If I can get this sustainable and something I am happy with before I head that way I'll bring some yeast with me. Already planning on bringin the spirits. Travelling Amtrak so it's no problem to keep yeast cool for trip.

[midwest shinner]

That would be very cool woodshed, but either way i hope it goes well for ya

[Brendan]

Great experiment woodshed!

Wild yeast can be a hard nut to crack, as Mitchy pointed out it's not always viable.

That would have to be the ultimate as a commercial distiller to be able to isolate your own unique strain...then you have something special you can work with...a variable that separates your process from the rest. Good luck with it mate

[heartcut]

Very cool. Sounds like a good strain. Besides juniper berries, the other fruit yeast source that keeps showing up (in shine lore) is crabapples, pitched in pretty much the same way.

[woodshed]

Brendan, that's what I'm shooting for. Our yeast is already tailored to my liking. This is just improving/improvising on the same path.

[woodshed]

I appreciate the offer chucker but want to stick with my own harvest for now. Not ready to mix it up with different environments and such.

[woodshed]

Next step. 2-20-14

Same recipe, 3 five gallon fermenters.
F1- Same batch of berries up to 10oz from 6.
F2- Berries from a different location 6oz.
F3- Blend of berries for 6oz. 50/50.

1st batch berries came from a mesa top with a SE exposure. Elevation 7,000.
2nd batch from a draw about 10 miles away with a predominant NW aspect. 6,500'.

The juniper here are full of yeasty berries right now. Although this is about the yeast and I'm not a gin drinker who among you could resist the bounty? So I now have a gin in line for production.
It may never make it out of the distillery but am excited about the yeast.

[MitchyBourbon]

That does sound exciting. I am definitely going to re attempt if this place ever thaws out. We're in the middle of yet another blizzard.

[Erichimedes]

Woodshed, you've gotten me so interested in this! I'm right next door in Durango, and I'm dying to give this a try. I love finding ways to instill a sense of origin in the spirit, and I think this is a great idea. I don't have a wash ready to go yet, but I may go collect some berries this weekend in preparation. Do you crush the berries to add a bit of flavor to the wash, or are you using them strictly for yeast?

[woodshed]

You will get plenty of flavor from the berries without crushing them but it's worth a try.
Right now I'm shooting just for yeast. But the skies the limit.

[woodshed]

2-24-14
F2 is producing almost twice the bubble rate as F1 and slightly ahead of F3. ??? My first hunch tells me the berries are earlier in development than those of F1 due to aspect and exposure. Plump and coated with yeast. Probably just the year as Juniper are fickle that way.

[woodshed]

3-3-14
All three are done fermenting.
F1- 10 days again. FG 1.002
F2- 6 days. FG 1.001
F3- 8 days. FG 1.001

Yeast are harvested. No discernible difference in taste. F3 went into 25 gal. mash yesterday for run through still. Will run combined 15 gallons tonight.

[Jimbo]

With the Juniper yeast obvious evergreen with a pink grapefruit, vanilla finish.

That sounds like a keeper, unique and sounds very tasty. Congrats. I have not attempted to capture and propagate wild stuff. Altho I think the last bag of belgian dingemans wheat malt I bought threw heaps of them belgian sour oddities in my mash

[MDH]

This year I'm going to throw some raspberries into a grainless wort and see what happens. They have a good bloom on them.

[woodshed]

Sounds like a great idea. Keep us posted.

[Brendan]

Sounds like a successful experiment so far woodshed

I'm very interested to hear your tasting notes after running some wash through the still.

[woodshed]

Just got a still empty and am charging it now. Will do a single pass through 4 plates pulling product @ 80% just as I do my Smoke Shine.

[woodshed]

In hearts now and a few drops in a shot glass smell of desert winds, grapefruit, and the familiar smoky quality of my Smoke Shine. Happy.

[Jimbo]

a few drops in a shot glass smell of desert winds

haha, youre a poet.

[woodshed]

That would be a first Any one who has spent anytime in the pinyon/juniper forests of the west will know what I mean. Just no other way to describe it in my mind.

Now, what to do with the pinyon

[Brendan]

Happy.

Because I’m happy. Clap along if you feel like wild yeast is the truth

[Jimbo]

i did a spruce tip beer once. It was damn good. In the olden days they used fresh spring growth green spruce tips in beer before hops were available. I tried one once, collecting spruce tips off my trees in the spring. Ill do another sometime. Everyone enjoyed it.

[woodshed]

The oil in pinyon is what has always turned me off. I have some dry and have been thinking about smoking some grains with it.

Love the nuts though. May have to look past the oil.

I have done the same Jimbo and it can make for a tasty beer. If I was more in to gin, and I may get that way, I would do a spruce tip gin. Maybe a hint of orange and a spice or two?

[woodshed]

Early tasting notes. Grapefruit dominates with a sharp, clean nose of evergreen. Vanilla has gone away. Corn still strong. It's only been 4 days. Gin like but with the mouth feel of a whiskey. For now the smoke seems fairly subdued. Give her some time.

[Brendan]

Sounds like it's on track to be something special