I Will Get Slammed For This, BUT....

I agree, and a lot of people are saying this. There are a number of breweries who have lost control of their yeast. It is a potentially expensive proposition to clean up the issue - a serious disruption to production. This might be a great example an Emperor’s new clothes phenominon. Why fix a problem or dump a batch while they have ample "connoisseurs" out there who think this is a good thing. As a homebrewer, I have had beers beers turn out inapproriately phenolic but still drinkable. Hell, call it a Belgian IPA, and people don't question it. Power of suggestion.

 

I never thought JK was supposed to be anything but a Farmhouse-style brewery. I always thought it ran contrary to their whole image to do non-farmhouse beers but I'm not a style **** so I don't really care one way or another.

I don't see the farmhouse versions of those beers as the same as other brewers getting infected batches and calling it a sour beer and charging more for it. I have a hard time believing JK couldn't sanitize their equipment to knock out a saison yeast. They die in acid-based cleaners like any other yeast.

 

JKs goal from their start up has been to be a "farmhouse" brewery, best example of this is Fantome. "Farmhouse" breweries use a proprietary "house" yeast. Their reason for this is because it is the "terrior" of the beer, it is essentially the yeast or life of the brewery. JK, if you read their earlier statements, has never sought out to be a brewery to make large batches of IPA, or brew beers to style guidelines. They want to be a farmhouse brewery. I don't think there is some great conspiracy that they can not properly sanitize their hoses and fixtures so all of their beers come out "farmhouse." Look at any other brewery that uses multiple yeast strains and they are able to sanitize everything using standard PWB and I'm sure JK uses that too. The only way they could risk infecting their beers would be through introducing Brett or bacteria into their hoses, but I would assume they have separate equipment or all of their beers would be sour or funky. Sure infections happen, case in point 2009 Abyss, but the are usually apparent and not caused by saison yeast. JK has been one of the most open breweries I've ever seen I highly doubt they would be hiding an infection problem. The only reason they initially used the English ale yeast was to get beers out the door and start making money. At the time they were working on getting their house yeast the way they like it. If you really don't like their beers, then just don't buy them, let the market help them decide whether they should change or not.

 

They do more then most breweries, but that doesn't mean they are going to change because we want them to change. It would be like if Cantillon in the 70s decided to stop brewing Lambics because they were not selling well and started making Euro Lagers because that is what the people wanted.

 

Your ideas are intriguing to me and I wish to subscribe to your newsletter.

Preach!

 

You may be right about these JK farmhouse versions being completely intentional. But the idea that a brewery like this would just slightly rebrand a previous releases as "Farmhouse" seems strange at face value. First there was Black Metal. Then came Black Metal with "Farmhouse" written in crayon. It's like going to the store and only finding Cherry Coke but no Coke - because they decided not to make the original. Again, It just seems a little strange.

I will tell you that its is an absolute fact that breweries have to deal with strain contaminated and other yeast degradation issues. I know brewers who are dealing with it this very moment - fixing yeast problems while trying to meet production schedule and pay the employees and bills. More established brewers deal with it less often because they have better yeast managment (labs and redundant propogation systems), When they do have a problem, you and I are probably never going to find out about it because they are more financially able to withstand the dumping of batches, taking bottling lines down, repropagating to production batches of yeast or whatever it takes.

 

"Red, I do believe you're talking out of your ass."

It seems to me that they have perfect control over their farmhouse yeast. They are producing well fermented, clean, quaffable beers. To make great beer consistently means that they are manipulating that yeast to make the beer they want. Sanitation, mash profile, fermentation temps, life cycle of the yeast, etc have been carefully controlled to effect an outcome.

As a homebrewer, it's quite simple to change a yeast, especially from english strain to farmhouse variety. There is no risk of cross contamination with switching those two out. The process is a bit more complicated for a production brewery, of course, because of pitch size and having to reuse the yeast through multiple life cycles, but it's not difficult. Many production breweries use different yeast strains for their beers.

But the notion that JK is too lazy or too unskilled to change a yeast is pretty ridiculous. They are making the beers they want, the way they want, with the yeast they choose.

Just sounds like you don't like those beers.

BK

 

Yeah, its not a traditional business practice. But JK is nothing if not non-traditional. (Triple negative?)

 

Maybe you are right, but read my post above I don't want to repeat myself too much.

These are the exploding bottle guys. Dumping several batches of beer - that could be serious commercial suicide. Cmon man, they are still learning how to run a brewery. We can be forgiving of that. It's definatley not about being lazy. Skill and experience might enter into it though.

 

They did technically issue a recall on those bottles and refund for them. So it's not like they tried to hide it.

 

I recall they posted a thread on BA about the bottles. I remember making a joke about the beer living up to its name. They are also not hiding the fact that it's not the standard Black Metal or Wytchmaker Etc.

If they come onto this thread and say that the farmhouse versions were intentional from the start, I will take them at their word. I don't think they'd come online and lie (someone might eventually expose that.) If it was indeed unintentional, that's okay too. It still is drinkable, and if people like it they can and will buy it. I want these guys to succeed. I hope they sell everything they can produce.

 

They have said it was intentional numerous times. I had a conversation with Ron Extract at the Grand Opening party where he said they would eventually go all Farmhouse yeast. This was well before they first released Farmhouse Black Metal or Wytchmaker on tap or bottles.

 

Wasnt for fun...they had to pay the bills and for the next stage of what theyt really wanted to do.
Just wished they would have a regular offering as well, maybe open a secondary brewery or sister brewery that does non farmhouse style crazy beers that push the envelop as well.
hmmm....

 

Fun should have said FUND lol, thats what i get for not uzing spel chek and not pa in atten shun.



Im actually suprised you were the only one to pick up on the word fun lol

and i would be the first one to volunteer to brew the OG versions of all their beers. Hell, i even have a gold, silver and bronze medal winning brewer that wants me to help him open a brewpub here in texas.