Making a wooden brew paddle full o' bugs!

I have not tried this, but if your using the brew paddle during the mash and the boil wouldn't that sanitize it from the heat? You would have to have a paddle just for stirring the wort after its cooled. Besides I think there is too much of a risk of collecting un-friendly bugs if you just have an unsanitary wood paddle sitting around in a drawer somewhere between brew days.

 

With all due respect, a bug-infused paddle is not a great idea. You'll likely end up killing the bugs when you try to clean or sanitize it, or you'll put a dirty, unsanitized paddle into your wort and get tons of less friendly nasties in it that'll spoil it. I dig the concept, but paddles aren't a great medium for inoculation.

 

He seemed to imply that he would use it after the beer was chilled (ie. for whirl pooling).

But alas, I sort of agree with the others, I don't think it's worth it and you wouldn't really get any oak notes from the limited contact.

You could invest in a few mini oak kegs (like 5 liters?) or even a 5 gallon barrel.

Or I wonder if you could just reuse something like this. I suppose you could try the same by reusing oak chips.

Between brews, you can keep it stored in a bucket of water that has a metabisulfite in it - it will keep out mold but not kill the good bugs. In fact, even if you try the paddle or the keg/barrel route, you would have to do that.

 

Yeast was often transferred from paddle to wort, back before anyone knew what yeast was. The vikings used to pass brewing paddles down from generation to generation because it was believed that certain families were "blessed" with he ability to ferment, and their paddle was "sacred." In actuality, yeast was living in the wood and being deposited in the wort when it was stirred. However, their fermentation was usually open air. Due to this fact, I believe that the yeast transferred to the wort via the paddle was minimal, and the fermentation was actually spontaneous. Either way, these beers were fermented with wild yeast, from the paddle or the air. If you were able to successfully replicate the results, you will have a sour or wild beer. But, the odds are you will just get a bacteria brew.
I should add: I am by no means an expert on wild yeast,(I've never brewed one) so I'm kinda talkin out my ass. But I have read the passing down the paddle thing, so there is some validity to your question.
One more point: If you were successful, you have have a paddle with one type of yeast. Just me but that sounds like a waist of time. I use many different types of yeast.

 

Why dont you just use oak cubes? Inoculate some oak cubes and store them some where sterile. When you're ready to use the bugs just toss in a few cubes.

 

Either one would work, I believe Vinny gave out oak chips with their bugs on them at a conference once. Cubes are just better at absorbing liquid. I guess since you are not trying to absorb flavor into the cubes, chips should work fine too.

 

I wouldn't try to make it a "multipurpose" device - no reason to use it for the whirlpool. You'd want to keep it away from extreme conditions.

Potential design:

You could use a 1" diameter oak dowel, maybe a 12" piece. To increase surface area exposure, drill up the center to create a thick cyllander and then drill lateral holes through it. Maybe the lateral holes should be drilled on the bias so that they'll drain. Insert something like a stainless steel racking tube partially into one end (that's your handle.) It will look kinda like a large popsicle of wooden swiss cheese or a flute with way too many holes.

 

You may be talkin out your ass but I think you're right. I think any yeast that could be transferred in this way would be pretty minimal and the bacteria level would be high. If you used this paddle to stir wort at or just before pitching a slurry of healthy yeast, you might conceivably come out with a beer that some added character from wild yeast and/or bacteria, but it'd be sheer luck if it turned out well. I think if I wanted to experiment in this direction, I'd try some open fermentations.

 

I like this idea. That might work well for storing a nice brett strain mix. If you also have this racking cane passing through a bung or carboy cap you can suspend the wood exactly where you want it in the carboy. It also seems like you could (with moderate difficulty) manage the exact amount of air/oxygen that gets in via the racking cane.

 

i think if you are really interested it could be done. but it is not a real good idea. unless you want you beer to be hit or miss, mostly miss. anticipate many infected beers and drain pours.

the discovery of proper sanitation and yeast management was the single biggest advance in the history of brewing. no need to fix what isn't broken.
Cheers.

 

It might be ok if you want all of your beers to be sour and require as much as years to reach something you want to drink, as many spontaneously fermented beers do. Of course you might go through a lot of paddles that hold undesirable combinations of life before you find one that's ok.

 

Buy an oak barrel. Brew a sour in it. Rack subsequent beers to barrel to sour.

 

I can't remember where else I read about the viking thing (I read a fair share of historic non-fiction), but Palmer makes reference to it in "How to Brew." The first paragraph of the yeast chapter. Just following up.

To the O.P.:
What exactly is the point with the experiment? Are you planning to leave the wood in the beer and acquire some flavor from the wood, or are you trying to see if the wood will alter the yeast?
After reading some other responses, I may be misunderstanding the goal.