In case anyone is interested, Mike Tonsmeire tweeted about a pretty cool project and I thought I would pass it along. (As far as I know Tonsmeire isn't involved in the project itself except perhaps as a funder.) It's a crowdfunded and crowdsourced project to sequence the DNA from a bunch of mixed cultures and then ferment some wort with all of the cultures to see what happens. The idea is that you kick in a few bucks and you also send your mixed culture samples to them. (They suggest just sending a few bottles of your mixed-fermentation beer, which makes me wonder about their ulterior motives... kidding, kidding.) I haven't contributed yet but I might. I'm otherwise unaffiliated with this project. [Updated to add: Looks as though if you chip in $100 you can get the yeast or the bacteria in your beer sequenced, and for $200 you can get both.] [Updated again: Tax deductible though!]
