What wild yeasts for Historic Porter?

Discussion in 'Homebrewing' started by PangaeaBeerFood, Apr 23, 2012.

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  1. PangaeaBeerFood

    PangaeaBeerFood Initiate (0) Nov 30, 2008 New York

    So, I brewed up a batch of pseudo-historic Porter yesterday that is currently in primary fermentation. I've read that portions of these were normally designated "Keeping Porter" and moved to oak vats for bulk aging, during which wild yeast and bacteria would chomp away at the beer and give it some sourness and funk. I'd like to split the batch, bottle half fresh and age the other half on some oak and wild yeast.

    My question: Most of the wild blends available are inspired by Belgian sours. Would the bugs in a 1700-1800 English oak vat be similar or would there be a different makeup? If so, are there any blends available on the market that are intended to replicate wild yeast and bacteria from the UK?
     
    #1 PangaeaBeerFood, Apr 23, 2012
  2. hopfenunmaltz

    hopfenunmaltz Pooh-Bah (2,647) Jun 8, 2005 Michigan
    Pooh-Bah

    The Brett C that White Labs has is what I would use.
     
    #2 hopfenunmaltz, Apr 23, 2012
  3. PangaeaBeerFood

    PangaeaBeerFood Initiate (0) Nov 30, 2008 New York

    That's what I was thinking. But would the effects be too one-note? I'd imagine an actual barrel has a quite a few different bugs in it. I've never used any strain of brett on its own, only in lambic blends.
     
    #3 PangaeaBeerFood, Apr 23, 2012
  4. hopfenunmaltz

    hopfenunmaltz Pooh-Bah (2,647) Jun 8, 2005 Michigan
    Pooh-Bah

    Brettanomycies Claussenii was discovered by Claussen the Carlsberg Brewery. It was in samples of British beer they were studying, and the name Brettanomycies means British Fungus. A friend has made beers with this, and you can think it is similar to what they drank then. Historic porters are said to have been sour, but you don't see wild in the write ups.

    http://www.whitelabs.com/beer/strains_wlp645.html
     
    #4 hopfenunmaltz, Apr 23, 2012
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