Graham Wheelers Adnams Broadside, anyone brewed it?

[An Ankoù]

I think I've got to the bottom of WLP 025.
It is available but you have to go to Whitelabs homebrew and professional sales outlet which is called Yeastman and is accessed through the Whitelabs site. 025 is a "vault" strain, which is made in limited editions as and when. You have to register to make a preorder. So far there are 14 preorders and I think 50 are needed to trigger the batch. I was quite happy going through the hoops until I discovered that Fedex were putting a Covid supplement on their already hefty delivery charge and it made my preorder of a $6.95 phial cost nearly $50 so I pulled the plug. No doubt they'll do a batch when they get sufficient preorders and distribute to the usual suspects (including Brouwland, their European distributor from whom everybody else gets their stuff, I imagine).
So it's a waiting game.

 

[trueblue]

I think I've got to the bottom of WLP 025.
It is available but you have to go to Whitelabs homebrew and professional sales outlet which is called Yeastman and is accessed through the Whitelabs site. 025 is a "vault" strain, which is made in limited editions as and when. You have to register to make a preorder. So far there are 14 preorders and I think 50 are needed to trigger the batch. I was quite happy going through the hoops until I discovered that Fedex were putting a Covid supplement on their already hefty delivery charge and it made my preorder of a $6.95 phial cost nearly $50 so I pulled the plug. No doubt they'll do a batch when they get sufficient preorders and distribute to the usual suspects (including Brouwland, their European distributor from whom everybody else gets their stuff, I imagine).
So it's a waiting game.

They used to release these strains in bigger bulk once a year and I know the maltmiller has stocked it in the past. My be worth contacting MM to find out if and when they might stock it. A few years back he got in the Essex strain and it sold out in days.

 

[Galena]

I think I've got to the bottom of WLP 025.
It is available but you have to go to Whitelabs homebrew and professional sales outlet which is called Yeastman and is accessed through the Whitelabs site. 025 is a "vault" strain, which is made in limited editions as and when. You have to register to make a preorder. So far there are 14 preorders and I think 50 are needed to trigger the batch. I was quite happy going through the hoops until I discovered that Fedex were putting a Covid supplement on their already hefty delivery charge and it made my preorder of a $6.95 phial cost nearly $50 so I pulled the plug. No doubt they'll do a batch when they get sufficient preorders and distribute to the usual suspects (including Brouwland, their European distributor from whom everybody else gets their stuff, I imagine).
So it's a waiting game.

I just had a look myself on Yeastman and as far as I could see you have to order a minimum of 1.5 litres? I didn't proceed to sign up at this point.

 

[trueblue]

Another option is Brewlabs. They hold most of the major strains in storage and I have got slants from them in the past. I think there have been changes there recently but worth a phone call.

 

[An Ankoù]

I just had a look myself on Yeastman and as far as I could see you have to order a minimum of 1.5 litres? I didn't proceed to sign up at this point.

You have to select "homebrew packs"

But the delivery charge, as I said, is crippling! Certainly for a single phial. Might be viable if you're a retailer and want a dozen or so. Or maybe a forum order, but I can't see enough people wanting to make Adnams. In the meantime, I'm working through my tin of Ghost Ship and re-reading Chris White's section on lab technique.

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

Definitely be watching to see how you get on trying to recover/culture from the mini keg - I’m sure there will be a bit of yeast in there, but you’re going to have to be ultra careful with the hygiene to make sure it’s that that you’re growing rather than some random airborne spores that wander along

 

[Galena]

So it appears that we may well be onto a Adnams Yeast, we know the grain bill more or less, we know the hops, quantities will be a bit of a trial and error but if aiming for the IBU suggested by GW then we should get close and we know it is a high temperature dextrinous mash. The one missing link from the conundrum is the water profile.
Any info out there on Adnams water?

 

[An Ankoù]

Any info out there on Adnams water?

Does anybody out there live in or near Southwold?

 

[Galena]

Does anybody out there live in or near Southwold?

The question being though, do Adnams use the local water untreated?

 

[An Ankoù]

I've got a brand new can of Ghost Ship. I'm making up a flask of culture medium as we speak. I've not vented the can and I'm not going to. I've drawn the red tap and wrapped it round with a bit of kitchen towel soaked in metabisulphite solution. I'm going to draw off the first 250 ml or so and hope it contains the yeast. We'll see after it's been in the medium a couple of days. If not, I'll draw as much off as I can without venting the can, and again the next day The day after tI'll finish the can and put the last knockings into a culture medium.
Lets see if we can't get some Adnam's yeast rockin' and rollin'.
I'll keep you all informed as to how I get on.

I did exactly as I said above and drew of the first 250 ml and pitched it into a culture of 60g malt extract to 600 ml of water. I wasn't optimistic as the sample looked perfectly clear and while every swirling of the flask produced a little foam, I put that down to the CO2 in the beer. But, the foam never completely subsided and this morning, two days later, I've definitely got a successful culture. Without removing the aluminium foil cap, I can swirl the liquid and smell the escaping gas, which is sweet and yeasty and everything I would hope for. I think we're on to a winner here. Now, what to do with it as I hadn't any intention of brewing Adnams, I just wanted to see if it could be done from a party keg.

When I get to the end of the can, I'll try and culture the last dregs, too.

 

[jMac]

Now, what to do with it as I hadn't any intention of brewing Adnams, I just wanted to see if it could be done from a party keg.

Come on! You’ve gone to all this trouble - the least you could do is brew with it!

Doesn’t have to be an Adnams clone, anything traditional and British ale-ish will do.

 

[An Ankoù]

Come on! You’ve gone to all this trouble - the least you could do is brew with it!

Doesn’t have to be an Adnams clone, anything traditional and British ale-ish will do.

Oh. It won't go to waste. I want to make sure I've got a it available for when I do want it and the best way to do that long-term is to have it lying at the bottom of bottled beer. But I've got a sack of Chevallier coming today or tomorrow and I think I'll do a SMaSH with something fragrant and mellow. Probably Goldings or possibly Jester.

 

[Galena]

Oh. It won't go to waste. I want to make sure I've got a it available for when I do want it and the best way to do that long-term is to have it lying at the bottom of bottled beer. But I've got a sack of Chevallier coming today or tomorrow and I think I'll do a SMaSH with something fragrant and mellow. Probably Goldings or possibly Jester.

Brilliant, great to know it worked. Did you get enough yeast for a brew or are you going to have to build it up do you think? Also a great idea about getting it brewed and bottled as a source of the strain, I hadn't though of that and was considering making slants up, but that will be much easier.
Unfortunately my Ghost Ship got left in a hot conservatory so is unlikely to have any live yeast but my Broadside Keg should arrive today or tomorrow so I will be getting on with that.

 

[foxbat]

The Mini Kegs contain filtered or bright beer and the casks are basically filled up straight from the fermenter. The latter contain the original yeast and have a very short shelf life.
The kegs of filtered beer are filled and then (I think) force carbonated, but they aren't pasteurised so there will always be some residual yeast, but not enough to cloud the beer.
the question is whether there is sufficient yeast to get started. I've drawn off the first 250 ml and put it in a culture medium and we'll have to wait and see what happens. Otherwise I'll wash out the newly emptied keg and culture up the wash. It's fingers crossed time.

If this works and the culture is Adnams yeast and not something from the air then it'll be the first time I've seen it done with filtered beer. Come to think of it I have a 40x microscope at home here on the bench. Next time I get a bottle of something known to be unpasteurised I'll examine a few drops to look for signs of life.

Personally I'd just go down the local with a syringe and a sample jar and draw some off a pint. Not with Adnams yeast though, their unique dual strain is unevenly matched and won't grow up in the same ratio that the brewery is using.

 

[An Ankoù]

If this works and the culture is Adnams yeast and not something from the air then it'll be the first time I've seen it done with filtered beer. Come to think of it I have a 40x microscope at home here on the bench. Next time I get a bottle of something known to be unpasteurised I'll examine a few drops to look for signs of life.

Personally I'd just go down the local with a syringe and a sample jar and draw some off a pint. Not with Adnams yeast though, their unique dual strain is unevenly matched and won't grow up in the same ratio that the brewery is using.

It may well be something in the air, but I don't brew in my garage, where I drew off the beer, so it's unlikely to be a viable beer yeast and it smells very much like a beer yeast. If it turns out bad I'll certainly let everybody know.

Adnams is indeed a dual strain, as is RIngwood. But in their blurb, they claim to pitch a new culture every several brews and not every brew so I reckon I'll be ok for a couple of generations.
You need 400x to see yeast, I understand. Bare in ind, too, that a party keg contains the volume of 10 bottles so if anythings going to float to the bottom there's possibly a greater chance of catching it.

 

[foxbat]

It may well be something in the air, but I don't brew in my garage, where I drew off the beer, so it's unlikely to be a viable beer yeast and it smells very much like a beer yeast. If it turns out bad I'll certainly let everybody know.

Adnams is indeed a dual strain, as is RIngwood. But in their blurb, they claim to pitch a new culture every several brews and not every brew so I reckon I'll be ok for a couple of generations.
You need 400x to see yeast, I understand. Bare in ind, too, that a party keg contains the volume of 10 bottles so if anythings going to float to the bottom there's possibly a greater chance of catching it.

I love experiments like this. It'll be great to see how this turns out!

 

[Galena]

It has arrived, so now the fun begins. In a couple of days I'm going to make a starter from this and then I think make a split batch Broadside brew, 10 litres with this yeast and 10 litres with Wyeast 1187 Ringwood and see the difference.

Adnams is indeed a dual strain, as is RIngwood. But in their blurb, they claim to pitch a new culture every several brews and not every brew so I reckon I'll be ok for a couple of generations.

But if you overbuild a starter and put 100bn cells into storage until the next starter, are you maintaining the same generation or doing the same as bottom cropping off the FV?

 

[An Ankoù]

It has arrived, so now the fun begins. In a couple of days I'm going to make a starter from this and then I think make a split batch Broadside brew, 10 litres with this yeast and 10 litres with Wyeast 1187 Ringwood and see the difference.

View attachment 31354

But if you overbuild a starter and put 100bn cells into storage until the next starter, are you maintaining the same generation or doing the same as bottom cropping off the FV?

I don't know, in truth, Galena. I would think the former, but I'm just pleased to have something that looks like it might work and I won't know how successful it's been until the first brew's ready. In any case, I'm not going to overbuild a batch. I was going to, but the 2 litre Erlenmeyer flask I ordered at the beginning of the week hasn't arrived and the stuff in my 1 litre flask is raring to go. In any case I can't be arsed farting around trying to sterilise half-gallon demijohns etc, to use instead. So I'm going to pitch it in a 12 litre batch tomorrow and top-crop from that. @terrym says "Patience is the Friend of the Homebrewer", but this brewer's got no such friends! I haven't vented the keg yet so no air has got into it. I'll get through the contents over tonight and tomorrow and build another crop from the dregs.

BUT, I see you've got "live cask beer" there, not the filtered stuff. You should have no trouble finding yeast in there. Great stuff! Did you find it in a supermarket or order it online? I'll get one ordered for next time someone's crossing the Channel.

 

[Galena]

BUT, I see you've got "live cask beer" there, not the filtered stuff. You should have no trouble finding yeast in there. Great stuff! Did you find it in a supermarket or order it online? I'll get one ordered for next time someone's crossing the Channel.

As far as I know the only place you can get it at the moment is HERE I asked them why this was and they apparently bought the entire stock just prior to the Pandemic, Adnams have not produced any since.

I bought a 3 Litre Erlenmeyer flask a while ago and stirrer plate, it has been a godsend for propogating yeast, I always overbuild now and store in a 500ml Kilner Jar.

 

[Benfleet Brewery]

The question being though, do Adnams use the local water untreated?

I went on a tour of the Adnams brewery last year. The guide said they had their own Well many years ago but it got contaminated so they now use the local water. Not sure if/how they treat it though.