Un Poquito Wylde Tasting

Now that my kegerator is fully operational again, and this keg is fully carbed, I can finally get around to tasting the micro saison I made with my local wild yeast. If you remember the grist was simple, half Vienna malt and half white wheat malt for an OG of 1.032.

For such a simple and small beer this thing has a lot going on. I think it's really cool to make a beer that is completely unique to your area. Unfortunately that's a hard thing to do here in South Texas where mold runs rampant most of the year. I probably tried harvesting yeast 5 or 6 times before I got this last round to actually work without any sort of infectious mold. All in all the flavors of the yeast are relatively mild. Brett character mostly. If I decide to reuse the yeast (which I did wash and save in a growler) I expect some more lacto/pedio character to develop.

Appearance is a ruddy straw color. From the tap a one finger pristine white head forms. The head sticks around quite a bit, that's thanks to the wheat.The head is a little bit alive, with rocky chunks of foam forming and dissipating. Beer is quite cloudy, yeast was not very flocculant. Even with a week of cold crashing, I may decide to hit it with some finings..

The aroma is interesting to say the least. A bit of crackery malt, and a touch of Czech Saaz pokes through, then just awash from the yeast. Solid Brett character, pineapple and other non-descript tropical fruits first, followed by danky bretty must and funk.

The taste follows suit right along with the nose. A bit of Czech saaz character makes itself known up front then gets washed away with Brett character. Tropical notes of pineapple and mango dominate the palate followed by a slight bit of musty Brett funk. A light bit of lactic sourness hits the back of the palate. Finishes dry, but that's too be expected.

The mouthfeel is surprisingly full for such a small beer. The large amount of wheat really helped with that, but there's also a certain silkiness to it that I believe to be coming from the yeast... a lot like what you would get from a saison yeast. I carbed it only to 2.5 volumes to keep it from being astringent, but it's not quite lively enough. So I think I'll up the pressure for a couple of days to see how that helps.

Overall it's a great beer, that's nice and refreshing as it's getting hot out. I think I'm going to try to let it live in the kegerator for a month before I completely finish it. I'd like a bit more acidity to develop. This yeast is interesting and could play well for a larger beer.

Edit 4/26: Decided to throw an ounce of Czech Saaz into the keg. I'm loving the character of the beer so far, but would really like some more hop character.