hist-brewing: wild yeast

[Mills, Scott]

 > Has anyone ever experimented with cultivating wild yeast?
 > and what would the side effect be of mixing yeast 
 > (ie. lager, stout).

Not real clear on what you mean by "cultivating".  

If you are referring to the act of actually plating and 
isolating the wild yeast to come up with a "pure" culture 
of a single yeast strain, then for me the answer is no.

If you are speaking of simple brewing without he benefit
of a commercial culture then yes that I have done I and  I
know other who have done the same.  My personal experience
has been with cider from fresh-pressed apples from a friends
orchard that I allowed to ferment with the wild yeast.
The cider turned out quite nice with an unexpected spicy 
note.

It is perfectly OK to use a blend of yeast when you ferment.
In fact, Wyeast actually sells a number of blends including
1087 Ale blend, and 2178 Lager blend.   If you wanted to 
blend ale and lager yeast it wont hurt anything although one
strain (the one best suited to your temp, gravity, etc.) might 
likely win-out and out compete the other.

Regards, 

Scott Mills
Scott.Mills at compaq.com

aka Lord Eadric Anstapa
visit the SCA Brewing Page http://sca_brew.homestead.com

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