N. C. Old Rasputin

All the online recipe stuff calls for Chico. Why, when i drink a real one, do i find that hard to believe? Does anyone here happen to know with some certainty what they actually use. They claim “brewed in the tradition of 18th century English” so very few of those used Chico, I would imagine. I may be fooling myself but it sure seems like some grape lollipop ester behind the roast

I haven’t had any in a couple years but I wanna pick some up now. It never seemed very British fruity by my recollection but that doesn’t make me right. I wonder about the Chico thing - I always thought they used their own house strain. Could be wrong again. Regardless, it was always my favorite readily available RIS. Gotta pick some up now!

Even though I live 50 miles from YCH and 50 miles from Wyeast, I live in a beer desert. I found these bombers at an Albertsons in the big city. Battle Ground, Wa. lol

Try Wyeast-1450, deep dives on the inter webs sez that is where it originally came from. Probably has had some drift, but a good starting place vs. Chico.

Try cal ale V

Denny, is this true? Did NC swipe it from you?

No. Brewtek was a yeast company a long time ago. Denny kept their *50 yeast going, and sent it to Wyeast. Legend has it the Brewtek sourced it from NC.

There are other yeasts that came through homebrewers, after they were obtained.

You remember EVERYTHING.

https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/forum/index.php?topic=25466.msg327612.msg#327612

Trouble is, it came from Mark, and no one believes much he had to say about yeast.[emoji6]

But if Denny confirms it, I will almost believe it.

Makes it sound like North Coast has been around forever. So if this 29 year old brewery is the American origin, where did they get It? I suspect the UK

Mark said UC Davis, so I’m thinking Charie brought it over the pond

Good grief, we’ve been talking about this for over 2 years, lol.

We’ll, this might be wrong because in 2009 Skyler says “I was doing some research looking for a clone of Red Seal Ale, when I came across an old thread on the green boards where someone mentioned North Coast got their strain from the yeast bank at UC Davis (my alma mater). The same thread mentioned that a North Coast brewer took it to Brewtek and that it became CL50. Brewtek CL50 = Wyeast 1450, so I figure there is a very good chance that 1450 is North Coast’s house strain - for their American style beers, anyway.”

For their American styles… right. Because there wasn’t a law saying a brewery had to use their house strain ONLY. Surely they dont use 1450 in their saison? So I’m still not convinced.

I’m willing to bet it’s NOT Chico.

I emailed N.C. asking if it’s English yeast. Bet I get no response.

This is a good point, most breweries that have a banked yeast (especially from 20+ years ago), I wouldn’t be shocked if they are different than the yeast of the same name made today.  I would assume white labs or wyeast does the same thing to prop up “Deschutes Ale Yeast” and WLP-005 for the homebrew market but you never know.

Another thing is, personally I wouldn’t be shocked to see a yeast perform differently under commercial settings than homebrew settings.  We see differences from tank to tank based on tank size and geometry.  I wouldn’t be shocked if it doesn’t scale the same way and there’s a big difference pitching 4 oz of yeast into 3 gallons versus 200 pounds of yeast into 3,000 gallons.  I don’t know enough about yeast to be able to explain why there are differences between the different tanks and batches, but just enough that I’ve observed it happening.

I also don’t think yeast is as predictable as we give it credit for and it doesn’t always do the same things.

Yep.  The most reliable info I’ve been able to find is that it’s the source of 1450.  No confirmation, but having just had several NC beers I can believe it.

Raspy is fantastic. Glad to know it is 1450 from way back. I didn’t believe Chico.

We’ve established that 1450 is from North Coast. No one has proven that it’s what they use in Old Rasputin yet. The brewery says they brew O.R. in the tradition of the original RIS, which hints that they perhaps are using an English strain. We wouldn’t use the same logic (must be the house strain) to determine what yeast they use in their Saison… or a Belgian Strong,  or their Pilsner.

Based on the bit of experience I have with 1450 and having had an OR within the past couple weeks, I think it’s a reasonable assumption that it is 1450.  It tastes like it, it feels like it.  No proof, but an educated guess.

That’s good enough for me, pending info to the contrary from the brewery.

Thanks Denny

I totally agree with this.

Jim

My two cent have nothing to do with the yeast. But I brewed a batch a couple years back following all the published recipes (I think they were all the same from BYO, zymurgy, etc) and it was NOT a clone. It was like a brown ale. Double check the numbers on your recipe. I did not until after and was disappointed.

Thanks Joe. But I’m not using anyone’s recipe. And my imperial won’t be an attempt at a clone. I just had a glass in front of me and surfed recipes. I was just trying to confirm or deny what I was getting from the beer. Can’t be 1056

Cool.  You’ve inspired me to have an OR for lunch.  And I almost wore my OR shirt today, too.  Yes, I have one!

My broader point regarding the published recipe, if I had a broader point, was that it is so far off I am not surprised that the yeast would be wrong.

To be honest, having just had two sips, behind the roast and the hops I would be hard pressed to pick out the particulars of the yeast…