Cropping WLP670 American Farmhouse

I have set forth into this experiment with eyes wide open. When I stumbled across this yeast blend bells started to go off. White Labs 670 American Farmhouse blend is a blend of a traditional Saison yeast and a proprietary strain of Brettanomyces, rumored to have originated from the famous Lost Abbey Brewing Company of Tomme Arthur. Could this yeast give me the traditional flavors of a days gone by Saisons. The real question is can this yeast be reused in a traditional manner of a farmhouse brewery, in that they would skim off the yeast from the top too reuse in the next batch. Given that this blend has a specific percentage of each yeast, what sort of changes would occer with each consecuative batch.

 Saison strains are renowned for being extremely fickle, in that they prefer blood warm temperature, thrive in open fermenter, and tend to stop fermenting for no good reason at all. Through all of these "requirements/flaws" that a traditional Saison yeast has, it has the ability to attenuate further than many other yeast and give a distinctive character to the beer it produces.

The thought process behind this study is the belief that traditional farmhouse breweries were not as sanitary in the processes as breweries of today, especially on the cold side of brewing. Many fermenters were wide metal or oak tanks left vulnerable to wild yeast. The wild yeast would ferment along side teh primary yeast and would get picked up by the brewer when he cropped the yeast to use in the next batch. WLP670 will give me this scenario, but will or how much will the ratio of each yeast change with each generation, and how will this affect the flavor profile.

Notes

• 1st copping was a little light, done 4 days after fermentation began. 4.5 grams Taken
• Second batch - took off like a rocket. Primary continued for 3 days. Second cropping was better. I took 6.5 grams and topped off with some of the fermenting wort. 
• Second Batch - pelicle formed after 7 days.
• Third Batch - this blend keeps getting stronger. Krausen almost double the height of the wort. Crazy Fermenter.