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Black Project Supercruise: Cofermenting with Wild Yeast

James and Sarah Howat of Denver, Colorado’s Black Project Spontaneous & Wild Ales love brewing with grapes, not just for the flavor contributions they provide, but also for the fermentation benefit.

Jamie Bogner Mar 14, 2018 - 3 min read

Black Project Supercruise: Cofermenting with Wild Yeast Primary Image

Black Project is dedicated to spontaneous fermentation—no pitched cultures, no inoculated barrels, just 100 percent coolship-cooled wort and the airborne culture that then ferments the beer.

With many of their spontaneous beers conditioned on fruit, they add the fruit to finished beer so that refermentation occurs but the basic character of their spontaneously fermented, lambic-inspired beer remains in balance.

With grapes, however, they take full advantage of the wild microflora—wild yeast and bacteria—that live on the skins of grapes (the same microflora that winemakers have used for millenia to ferment wine). That microflora, together with whatever the wort picks up through their coolship, handles all the fermentation duties.

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Jamie Bogner is the Cofounder and Editorial Director of Craft Beer & Brewing Magazine®. Email him at [email protected].

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