Mark, it's cool to see independent verification. Here's a summation of what I'd gathered over the past few years, if you hadn't seen it before. In the end I believe we reached the same general conclusion (well, so far anyway... this will always remain a living document).
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/16XRUloO3WXqH9Ixsf5vx2DIKDmrEQJ36tLRBmmya7Jo/edit?usp=sharingMark, looking at that chart, are we to understand the 2018 and 2019 US-05 strains were different? If strains change year to year, that could explain differences of opinion for that strain (and others).
Indeed, I think the data here serves to demonstrate just how quickly a strain can mutate, and it basically shows how two sisters who are ALMOST identical twins will show up on a graphic like this one (one little black line slightly longer than the other). Also this result makes me wonder whether even the same identical yeast propagated and pitched into two fermenters might still result in two slightly different beers. There are just so many replications involved so quickly, that a little bit of mutation is inevitable at some random point. How soon mutation happens on the average, whether in just one cycle, or seven, or something in between, would be interesting to try to nail down. And I'm sure results will differ broadly, based on the hundreds (thousands?) of variables involved, such that we can only attempt to develop an average rule of thumb for number of pitches before fresh yeast may be desirable, and should probably keep any such rule of thumb specific to each particular yeast source. Do mutations begin to have noticeable impact after two cycles, seven cycles? Who the heck really knows. WAY too many variables involved to be able to pin this down easily.
Great discussion topic, I love this stuff, even if I don't speak all "the lingo". I'm no geneticist or microbiologist, but I do love learning about stuff like this. Cheers all.
MULTIPLE EDITS: And while the BRY-96 story is coming together now... I'm still confused as heck on where to place BRY-
97. Part of the confusion is I think we have multiple versions of "BRY-97" floating around out there. At some point I'd like to get the two or three or four versions of "BRY-97" all lined up so we can debunk the ones that really aren't the "real" BRY-97. I'm still thinking that one of the versions of BRY-97 (perhaps the dried one?) is just a glorified bread yeast, only God knows the real source. I don't know whether Gallone BE068 is any of them. BE068 *could* be WLP051. But I could be wrong. Also, my notes indicate the possibility that perhaps WLP051 might be related to WLP940 Mexican lager. I'd have to dig through my notes to recall how I came up with that one. If true, it could bridge a gap of how WLP051 came to be, perhaps from someone running a lager across the border from Mexico. Or not. We'll probably never really know.
Cheers again.