Information straight from Sierra Nevada

FYI: I contacted Sierra Nevada and asked whether their Celebration Ale is bottle conditioned. I was told, in response, that it is bottle conditioned and that they use a is a different yeast strain in their Celebration Ale from their Pale Ale. Although the answers were not under oath, it seems pretty reliable, as there seems to be lacking any motive to lie.

Anyway, though y'all might be interested.

Did you ask them what yeast they did use in Celebration? The clone I made used Safale-05 and it turned out pretty good.

I have a sixer of celebration in in fridge and none of the bottles have any sediment. And their pale ale is not bottle conditioned either, they do can condition though.

*Edit ... I do recall 24oz bottles of their pale ale with sediment, but never a a six pack.

pm5k00 said:

I have a sixer of celebration in in fridge and none of the bottles have any sediment. And their pale ale is not bottle conditioned either, they do can condition though.

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AFAIK their pale ale is bottle-conditioned. Mine always have a thin layer of sediment on the bottom. I heard they filter the beer, then add a carefully controlled amount of yeast back in with the priming sugar.

The celebration ale is most certainly bottle conditioned. I have some in a starter right now. I had 4 bottles the other night and decided to harvest the yeast for fun (and practice ...... I know it's basically S-05!) and it started right up.

Their Pale ale (sold in bottles) is bottled conditioned too.

I would be surprised to find the yeast I harvested was not their signature Chico strain. Doesn't make sense having a second strain on the premises that could potentially contaminate the main batch if it was not necessary.

If anyone else knows anything, please chime in.

I wouldn't be surprised if it's a different strain. I don't think their hefeweizen uses Chico. It's been awhile since I had it, but I recall some serious bubblegum esters in it. I would be surprised if their bottle conditioning yeast isn't all Chico though.

Just an FYI. All Sierra Nevada beers are bottle conditioned. IMO they are the best at it and if I could do it as we'll as them, I'd go back to bottling.

andycr said:

I wouldn't be surprised if it's a different strain. I don't think their hefeweizen uses Chico. It's been awhile since I had it, but I recall some serious bubblegum esters in it. I would be surprised if their bottle conditioning yeast isn't all Chico though.

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You are right, it is their proprietary kellerweiss strain.

I still don't see any reason for them to bottle with anthing different than their standard ale strain. They are 'clean' American ales, you would want to use a clean American strain at bottling too.

scoundrel said:

Just an FYI. All Sierra Nevada beers are bottle conditioned. IMO they are the best at it and if I could do it as we'll as them, I'd go back to bottling.

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Incorrect. I've had a couple that wern't. Tumbler comes to mind. They had some summer ale (that wasn't too great - very disappointing) that wasn't, and I don't think their Rye ale was either. there may be more.

You can also check out the brewing network, can you brew it episode where the clone celebration ale.

Calder said:

Incorrect. I've had a couple that wern't. Tumbler comes to mind. They had some summer ale (that wasn't too great - very disappointing) that wasn't, and I don't think their Rye ale was either. there may be more.

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I heard it in a Sierra Nevada interview and jamil from the brewing network backed it up. What is your source?

Although in all fairness, the interview was a few years back before tumbler and the rye ipa were available so they may have changed their tune. Worth looking into.

scoundrel said:

I heard it in a Sierra Nevada interview and jamil from the brewing network backed it up. What is your source?

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My source: I drank them and noted there was no sediment in any of the bottles.

- Summerfest in all fairness is a Lager, so is brewed with a different yeast (so now we have 3 yeasts (Chico, kerrerweiss, and a lager).

- Ruthless Rye

- Tumbler

I found it unusual to not find yeast in the bottom of the bottles.

Calder said:

My source: I drank them and noted there was no sediment in any of the bottles.

- Summerfest in all fairness is a Lager, so is brewed with a different yeast (so now we have 3 yeasts (Chico, kerrerweiss, and a lager).

- Ruthless Rye

- Tumbler

I found it unusual to not find yeast in the bottom of the bottles.

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Gotcha. The info I had was a bit dated and that explains it. It does seem weird that after so many years of bottle conditioning that they would incorporate filtering. Perhaps its because the beers you mentioned are seasonals and they want to get them out the door without any additional lag time. I suspect Celebration ale is still bottle conditioned since it would break tradition to filter it.

I have been on the Sierra Nevada tour a few times since I live in Chico. The tour guide and a fellow homebrewer said they bottle condition. He was talking inregards to the Pale. I will ask on the next tour for the others.

Side note: Their Summerfest is my favorite! Especially when it is 100+ outside. Also if you ever have a chance to visit the brewery do so. It is nop notch.

Let's knock of half-truths out of the way first.

A. Celebration is fermented with their house yeast, aka the Chico Strain, aka California Ale Yeast, aka WLP001/WY1056

B. They bottle condition most of their beers, but not all. Off the top of my head, Torpedo and Ruthless Rye are not bottle conditioned.

C. Sierra Nevada has bottle conditioning down to a flipping science these days. Hence the reason Pale Ale and Celebration bottles have a super thin layer of yeast, or no yeast at all. They centrifuge their beers, and then dose a precise amount of yeast back into the beer to bottle condition. If i remember correctly, they use around 1 million cells per ml or something like that.

D. Kellerweiss and Summerfest are both different yeast strains than Chico. Kellerweiss being a Hefe yeast they brought back from Bavaria, and Summerfest being a lager yeast.

That's all, carry on.

scottland said:

Let's knock of They centrifuge their beers, and then dose a precise amount of yeast back into the beer to bottle condition. If i remember correctly, they use around 1 million cells per ml or something like that.

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Just to add to that, they only part-condition. As in they'll carbonate to a certain level (most likely 2.0-2.2 volumes), then add sugar and yeast to finish.

scottland said:

D. Kellerweiss and Summerfest are both different yeast strains than Chico. Kellerweiss being a Hefe yeast they brought back from Bavaria, and Summerfest being a lager yeast.

That's all, carry on.

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Do you know for sure they use a lager strain? Not saying they don't, I just recall hearing something (probably on the BN) about them using the Chico strain at lager temps...though I don't remember if it was in reference to Summerfest.

ChillWill said:

Just to add to that, they only part-condition. As in they'll carbonate to a certain level (most likely 2.0-2.2 volumes), then add sugar and yeast to finish.

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It's less than that, but yes they force carb the beer to reach a per-determined level of carbonation. From there they bottle condition. It's the best way to go, as fermented wort can have varying levels of CO2. That all bottles leave the brewery with consistent levels of carbonation.

Do you know for sure they use a lager strain? Not saying they don't, I just recall hearing something (probably on the BN) about them using the Chico strain at lager temps...though I don't remember if it was in reference to Summerfest.

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I'm like 90% sure. I could be wrong, but I remember hearing they used a lager strain for summerfest, and they definitely bank a lager strain.

I know the Kellerweiss yeast was taken from a small brewery in Germany and they use the same yeast to bottle condition the Kellerweiss.

Well, I just kicked up my mini Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale ("SNCA") starter, which I harvested from six-12 oz. bottles, to a 1.5 L starter and it's looking good: a band of yeast cake, krausen, CO2. It's a lot of work and many are probably questioning whether it's worth it, particularly given the fact that, while I like SNCA, I wouldn't classify it as a top 5 beer. I guess we'll find out soon enough. And the test won't be whether it tastes good but something much more objective, simple and painfully easy to gauge: whether she says "yes" to another date. Yeah, she loves SNCA and if my timing works out, they should be ready to drink around Valentine's Day. Remember, behind every seemingly irrational male act lies a chick he's into.

Brew On!

on their website. the only bottle conditioned beers are Celebration, Pale Ale, Porter, Stout, and BigFoot.

"And the test won't be whether it tastes good but something much more objective, simple and painfully easy to gauge: whether she says "yes" to another date. Yeah, she loves SNCA and if my timing works out, they should be ready to drink around Valentine's Day. Remember, behind every seemingly irrational male act lies a chick he's into."

- well, she did say yes to another date. But, as the saying goes, you may win the battle, but lose the war. She just wasn't that into me. But, as the other saying goes, life goes on.

But more relevantly, I bottled the SNCA a week ago. (Yeah, the whole Valentine's Day thing didn't work out). I think it (that being the beer and me!) will come out all right. I'm under no delusions that this will win her heart, but I did make it for her and, so, have every intention on following through and giving her a nice six-pack. She really is a knockout lady!