Conan Yeast Experiences

SSBrew - 728
Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
VT_jlee said:
I have a question for you folks. So I had an issue with my fermentation chamber (user error), and I'm curious what you think about how I handled it. This is 2nd generation Conan that I pitched into 5.5 gallons of 1.063 wort Sunday night. I got the wort down to 65.5F, pitched the yeast, tossed it into my ferm chamber set to 62F and let it sit overnight. Yesterday morning, I checked it and everything seemed fine so I selected the fermentation profile I used on my last Conan brew (62F for 2 days, 5 day ramp to 70F) and went on with my morning.

However, this is only my 3rd brew with my Brewpi system so I didn't realize that I had to update the dates when I load a previous profile (it was early, I hadn't had any coffee and my 15 month old son was sitting in my lap) so over the next 3 hours my beer went from 62F to 68F (green line is beer temp, I'm measuring temp via a thermowell in the center of the beer). Once I realized what was going on, I thought about just leaving it at 68F, but I went ahead and cooled it to 66F over the next hour, then slowly eased the beer back down to 63F over the rest of the day where it has been sitting since.

The yeast is very active and I have a nice 1.5" thick krauzen sitting on the beer so I don't think anything fell out of suspension (not that this yeast flocs much anyway). I am well within temp range, but that is a lot of movement over the course of a day. Just wondering what you would have done in this situation and any negative impacts you would anticipate?
Click to expand...

I wouldnt worry about it as you said your in the temp range. I would have done similar, but maybe left it at 66 once i dropped it down from 68.
btw - 2nd and 3rd generation have been my favorite so far, perfect flavor profile and attenuation.
 
hopbrad said:
I wouldnt worry about it as you said your in the temp range. I would have done similar, but maybe left it at 66 once i dropped it down from 68.
btw - 2nd and 3rd generation have been my favorite so far, perfect flavor profile and attenuation.
Click to expand...

Just a quick update, by Monday night fermentation was cranking away and the ferm chamber smelled like hoppy peaches. It was awesome.

I popped the ferm chamber open last night to get a gravity reading and add the first round of dry hops and I was almost knocked over by the sulfur smell. Hoping that dissipates as I slowly warm the beer back up and it conditions a bit, but I don't recall that that issue with my previous Conan beers.
 
VT_jlee said:
Just a quick update, by Monday night fermentation was cranking away and the ferm chamber smelled like hoppy peaches. It was awesome.

I popped the ferm chamber open last night to get a gravity reading and add the first round of dry hops and I was almost knocked over by the sulfur smell. Hoping that dissipates as I slowly warm the beer back up and it conditions a bit, but I don't recall that that issue with my previous Conan beers.
Click to expand...

Ive been kicked in the face as well during fermentation. to me its a nail polish/sulfur/c02 punch. it dissipates.
 
So I pitched a healthy 1.5L decanted starter of gigayeast vermont strain into my 1.074 DIPA 9 days ago. Fermentation went fairly well, but my wort submerged temp probe allowed my chest freezer to undershoot and my 65F temp dropped to a low of 61F during day 2 of fermentation. It kept bubbling, but I'm thinking that fast drop might have had an impact on the yeast. Finished up in normal time, around day 4-5, and grav was reading 1.022 and was still sweet. Really wanted to get it down in the 1.014-1.016 range so I pitched a fresh packet of re-hydrated US-05. That didn't seem to do much of anything as it is now day 9 and still at 1.020 and still has that hint of sweetness. Any suggestions? Should I make a starter with US-05 and pitch that in 24hrs? Just need to get it down those last few points.
 
gifty74 said:
Finished up in normal time, around day 4-5, and grav was reading 1.022 and was still sweet. Really wanted to get it down in the 1.014-1.016 range so I pitched a fresh packet of re-hydrated US-05. That didn't seem to do much of anything as it is now day 9 and still at 1.020 and still has that hint of sweetness.
Click to expand...
you were at 6.5-7% abv alcohol at that point, with a low pH and little sugar (food) - that's a harsh environment for yeast that was just woken up from dormancy. not surprising that they immediately went dormant without fermenting anything.

gifty74 said:
Should I make a starter with US-05 and pitch that in 24hrs?
Click to expand...
yup, get 'em active and acclimatized.
 
Cool. Made a 1L starter last night with US-05, put it on the stir plate, and will be pitching that tonight 24hrs later, unless there's a more preferable approach.
 
Ok experts, how am I doing here culturing Conan for the first time.
Collected 40ml (each) from the bottom of 4 cans of Heady. 160ml.
Created 150ml starter wort of 1.025. Combined at room temp (70) and placed on stir plate for 24 hrs.
Created 300ml starter wort of 1.04 and added to original and have on stir plate. I plan to let it sit there for 2-3 days. (I only see a small amount of yeast at this time, hard to see with stir plate running).
Next step is a 1000ml starter 1.04 and let that go for 2-3 days. Decant and store in mason jar.
Everything seem correct so far? How many cells will I have you think after?
 
Looking for some advice with Conan here. Pitched a healthy amount of Gigayeast Vermont IPA into my IPA I brewed Saturday. OG was 1.064, start of fermentation seen Sunday morning, and by Sunday evening it was chugging. Never really had much Krausen. Come yesterday(Monday) evening active fermentation was basically ending, with Krausen dropped. Come this evening nothing visually going on.
I just took a gravity and it is at 1.020, basically 68% attenuation.
I know its really early but really there seems to be nothing going on. Wondering of I should just give it a while longer and hope that a few more points inch off, or should I pitch the pint jar of the reserved yeast I took from the starter I made?
Pitched at 70, set ferm chamber to 66, raised to 67 Sunday and raised to 69 today in hopes of getting them going again.
 
68% AA in 3 days seems decent & a little early to be worried.

Nobody can really say how good your mash conversion was & i often wonder how well sealed the fermentation vessel is in order to judge airlock activity.
 
jammin said:
68% AA in 3 days seems decent & a little early to be worried.

Nobody can really say how good your mash conversion was & i often wonder how well sealed the fermentation vessel is in order to judge airlock activity.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I decided to just Swirl the carboy, bump the temp to 70, dry hop and hope for a few more points.
It's also the visual thing, this is something like my 15th brew and I still love checking out the beer quite often during active fermentation lol. I have gotten pretty good knowing where the yeast is at, though I have never used this strain. Cheers tt
 
rtracer said:
Yeah, I decided to just Swirl the carboy, bump the temp to 70, dry hop and hope for a few more points.
It's also the visual thing, this is something like my 15th brew and I still love checking out the beer quite often during active fermentation lol. I have gotten pretty good knowing where the yeast is at, though I have never used this strain. Cheers tt
Click to expand...

About the same as my recent bout with Gigayeast's Vermont strain. Pitched a healthy starter into 1.074 wort. Stopped at 1.022 at day 5, and no drop to day 10 so I pitched a starter of US-05 to try and drop it just a few more points as it had just the slightest bit of sweetness. It didn't really get active and only dropped it to right around 1.018, but took that edge of sweetness away. My chest freezer had dropped the temp was low in the early stages of primary so I think I put too many of them to sleep too early on, and that's what resulted in the 76% attenuation. I can't wait to try again with this slurry.
 
I have seen a few people who have issues with gen 1 conan stopping around 1.02. Sometimes you can coax more out by agitating the carboy and warming it up. Usually gen 2 and beyond do fine.

I've had no issues with mine (sourced from the yeast bay), and all the IPAs I've done have settled right out around 1.012. I usually pitch around 66, let it go from 66-68 over 3 days, then rise to 71/72 over another two days, then slowly ramp back down to 68.
 
What temps are you guys mashing at when the yeast quits at 1.020? Are you using any sugar at all?
 
I mashed at 152, and used 8oz sugar (2.8% of grist). Apparent attenuation ended up at 74%. Hoping to get closer to 80 on gen 2.
 
I mashed at 154 down to about 150. I dumped in 1/4lb corn sugar.
I may have jumped the gun on my 1.020 reading. I plan to take another sample early next week to check on it.
 
Just an interesting data point. I just made a porter with conan that came out amazing. Don't have all my notes in front of me, but it was about 6.5%, mash around 152. Held it at 66-67F through the whole fermentation. Probably the best beer I've made so far. I used it in an imperial stout, but I won't get to try that for another couple months.
 
Currently have Impy Organic Barbarian version of conan killing a Red IPA. Hoping for good things. Mosaic, amarillo & cascades with conan & Pineapple candi syrup.
 
jessup said:
Currently have Impy Organic Barbarian version of conan killing a Red IPA. Hoping for good things. Mosaic, amarillo & cascades with conan & Pineapple candi syrup.
Click to expand...

Nice! I just pitched a reclaimed & regrown batch of Conan from my gigayeast. I also have a can of the Imp Organic Babarian in the fridge waiting to be unleashed. You'll have to let us know how that turns out.
 
I just checked my DIPA batch with 2nd gen conan strain (Gigayeast Vermont) and it dropped from 1.086 down to 1.014, so much better performance. Just hoping it didn't drop too low as the hydrometer sample is a bit thin.
 
Just tried an omega dipa. 6 days in and 0 drop in gravity. I've been using the Conan strain from imperial organic with great success. Back to that I guess
 
Yeah maybe I just got a bad pouch. I do like the fact that the imperial organic has 200 bill cells. What does the omega have? I think I saw 150
 
Anyone ever get banana from Conan? I lost power during the first day and it got up to about 72-74. Then back down to 62f by day 2.
I've gotten spice/clove from warm temps but never fruity/banana.
This was generation 4. A slight underpitch too.
 
jessup said:
The Dry Hop yeast that has conan blended with Brett Trois sounds like a must try as well.
Click to expand...

I really want to try Dry Hop as well. Only problem is that I already have 3 jars of barbarian and 2 jars of 1318 in the fridge so it's hard to justify buying more yeast right now 😟
 
Brewed 3 different beers so far with one pack of Gigayeast's Vermont isolate, 1 from package and starter, one from overbuilt starter, and one from a slurry...

Not sure why, having read through some of this thread, but this yeast is extremely easy to work with for me. It has started fast (within 12-24 hours), ferments down to TG in about 4 days and tastes very clean with some nice supporting English fruity esters.

I pitch around 68 and let it go, and beers have attenuated into the 80's AA, and still leave a nice full body to the beer. My favorite yeast I've brewed with thus far in my 15-20 batches. Really want to use it in my next stout or Porter.

Also, besides my NEIPA which I used flaked barley in, my other 2 beers have flocculated hard and fast, leaving a clear beer. I use gelatin to fine before bottle conditioning.
 
Last edited:
Does "let it go" from a 68°F pitch mean literally letting it get as warm as it wants through the throes of fermentation?

I've been running Imperial Barbarian with the wort controlled to 64°F and there's plenty of peach.
But good peach, not like what US-05 run around 62°F throws...

Cheers!
 
gotbags-10 said:
Yeah maybe I just got a bad pouch. I do like the fact that the imperial organic has 200 bill cells. What does the omega have? I think I saw 150
Click to expand...


Yup - 150.

Using this type for the 8th time this year. never disappoints. A single pouch of OYL has done well without starter for batches with an OG of 1/070 with no problem. Probably age or storage of yeast that was the issue you were dealing with.
 
day_trippr said:
Does "let it go" from a 68°F pitch mean literally letting it get as warm as it wants through the throes of fermentation?



I've been running Imperial Barbarian with the wort controlled to 64°F and there's plenty of peach.

But good peach, not like what US-05 run around 62°F throws...



Cheers!
Click to expand...


Temperature controlled chamber at 68, mine goes about 1+/- degree. Maybe bump it to 70 after 4-5 days. Good to hear it ferments well at 64 as well.

Totally agree; I've had some problems with US- 05, "bad peachiness". This, however is a very pleasant underlying flavor and has blended well with IPA, pale ale and I have an ESB in the fermentor now that I think will be just as good.

Maybe not the most expressive yeast for English beers, but I have loved how it is more characterful then something like American ale yeast. A nice middle ground between the two, and for me has accentuated maltiness, in a good way, compared with American strains. We'll see how my malty, caramelly ESB turns out.
 

Similar threads

Tony B
Too much yeast?
Replies
1
Views
229
Tony B
Tony B
H
Yeast starter not starting
Replies
16
Views
1K
HB2112
H
S
Improved yeast starter results
Replies
9
Views
2K
RM-MN
R
T
Adding DME to starter in progress
Replies
6
Views
1K
t^3
T
Architect-Dave
Conditioning Yeast preparation
Replies
6
Views
721
Architect-Dave
Architect-Dave
Brewer's Friend 300

Latest posts

Back
Top