Jasper yeast Franconian Lager

[rmr9]

Anyone try this yeast yet? I believe the yeast lab is a small outfit in Northern Virginia but I saw it on my LHBS website and was curious. I don’t brew frequently enough to take many chances so I’m curious if anyone has used it with any luck.

 

[Bassman2003]

No but it looks like a nice yeast. I would give it a try as it will most likely make fine lager beer.

 

[Jack Arandir]

The more I experiment with different lager strains, the more I circle back to good ol 34/70...

 

[rmr9]

The only lager strain I’ve used is good old wlp833 which I thought worked very well. I spend a lot of time planning and replanning every next batch I want to make and I was intrigued by this strain.

 

[Bassman2003]

I do not know your temp control. Are you fermenting as prescribed or warm fermenting? No way to know how this strain reacts if you are fermenting warm.

 

[rmr9]

I’ve got good temp control. I have a mini-fridge with an anvil temp controller and a komos kegerator that I use to ferment in when it’s not in use. I ran the 833 at 48 for primary ferment, probably would run the Franconian at 52 based on the website.

 

[Bassman2003]

I enjoying trying new things with homebrewing, but that is personal preference.

 

[rmr9]

I think I might give it a go. My plan is to get a sack of barke Vienna to try and just brew some SMaSH beers for the next few batches so it might be worth giving the Franconian a try.

If I can time it right maybe I can have a keg of Vienna/hallertau with the Franconian and another Vienna/hallertau with 833 and see the difference.

 

[rmr9]

Another name for the yeast strain is TUM-35 that might ring more bells than “Jasper Franconian”

 

[Bassman2003]

Sounds like a good plan. Comparisons are fun.

 

[bierhaus15]

Yes, I've brewed with TUM35 (~25 beers) and really like it. It is a good example of a production yeast; might be less forgiving on the home brew side, but otherwise makes very nice lagers. It ferments out dry, crisp, and clean with little sulfur and diacetyl. To the original issue with the yeast, it sediments slowly, and needs a few days at <35F if you are going to crop it. Zinc helps. Flavor wise, it is similar to 34/70, but cleaner and more crisp. With high pitch rates, this yeast can make beer as clean as any lager yeast I've used. It really shines in hoppy pilsners or where you want a clean malt flavor. I pitch at 1.5 m/c/ml/P and 14ppm O2. Pitch at 48F and its clean/happy up to 55F.

 

[rmr9]

Yes, I've brewed with TUM35 (~25 beers) and really like it. It is a good example of a production yeast; might be less forgiving on the home brew side, but otherwise makes very nice lagers. It ferments out dry, crisp, and clean with little sulfur and diacetyl. To the original issue with the yeast, it sediments slowly, and needs a few days at <35F if you are going to crop it. Zinc helps. Flavor wise, it is similar to 34/70, but cleaner and more crisp. With high pitch rates, this yeast can make beer as clean as any lager yeast I've used. It really shines in hoppy pilsners or where you want a clean malt flavor. I pitch at 1.5 m/c/ml/P and 14ppm O2. Pitch at 48F and its clean/happy up to 55F.

Thanks for the insight! My hope would be to use it in simple SMaSH lagers to begin with and go from there. I don’t know that I would harvest from the fermenter, I was thinking to overbuild starters and save some aside. Why not do both I guess.

I have read very limited things about it but I saw some references to it being tart or having a lemon note. Have you encountered this?

 

[bierhaus15]

Thanks for the insight! My hope would be to use it in simple SMaSH lagers to begin with and go from there. I don’t know that I would harvest from the fermenter, I was thinking to overbuild starters and save some aside. Why not do both I guess.

I have read very limited things about it but I saw some references to it being tart or having a lemon note. Have you encountered this?

I have not got any tartness or lemon flavors. Maybe a touch of fruitiness in the first generation, as is common with most lagers. I would recommend harvesting/repitching to get the truest character. I've gone up to generation 8 with this yeast and the best beers were gen 2 onwards.

 

[rmr9]

I’ll have to give harvesting a try then. I’ve been meaning to try yeast harvesting for a while but I always worry about contamination/not brewing frequently enough so viability might be an issue.

 

[Witherby]

I was really looking forward to using this yeast and the first beer I brewed (a pale Kellerbier) was excellent. But the Festbier I brewed with repitched yeast has a weird not quite sulphury but I don't know how to describe it flavor. I brewed it in August and it has been lagering away in my beer fridge ever since then. The off flavor has lessened but is still there.

I did a group buy of 4 or 5 packs for my homebrew club as several of us wanted to try this yeast, especially after hearing Randy Mosher talk about it and because Schilling uses it for their Landbiers. But my friend (who is a big Schilling fanboy) also had the same flavor with the Vienna lager he brewed. So I've kinda given up on using it.

I did have good luck recently with the Bootleg Beta release of their Franconian Keller Lager yeast. I brewed a Schwarzbier that is still tasting great. Next up is an amber Kellerbier. That will be the real test.

 

[T Murph]

OK ya'll have me wondering now. My next up brew is my tried and true Czech Pilsner. I have only used 34/70 in pilsner in the past but I'm adventurous, I'm thinking maybe I should try TUM 35. Any thoughts out there regarding substituting TUM 35 for 34/70? Should I go for it or stick with what I'm familiar with?

 

[rmr9]

I was really looking forward to using this yeast and the first beer I brewed (a pale Kellerbier) was excellent. But the Festbier I brewed with repitched yeast has a weird not quite sulphury but I don't know how to describe it flavor. I brewed it in August and it has been lagering away in my beer fridge ever since then. The off flavor has lessened but is still there.

I did a group buy of 4 or 5 packs for my homebrew club as several of us wanted to try this yeast, especially after hearing Randy Mosher talk about it and because Schilling uses it for their Landbiers. But my friend (who is a big Schilling fanboy) also had the same flavor with the Vienna lager he brewed. So I've kinda given up on using it.

I did have good luck recently with the Bootleg Beta release of their Franconian Keller Lager yeast. I brewed a Schwarzbier that is still tasting great. Next up is an amber Kellerbier. That will be the real test.

Dang that’s a bummer to hear about the weird flavors. Any idea what happened? I checked the bootleg strain but it looks sold out.

OK ya'll have me wondering now. My next up brew is my tried and true Czech Pilsner. I have only used 34/70 in pilsner in the past but I'm adventurous, I'm thinking maybe I should try TUM 35. Any thoughts out there regarding substituting TUM 35 for 34/70? Should I go for it or stick with what I'm familiar with?

I was thinking to use it in a Vienna hallertau SMaSH to see what it brings to the table.

 

[Witherby]

Dang that’s a bummer to hear about the weird flavors. Any idea what happened? I checked the bootleg strain but it looks sold out.

No idea really. I repitch lager yeasts all the time with no difficulty. Maybe it was the batch we got because two of us with different packs bought at the same time had the same off flavor.

My family is out of town this weekend so I’m definitely brewing a Kellerbier. I need to make a starter.

 

[Witherby]

Dang that’s a bummer to hear about the weird flavors. Any idea what happened? I checked the bootleg strain but it looks sold out.

Bootleg just announced that they are re-releasing the Kellerbier yeast soon.

 

[rmr9]

Bootleg just announced that they are re-releasing the Kellerbier yeast soon.

I guess it was a popular strain! I think what I’ll do is take a crack at the Jasper labs Franconian, harvest from ferment and store, then get my hands on the Bootleg yeast and do the same. See which I prefer.

I also realize that I have 2 5 gallon kegs that haven’t used yet. I could do a split batch and ferment in the kegs. I’ve had those in addition to my “serving kegs” but it never occurred to me to ferment in them. Floating dip tube here I come!

 

[rmr9]

I have not got any tartness or lemon flavors. Maybe a touch of fruitiness in the first generation, as is common with most lagers. I would recommend harvesting/repitching to get the truest character. I've gone up to generation 8 with this yeast and the best beers were gen 2 onwards.

A quick question about harvesting/repitching. Do you harvest from primary or overbuild starters and save them aside for later? Trying to plan ahead and see which is the best bet for me given that I don’t brew terribly often.

 

[rmr9]

Picking up the ingredients tomorrow from the shop!

12lbs barke Vienna, 1.5oz mittelfrüh at 60, 1.5oz mittelfruh at 15, Jasper Franconian yeast. Hoping to get this brewed next weekend.

 

[rmr9]

Grew up a 3 liter starter of the Franconian and pulled about 200ml off at the end to grow up a 1 liter starter to save for later!

 

[rmr9]

Brew day went pretty well today, opened my sack of Barke Vienna and I can’t remember if I weighed out 9lbs or 12lbs. So I either got really good efficiency or kinda bad efficiency. Either way, 1.052.

Pitched a cold crashed 3 liter starter worth of yeast. It must’ve taken off like crazy, pitched 52 degrees at 11:30AM and the cold crash guardian is already full and firm. I’ve never had a yeast take off quite this fast!

 

[rmr9]

Took a gravity reading today for the heck of it and it’s down to 1.018 a bit over 72 hours after pitch. I didn’t expect the yeast to be this fast, I’m surprised! Hopefully it drops down a few more points. Will likely give it to Friday then start bumping up for a diacetyl rest.

 

[rmr9]

I thought I made an update but I guess I never did!

It finished at 1.011 on 4/13, so 5 days of fermentation…a lot faster than I was expecting. I held it at 52 for a few more days then slowly ramped to 60 for 4 days then walked it back down to 35 for a couple days. At kegging it seemed clear enough that I decided to skip the gelatin finings, and while it’s not crystal clear, it’s pretty clear.

It came out very good! Very clean, nice rich malt flavor, toasty, but well balanced by the hops. (Pictures to follow). I will definitely use the yeast again since I set aside ~200B cells. Thinking of going with a schwarzbier something like 90% barke Vienna, 5% chocolate wheat and 5% carafa iii special.

 

[rmr9]

Cross post from pic of your pint but here is the end product. Oddly, I feel the hops come across a little better now after some time than before.

 

[rmr9]

Not crystal clear, but mostly clear. Would’ve been brilliant if I had gone with the gelatin I think.

 

[Bassman2003]

I like the color.

 

[rmr9]

I like the color.

It’s the lightest color non-hefeweizen I’ve brewed

 

[Bassman2003]

Since Franconian is a clean yeast, the darker malts will really help bring some character.