A20 Imperial Citrus yeast help

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pdickerson

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Hi all. Hoping to get some feed back on this yeast. I only brew about 6 batches a year due to time. I gathered ingredients for a NB Haze Phazer IPA kit. My lhbs did not have the lme needed so I subbed it for dme and in doing so, added too much while brewing. I used the wrong conversation calculator. Ended up with a 1.072 SG. Pitched the pack of yeast and set temps at 72. This was brewed 3 days ago. I have bumped temps to 75. I got areal non vigorous fermentation start. Probably 2 inch head of krausen whi h has already dropped. Is the yeast stressed due to my calculations on the LME/DME conversion? Is this typical with this yeast? And help or reassurance is appreciated
 
What was the OG you were aiming for before adding too much extract? Like how many gravity points over are we talking? I’m guessing that with Imperial’s high cell count your likely fine, but the only way to know for sure is pull a sample to check the gravity reading. Their website does say it can be slow to finish out.
 
What was the OG you were aiming for before adding too much extract? Like how many gravity points over are we talking? I’m guessing that with Imperial’s high cell count your likely fine, but the only way to know for sure is pull a sample to check the gravity reading. Their website does say it can be slow to finish out.
Recipe OG was 1.051 so my OG is quite high. Website says this yeast will support a 10% beer. I was going to make a starter, back before I miscalculated the ingredients, but I figured with 200 million cells I wouldn't need one. Now I'm wishing I had.
 
1.072 as of Tuesday at 3:45 p.m. I haven't pulled a sample since pitching yeast. I'm old-school with the hydrometer and tube so I don't wanna waste any beer this early on in fermentation.
 
At this point the only way to know what’s going on is to check it’s gravity, but if you don’t want to waste any…then me personally- I’d wait for at least 2 weeks from the day you pitched your yeast before I take a sample.
 
You should be fine. That OG won't "kill" your yeast. I don't have experience with that strain, so krausen appearance seems indeterminate. Airlock still bubbling- if so, most likely it's still fermenting and just let it sit and do its thing. As noted above, you'd be fine walking away for 1.5 weeks then checking gravity. I could never be that patient and would check. But if you've got the patience, that's your best bet.
 
Your pitch rate is on the lower side but that’s actually ok for that strain as it will force it to produce more esters. Imperial packs are 200 billion cells instead of 100 billion. A20 is a strain that is sta1 positive so it has great attenuation and can continue to ferment.
 
I'd say you're likely fine as far as fermentation goes. IN fact, with higher temps, you'll likely get a hair more attenuation than you would.
But the other side of that coin is, you do have temps higher than usualy. I don't know that strain exactly, but most ale strains (kveik is another thing entirely) I like pitching and keeping in the mid 60s, since the beer is likely several degrees higher inside.
You may end up with fusels in there.
 
At this point the only way to know what’s going on is to check it’s gravity, but if you don’t want to waste any…then me personally- I’d wait for at least 2 weeks from the day you pitched your yeast before I take a sample.
I'm doing the 2 week wait for sure on it.
 
You should be fine. That OG won't "kill" your yeast. I don't have experience with that strain, so krausen appearance seems indeterminate. Airlock still bubbling- if so, most likely it's still fermenting and just let it sit and do its thing. As noted above, you'd be fine walking away for 1.5 weeks then checking gravity. I could never be that patient and would check. But if you've got the patience, that's your best bet.
Airlock is bubbling every 8-10 seconds so it's still active. My last 2 batches last year and 1st one this year have all been with a hefe yeast and that has filled my blow off tube in about 36 hours so seeing the lack of active on this batch is making me over think a bit
 
Your pitch rate is on the lower side but that’s actually ok for that strain as it will force it to produce more esters. Imperial packs are 200 billion cells instead of 100 billion. A20 is a strain that is sta1 positive so it has great attenuation and can continue to ferment.
My first time using this strain. Thanks for the information!
 
I'd say you're likely fine as far as fermentation goes. IN fact, with higher temps, you'll likely get a hair more attenuation than you would.
But the other side of that coin is, you do have temps higher than usualy. I don't know that strain exactly, but most ale strains (kveik is another thing entirely) I like pitching and keeping in the mid 60s, since the beer is likely several degrees higher inside.
You may end up with fusels in there.
All the research I've done on this strain has said that mid to upper 70's is ideal. I'm a little concerned with those temps too, believe me. Going with it because others have had good luck at those temps.
 
All the research I've done on this strain has said that mid to upper 70's is ideal. I'm a little concerned with those temps too, believe me. Going with it because others have had good luck at those temps.
If it gives you piece of mind, I have run this strain at 82*f in a lacto co pitched sour and I got a lot of orange eaters without any fusel alcohol or other off flavors
 
I use A20 a lot and can say just about everything you described is normal.

I’ve gone as high as a 77 OG and it performed great. I think it can tolerate a substantially higher gravity than that.

Your 72-75 temps are just fine. I usually ferment at 80 and have gone as high as 85 with good results.

The only surprising thing you mentioned was the non vigorous fermentation. I get a vigorous fermentation within 12 hours no matter whether I pitch a big starter or drastically underpitch. Nevertheless there’s no reason to think your batch has a problem.

I agree with the advice to just give it time.
 
Just wanted to say I appreciate all of the feedback on this post. Beer finished at 1.013 and I'd now kegged up and ready to serve, except I transfered over some dry hop remnants and now my keg is clogged!
 
*Bump* First time brewing with A20. Brewed a NEIPA on Sunday, so 6 days ago. Started at 1.072 and is only down to 1.021 (69% attenuation). I pitched at 70F and left it there a couple days and then increased 1 degree per day for the last 4 days, so now I'm at 74F. The recipe said to go 5-7 days at 70F then rise to 74F. I swirled the fermentor today. Thoughts on what I should do if anything besides give it more time? Increase the temp even more? TIA.
 
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