CellarScience Nectar yeast

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I just recently did a 10 gallon spilt batch with Verdant and Nectar. Nectar gave me quite a low ester profile and a spicy/peppery bite like some Belgian yeasts will. I didn't get anything like this yeasts description and I almost wonder if it was mislabeled. The Verdant version is gone, the evaporation rate here for Sunday dinners with the family must be higher than elsewhere in the vicinity.
 
I have used Nectar yeast twice now. First batch i did a pale ale with centential citra and amarillo. First time i fermented low end of the spectrum and did not get any belgian type esters or flavor, but it did punch my malt through, especially brought forward the Vienna malt which I did a 65/35 split of briess brewers / weyermann vienna for my base malt. Second batch I brewed the same beer recipe but fermented towards the higher end of the temp range and the beer turned out completely different. I got the same mild spicy/pepper notes with bannana and honey coming through. It was actually very pleasant and I can see it being used for belgian pale ales. I just submitted the 2nd batch to a beer comp in the belgian pale ale category. I am curious to see what the judges think.
 
Hmmm...this talk of spicy/peppery character...

I used a few packs of the Cellar Science Cali Ale from More Beer for some 1-gallon batches that turned out fine. It seemed to act like US-05. I noticed my local shop was also carrying Cellar Science so I got a few more packs. I used them both in different versions of an IPA. Both times they had a bit of a pepper note and accentuated the bitterness. The second batch was made with my homegrown Chinook and a spit ferment with BRY-97 and Cali Ale. At least one guy at the homebrew club thought the Cali Ale version was a pretty decent Saison.

I know that Fermentis labels S-33 for use in some Belgian styles, but I am not sure that S-33 (or Nectar) should have phenolic spicy/pepper notes. I get the impression that it can get a bit estery at warm temps. I definitely would not expect that in a Cali Ale strain. So part of me is wondering if there are issues with the Cellar Science packaging process. If these are just repackaged Fermentis, I figure I will just stick with the Fermentis packs.
 
Hmmm...this talk of spicy/peppery character...

I used a few packs of the Cellar Science Cali Ale from More Beer for some 1-gallon batches that turned out fine. It seemed to act like US-05. I noticed my local shop was also carrying Cellar Science so I got a few more packs. I used them both in different versions of an IPA. Both times they had a bit of a pepper note and accentuated the bitterness. The second batch was made with my homegrown Chinook and a spit ferment with BRY-97 and Cali Ale. At least one guy at the homebrew club thought the Cali Ale version was a pretty decent Saison.

I know that Fermentis labels S-33 for use in some Belgian styles, but I am not sure that S-33 (or Nectar) should have phenolic spicy/pepper notes. I get the impression that it can get a bit estery at warm temps. I definitely would not expect that in a Cali Ale strain. So part of me is wondering if there are issues with the Cellar Science packaging process. If these are just repackaged Fermentis, I figure I will just stick with the Fermentis packs.

I have used Cali Ale as well in both an IPA and RIS and both turned out great. Acted very similar to US05, will use again for sure. Just to clarify on the spicey/ peppery notes they were very mild in my batch at higher fermentation temps. The fruity, banana, honey flavor came through most dominant for esters and was very pleasant
 
I just used this in a NEIPA I brewed. I don't think it's S-33 because I got pretty high attenuation (82%). 1.070 to 1.012. I also mashed this at 158 F so I was surprised it still got such high attenuation. The flavor was actually really good, nothing Belgiany or peppery as other people said. I saw a review on MoreBeer where someone did 3 different batches and got an average of 88% attenuation.

If I had to guess I would say this is probably Lalbrew New England. It behaved very similarly in the fermentation and the taste seems right. Also it would make sense given that CellarScience has "English" which is S-04 and "Hazy" which is probably Verdant IPA. This being another "UK pedigree" yeast with high attenuation the only option left seems to be New England which is the Conan strain which is said to have originally come from the English Whitbread strain.

Overall I really like the NEIPA I brewed with it. It's probably one of the best beers I've made. The hops really shine and the yeast is there but not in the way.
 
BTW, the one pack of CellarScience Cali Ale that I have says "Product of Sweden". Does that point at the yeast manufacturer?

It also says "Packaged by Cellar Science, Pittsburg, CA" Pittsburg, CA is also home of: "MoreFlavor, Inc. - Corporate Offices & West Coast Warehouse"

Does Apex Cultures manufacture yeast? Or would they repackage? I found this link that says "Brewing yeast produced in Sweden by a team with more than 50 years of experience in yeast production, processing and packaging." The dry yeast offerings seem to have some overlap with the CellarScience offerings.
https://www.ldcarlson.com/apex-cultures.html
 
Looks like Apex is a trademark of AEB. Check out the AEB discussion in this thread:

It looks like there is a lot of overlap between the yeasts from AEB and Apex and the yeasts from CellarScience. AEB lists a few dry yeast offerings that appear to be unique (I would love to get some of the dry Hornindal yeast). I see some listings for AEB yeasts that say "Made in Sweden."
 
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