Conan Yeast Experiences

[g-star]

In this case I'm surprised it didn't attenuate much further. I would take another gravity reading and also double check the accuracy of your hydrometer. My only other thought is that you didn't pitch near enough cells.

I agree this is very odd. My vial of ECY29 was only 3 weeks old, and they are listed on the ECY website as containing 200-400B cells on release.

I've swirled the carboy and warmed it up to 75F...still not much in the way of activity 12 hours later I will check again in 2 days. Pretty sure there are no issues with the hydrometer, but I will check in d. H2O to be sure.

 

[jglazer]

Well, I might have a problem here. I pitched fresh ECY29 into a HT type DIPA and saw vigorous activity for 2 days, then the krausen dropped like a rock and there is barely any perceptible activity. I'm stuck at 1.022 on day 5 after fermenting at 68F. Details:

81% Briess Pale Ale Malt
13% Light Munich (6L)
3% C20
3% Dextrose

-Mashed at 151F/1hr (temp checked with calibrated thermapen)
-90sec of pure O2
-Pitch temp = 65F, rose to 68F and held there
-1L starter (stirplate) made the night before, pitched whole thing into 5 gal of 1.071 wort.

Any guidance here? Can Conan take a while to get the last few gravity points? I was hoping for a finish around 1.012 - 1.014, which would put it in the stated attenuation range.

Thanks for any insight.

Raise it up to 72 or so. After being stuck at 1.020 for 5 days I raised mine up to 72 from 68 and it started eating again down to 1.014

 

[theveganbrewer]

Conan works great 68 for 3 days, then 72 for the rest. Nice flavor profile and nose at those temps.

 

[LakesideBrewing]

I'm not sure what generation I harvested recently. But it took my DIPA from 1.072 to 1.012 in one week at 68 - 70 degrees. It's beautiful, off-white in color and flocced extremely well! A little too well for my liking; the beer is very clear. I'm hoping a bunch of dry hops will cloud it back up! Anyone happen to get extremely clear beer in just over a week with Conan?

-Mike

 

[Stauffbier]

My current IPA is super clear. It was fairly clear the day I kegged, but after about two weeks in the keg it's now very clear. Interesting, because the first time I used Conan to make an IIPA it never cleared.

Dry hopping will cloud it back up, but when you chill the beer the cloudiness from hops will drop right out leaving it clear again.

 

[LakesideBrewing]

Interesting, because the first time I used Conan to make an IIPA it never cleared.

Yeah, same here. Both times I used Conan (separate harvests) it never really flocculated that well.

 

[hbr2547]

Anyone think Conan for primary prior to high gravity and corn sugar would be good for dfh 120 clone?

 

[theveganbrewer]

Just my experiences, got about 20 bajillion cells of Conan under my belt, very consistent results:

1) Normal generation: Ferments in 2-3 days within 4 gravity points of final gravity. Cloudy wort, creamy in appearance, very little to no yeast cake. Low to Medium floc.
2) Late Gen: Ferments to 1.018-1.022 in 3-4 days. Can often be brought down to around 1.015 with a temperature raise to 72 for a few days. Flocculates around day 3 with yeast cake visible. Fairly clear at that point, but some yeast still in suspension.

 

[jglazer]

I'm not sure what generation I harvested recently. But it took my DIPA from 1.072 to 1.012 in one week at 68 - 70 degrees. It's beautiful, off-white in color and flocced extremely well! A little too well for my liking; the beer is very clear. I'm hoping a bunch of dry hops will cloud it back up! Anyone happen to get extremely clear beer in just over a week with Conan?

-Mike

I have a Heady and a PTY clone going right now both with Conan, both are extremely clear after 1-2 weeks in primary. We'll see how it looks after the dry hopping.

 

[jglazer]

Just remembered I took a picture of the heady. This is 2 weeks in primary just before I added the dry hops:

 

[theveganbrewer]

Ripped through my rye ale, 1.064 to 1.010 in 3 days. This was batch 3 of yg001, 84% attenuation I think. Smells like candy (Columbus, Chinook, cascade, and Amarillo) one if the most fragrant beers I've ever made. Lovely.

 

[jglazer]

Do you like yg001 more than the harvest Conan you've used? Or is it just different?

 

[theveganbrewer]

Do you like yg001 more than the harvest Conan you've used? Or is it just different?

It is the same thing, Alchemist owns the name, can't use it, I call it YG001.

 

[jglazer]

Oh I see, you probably just have a better chance to get a newer generation strain of YG001. Going to try and grab some next Monday, the Conan I have has gotten 2 DIPAs to 1.014 and I wish it would get a little lower. Although that may be due to me not being able to oxygenate the wort except by shaking the primary.

 

[MTate37]

Disclaimer: I've been reading a lot of posts where people say they bottle/keg wheat beers at seven to 10 days, so that explains my early gravity sample and dryhopping.

I brewed a hoppy American wheat last Sunday (7/14) and pitched approx. 157B cells of Conan. I was expecting an OG of 1.047, which yeastcalc says needs 182B cells, so I was expecting to underpitch a little bit. My OG ended up being 1.054 (an unexpected improvement in efficiency for me) which yeastcalc says needs 208B cells so my underpitching was a bit worse than expected.

I pitched at 64F and let the temp climb to 66F where I held it in a swamp cooler until Thursday and have let it climb to 68 since then. I took a gravity sample on Thursday and the gravity was down to 1.006. The sample tasted great...smooth Magnum bitterness with nice aroma and flavor from late Amarillo and Citra. I took another reading yesterday and got the same reading of 1.006 so I went ahead and added my dryhop since I had the bucket open.

When I got around to tasting the sample there is a slight buttery taste and the mouthfeel is a little slippery on the tongue so I'm thinking diacetyl. I feel like my sanitation is pretty sound, but I'm now worried that I may have introduced something when I took the gravity sample on Thursday. Or is it possible that this is diacetyl from the fermentation process?

Has anyone else had diacetyl issues with Conan? From a process standpoint (efficiency, managing fermentation temp) this has been my best brew to date so I'm gonna' be a little bummed if I've screwed it up.

 

[theveganbrewer]

Conan does have a tendency to make smooth, creamy beers. Not sure if that is confusing your senses or if you've really got diacetyl.

 

[MTate37]

Conan does have a tendency to make smooth, creamy beers. Not sure if that is confusing your senses or if you've really got diacetyl.

Good point. I figure I'll let it climb to about 72 or so and gently swirl occasionally hoping that the yeast will take care of the issue if there is indeed an issue. My only concern there is the yeast having some sort of effect on the dryhop, but I would rather have a less hoppy beer than have two cases of butter beer.

 

[jglazer]

I've tasted some diacetyl in some of my IPAs at higher temps (75+) at the end of fermentation, but after carbing and chilling all of them down to serving temps, none of them retained that buttery flavor. So I can't say for certain that your buttery taste will go away, but in a beer like a hoppy wheat, I'd bet that taste will go away once you carb and chill the beer. There's a lot of flavors going on in that wheat and I doubt that flavor will still be present when finished.

 

[MTate37]

I've tasted some diacetyl in some of my IPAs at higher temps (75+) at the end of fermentation, but after carbing and chilling all of them down to serving temps, none of them retained that buttery flavor. So I can't say for certain that your buttery taste will go away, but in a beer like a hoppy wheat, I'd bet that taste will go away once you carb and chill the beer. There's a lot of flavors going on in that wheat and I doubt that flavor will still be present when finished.

This is encouraging. Thanks!

 

[Stauffbier]

Interesting! I've never had even a hint of diacetyl in any of the beers I fermented with Conan, and I tend to ferment very cool.

 

[NathPowe]

I've just started noticing this stratification in the past 24 hours and hope it isn't an issue. I have close to an inch of slurry in a one gallon jug and I would say the top third or so is a bit darker than the rest.

I'm going to cold crash tonight and then decant and add 2L as my final step. Assuming 1B cells were in the can that should leave me with a little under 400B cells to divide up into four jars.

I know this post was a while back, but I'm noticing the same stratification of color on my 1.5L starter as it cold crashes. About 2/3 nice white color on the bottom with about 1/3 of slightly darker on the top. I harvested from cans. Brewing Saturday and I'm wondering if anyone has experience fermenting a beer out with the similar 'stratified' conan.

Can anyone comment on using a conan starter that's had this color stratification? Impact on flavor?

Thanks.

 

[theveganbrewer]

That is normal. There is no impact in flavor.

 

[MTate37]

Just did a hoppy American wheat with a starter of the stratified yeast and it fermented out fine...even a little lower than expected. There was a brief moment of a diacetyl-like flavor but it is gone now. I think I just sampled it before the yeast were finished cleaning up. Beer tastes pretty great to me.

 

[sybesbrew]

The Conan batch is still bubbling (albeit, very slowly) 6 days after pitching. The WLP090 is still not bubbling (obviously). They've been in a 67F water bath the whole time. I plan to check gravities today or tomorrow.

I may have missed this, but how did the BIPA turn out. What were the differences between the conan and the SD super yeast?

 

[mtnagel]

I may have missed this, but how did the BIPA turn out. What were the differences between the conan and the SD super yeast?

Thanks for asking. I did post about it in a separate thread, but no one responded . Woe is me

Anyway, here's what I said about comparing the two different yeasts:

the Conan vs the WLP090 made no difference in taste. The WLP090 got it down to 1.013 and the Conan got it down to 1.015.

So I couldn't tell the difference between the two, but there is a lot going on in that beer with the slug of hops and the carafa III giving a slightly roasty flavor.

 

[sweetcell]

I know this post was a while back, but I'm noticing the same stratification of color on my 1.5L starter as it cold crashes. About 2/3 nice white color on the bottom with about 1/3 of slightly darker on the top.

i might not be understanding something here, but stratification of a starter during cold crashing is to be expected. as the yeast drop out, the bottom will be lighter because of all the white yeast cells, whereas the top will be darker because of the lack of yeast. have you not seen this when cold-crashing other starters, or even cold-crashing a beer?

 

[NathPowe]

Thanks for your replies, I appreciate them.

In response to sweetcell - I asked because the discoloration does not look like the result of a lower density of yeast (I have seen this and know what you're referring to). This looks like the yeast itself is a different color. My last brew was a saison with WLP568 and I did not notice similar color stratification in that starter.

 

[theveganbrewer]

Thanks for your replies, I appreciate them.

In response to sweetcell - I asked because the discoloration does not look like the result of a lower density of yeast (I have seen this and know what you're referring to). This looks like the yeast itself is a different color. My last brew was a saison with WLP568 and I did not notice similar color stratification in that starter.

This is normal for Conan, I know exactly what you're talking about. It's loose and not very compact and is slightly browner than what is below it, right? I remember a conversation last year about this and how Conan puts this on top of the yeast, while others often see it show up on the bottom with other strains.

 

[wlssox524]

I'm about to start trying to build up a starter from 2 old cans of heady (~9 months old). According to yeastcalc and a 2B cell count per can, I'm starting with .64B cells. This is my preliminary plan:

Step 1) .1 liter of 1.020 wort=.2 oz DME, stirplate=5.13B cells
Step 2) .2 liter of 1.020 wort=.38 oz DME, stirplate=21B cells total
Step 3) .7 liter of 1.030 wort=2 oz DME, stirplate=83B cells total
Step 4) 1.25 liters of 1.035 wort=4.2 oz DME, stirplate=229B cells total

Two questions I'm hoping you all can answer:

• 
  [*]Is this even worth doing given how few cells I'm starting with? Am I going to end up with unhealthy yeast? (Also see point 2 below)
  [*]Yeastcalc.com says that I have low innoculation rates for step 1 (6 million cells/ml). Is this ok? I would have to go to .02 liters to get to the recommended 25 cells/ml...that just seems silly.

 

[NathPowe]

This is normal for Conan, I know exactly what you're talking about. It's loose and not very compact and is slightly browner than what is below it, right? I remember a conversation last year about this and how Conan puts this on top of the yeast, while others often see it show up on the bottom with other strains.

That's a perfect description - it's definitely more brown. Good to know it's no big deal.

Making the Blind Pig clone recipe from the Bertus Brewery blog and fermenting it with Conan. I think it'll be tasty tasty.