Conan Yeast Experiences

[AnOldUR]

anywhere that sells this?
i dont know how to harvest it from a can of HT and dont want to.

Princeton Homebrew

 

[SFBuff]

Princeton Homebrew

If you are in the SF Bay Area, J&M Brewing supplies (http://jmbrew.com) carries Giga Yeast Vermont IPA Yeast (http://www.gigayeast.com/vermont-ipa-yeast-gy054). Going to give it a try in a couple of weeks.

 

[Lurch69]

I'm planning on brewing a wheat wine and using either Pacman or Conan. Anyone brew a similar beer with Conan? Thoughts on how it might work out? Thanks!

 

[shuckit]

I'm starting to wonder if my harvested Conan IS actually Conan after reading the article in the newest BYO magazine. It says the Alchemist is no longer using that strain..

Is this true?

 

[Stauffbier]

Is this true?

Sorry for the poor photo quality, but I shot an exert from the article.
Here it is..

 

[tagz]

I think the author may have misunderstood. Thw brewer may have meant that the strain has mutated from its original form when it belonged to Noonan. I harvested some about a month ago and it had that huge peach/orange aroma.

 

[Clef051]

Sorry for the poor photo quality, but I shot an exert from the article.
Here it is..

Has anyone heard more on this? I find it hard to believe since conan has such huge impact on the flavor of heady.

 

[AnOldUR]

First time with Conan was a small (3½ gallon) batch of low gravity for the purpose of growing enough for a bigger beer. The vial came from Princeton Homebrew, but I got it from a friend who had and extra that he hadn’t used in a while. I hindsight, should have made a starter. Started slow (3 full days) and didn’t attenuate as well as hoped, little less than 70%. Still made beer with no real flaws except for not clearing. Gave it another shot this weekend. After the last experience, was really nervous, but had airlock pressure by morning and full krausen in 24 hours.

My only complaint is the cloudiness. First batch didn’t clear even after an extended cold crash (but I did forget the Irish Moss.) This one is also starting out murky. Can’t even see the activity. I’ve read that this is a low flocculent yeast. Is there any hope for a clear beer or do we just live with it?

 

[Stauffbier]

The first time I used harvested Conan a year ago, the beer I made never cleared. It stayed cloudy even with cold conditioning. The second batch of Conan which I harvested about 4 months ago flocs out super clear after about 10 days in the fridge. This is one reason why I'm thinking there might be some truth to the possibility that they are no longer using Conan at Alchemist.

 

[bbohanon]

I have 2 all-grain batches running with the YG-001(Yeast Geek) which is the Conan Strain and its fermenting nicely.
My first is a heady clone, the second is a pumpkin ale batch that I am experimenting with that I also dumped a pound of Sourwood Honey into to see if the yeast will throw that peachy/orangy taste into it or if its more or less the hop schedule of the Heady ingredients that is doing more of the "smell" magic you get from Heady.

I can say that popping the yeast vial open, I did smell a whiff of the peachy/orangy smell from the yeast tube which I was excited about.

Both beers, the heady clone(v4 clone grain bill) and the pumpkin ale(I used the same grain bill for this one as smashing pumpkin ale recipe beefed up the 2 row by a lb along with some other additions) started at 1.075 OG so I will report back once they reach FG on how well it worked out as well as taste. they are both trucking along fermentation-wise at 66-68 Deg.
I expect the Heady to be a good brew, the pumpkin ale is a coin-toss at this point as I bastardized the recipe to see how good or bad my own recipe would be by using this yeast instead of an english strain, adding an additional ounce of cluster hops to the original recipe and adding that pound of sourwood honey at flameout.


:rockin:

 

[terrapinj]

I think the author may have misunderstood. Thw brewer may have meant that the strain has mutated from its original form when it belonged to Noonan. I harvested some about a month ago and it had that huge peach/orange aroma.

AFAIK ECY29 as well as the Yeast Geek strain are harvested from HT - so whether or not it's called Conan or Dave the strains will still be what is currently used in HT

 

[bbohanon]

AFAIK ECY29 as well as the Yeast Geek strain are harvested from HT - so whether or not it's called Conan or Dave the strains will still be what is currently used in HT

I wonder if they are/have been stepping up an older generation of Conan from HT, or the "supposed" newer strain from HT.

 

[Stauffbier]

I wonder if they are/have been stepping up an older generation of Conan from HT, or the "supposed" newer strain from HT.

Exactly

 

[Petekiteworld]

Delicious pale ale I made with conan

 

[geoffey]

I recently received an East Coast Yeast ECY29 strain, aka Conan. Unfortunately USPS delayed my shipment and it was in route for 5 days instead of 2. I immediately set up a yeast starter to ensure my best chances at viability and propagating the most possible cells. The yeast container was not warm to the touch when I opened the package, but not what I would consider cool either. When I opened it to put it in the starter I was overwhelmed with sulfur, which was a bit of a shock.

So for those of you who've used this strain, is that something I should be concerned about? Is my yeast a goner at this point? Or should I not worry about that sulfur smell since this is just propagation at 70 degrees and not the same temperature I'll be fermenting at which will be 64 degrees.

 

[BeerGrylls]

I recently received an East Coast Yeast ECY29 strain, aka Conan. Unfortunately USPS delayed my shipment and it was in route for 5 days instead of 2. I immediately set up a yeast starter to ensure my best chances at viability and propagating the most possible cells. The yeast container was not warm to the touch when I opened the package, but not what I would consider cool either. When I opened it to put it in the starter I was overwhelmed with sulfur, which was a bit of a shock.

So for those of you who've used this strain, is that something I should be concerned about? Is my yeast a goner at this point? Or should I not worry about that sulfur smell since this is just propagation at 70 degrees and not the same temperature I'll be fermenting at which will be 64 degrees.

Taste the liquid from your starter before the next step up. Ensure there aren't any noticeable off flavors.

 

[LateraLex]

Nightmare happened. My double batch of DIPA was in the fermentation chest and the fridge wasn't plugged in. Just the heat of these in an enclosed area got it up to ~83, I just noticed and it has been almost 2 full days. Beyond bummed. Should I just dump it? It was a big investment in terms of hops, but even more if I go through with the double dry hopping schedule.
Never happened to me before, and of course of my most involved beer ever!

 

[Stauffbier]

Nightmare happened. My double batch of DIPA was in the fermentation chest and the fridge wasn't plugged in. Just the heat of these in an enclosed area got it up to ~83, I just noticed and it has been almost 2 full days. Beyond bummed. Should I just dump it? It was a big investment in terms of hops, but even more if I go through with the double dry hopping schedule.
Never happened to me before, and of course of my most involved beer ever!

I would recommend never dumping a batch without seeing it thru to the bottle. At least in situations regarding fermentation temps. I say bottle it, and see how it tastes. If it doesn't taste good, then you can consider dumping. Just my thoughts....

 

[LateraLex]

I would recommend never dumping a batch without seeing it thru to the bottle. At least in situations regarding fermentation temps. I say bottle it, and see how it tastes. If it doesn't taste good, then you can consider dumping. Just my thoughts....

Would you change your mind if each 5 gallon batch needed another 7oz of dry hop? I take your point though, I think I should let it ride and see what happens.

 

[Clef051]

I recently received an East Coast Yeast ECY29 strain, aka Conan. Unfortunately USPS delayed my shipment and it was in route for 5 days instead of 2. I immediately set up a yeast starter to ensure my best chances at viability and propagating the most possible cells. The yeast container was not warm to the touch when I opened the package, but not what I would consider cool either. When I opened it to put it in the starter I was overwhelmed with sulfur, which was a bit of a shock.

So for those of you who've used this strain, is that something I should be concerned about? Is my yeast a goner at this point? Or should I not worry about that sulfur smell since this is just propagation at 70 degrees and not the same temperature I'll be fermenting at which will be 64 degrees.

I believe when I first stepped up my conan from the cans I had a sulfur smell. I probably started off with too big of a starter though. I wonder if it is just the smell produced if stressed. Once I dumped out the liquid and added some fresh wort it then had all the peachy aromas that it is known form. I've brewed two good beers from that culture.

So maybe try stepping it up again is my advice.

 

[Stauffbier]

Would you change your mind if each 5 gallon batch needed another 7oz of dry hop? I take your point though, I think I should let it ride and see what happens.

If each of your batches "need" 7oz of dry hopping to make them drinkable, then you have other problems! At that point I'm not thinking "dump!" but rather "never brew beer again"!

 

[LateraLex]

If each of your batches "need" 7oz of dry hopping to make them drinkable, then you have other problems! At that point I'm not thinking "dump!" but rather "never brew beer again"!

:cross: The beastly Heady Topper Clone!

 

[Stauffbier]

:cross: The beastly Heady Topper Clone!

Touche brother! Touche! I haven't tried to brew a HT clone. Maybe someday I will. I'm just not usually the cloning type I guess.

 

[sawbossFogg]

I've done 4 beers now with conan that a friend built up and gave me some of

APA (1L starter from washed yeast starter): 1.054 to 1.012 mash @153F (78% attenuation)
American Wheat (1 cup slurry from APA): 1.054 to 1.010 mash @153F (81%)
IIPA (2 cups slurry from APA): 1.085 to 1.013 mash @148F (85%)
Milk Stout (1 cup slurry from Am wheat): 1.065 to 1.02 mash @154F (80% if remove lactose)

most of fermentation was done at 58-60F ambient, which worked out to about 62-65F internal. its certainly a lil fruitier & hazier than chico. none of them have reached great clarity even after a few weeks in the keezer. the aforementioned friend recently split an IPA 3-ways (chico, conan, w34/70) and the chico one was the best, so i'm not sure how much more i'll play around with conan at the moment.

Good post, thanks.

 

[DangerRoss]

Plan on using Conan as my new house yeast.

 

[Petekiteworld]

Conan is my house ipa yeast, but it does not replace lots of other clean yeasts for different styles

 

[Beezer94]

Back in stock at love2brew at least for the moment.

 

[geoffey]

Purchased some ECY29 a couple weeks ago and make a starter, pitched into a Heady Clone Recipe which came out at 1.074. Right now it's at 1.021 and I'm hoping to take it down a few more points. Fermentation was at 63 degrees. Do I kick up the temperature to 70 or so and wait a fee more days? Or is there some other trick to get this yeast to get down closer to my target FG?

 

[LakesideBrewing]

Purchased some ECY29 a couple weeks ago and make a starter, pitched into a Heady Clone Recipe which came out at 1.074. Right now it's at 1.021 and I'm hoping to take it down a few more points. Fermentation was at 63 degrees. Do I kick up the temperature to 70 or so and wait a fee more days? Or is there some other trick to get this yeast to get down closer to my target FG?

I like 70-72* for Conan. It will work in the 64-66* range but i have found much better attenuation at 72*

 

[Coff]

Purchased some ECY29 a couple weeks ago and make a starter, pitched into a Heady Clone Recipe which came out at 1.074. Right now it's at 1.021 and I'm hoping to take it down a few more points. Fermentation was at 63 degrees. Do I kick up the temperature to 70 or so and wait a fee more days? Or is there some other trick to get this yeast to get down closer to my target FG?

In the past I had used Conan at 68f, my most recent batch I fermented at 63f for 5 days then let it free rise to 70f to finish out. Fermentation is done but I havent taken a reading yet. I'll let you know if this method worked to finish attenuation but in the meantime it wouldnt hurt to warm yours up a little.

What did you mash at?