Gigayeast ending operation 7/16

[SonomaBrewer]

Sorry to hear this about Gigayeast. Another pandemic victim? I have really enjoyed their strains and 200B cell packaging.

https://gigayeast.com/

 

[jrgtr42]

Interesting. But haven't I heard that homebrewing has gained in popularity over the pandemic?

 

[SonomaBrewer]

Who knows. Maybe pushed out by the competition.

 

[passedpawn]

Yea that's too bad. I love to see diversity in the suppliers, though I doubt that GY products differed at all from Wyeast, White Labs.

Homebrewing was in a serious decline since 2012, the year it peaked. I had a metric that I'll post up here some time. No doubt it had a resurgence during the panicdemic, but now that we're all out partying in the streets again, I'd expect that decline to resume.

 

[Snuffy]

I’d brew every weekend if I had somebody to help me drink all of it. And scrub my gear.

 

[bkboiler]

Dang! That sucks!
I haven't had a chance to try them yet...been on a dry yeast kick lately, but yeah the 200B packaging was definitely attractive.
I did think that a lot of online retailers advertising that they don't keep their stock longer than a few months on the shelf, I thought to myself "how can they afford to do that?" And prices for liquid yeast have kept rising in the past few years...
Methinks gigayeast was continuing to give away the farm rather than marketing the product as they should have.
Even though I don't always believe Chris White, I can see why he keeps the attitudes he does about yeast health...it certainly can help prevent an "arms race" of sorts (w.r.t cell counts and age of the packet).

 

[Snark_Wolf_Brewing]

Bummer!

 

[Knightshade]

I’d brew every weekend if I had somebody to help me drink all of it. And scrub my gear.

yes to this...scrubbing of the gear specifically....

 

[matt_m]

Geez, I’ve never even heard of them.

 

[Nate R]

It does stink to see a local (to me) supplier leave....
But i wonder- is the liquid yeast market facing:
#1 either too much competition now from other liquid yeasts
Or
#2 too much competition from vastly improved, over the last few years, imo dry yeasts and options?

 

[MaxStout]

Spitballing here, but with home brew stores dropping like flies the past few years, coupled with the pandemic, driving more internet sales. Some people hesitant to mail-order liquid and buy dry instead. And as @Nate R mentioned, the state of dry yeast is getting better.

 

[day_trippr]

Well...they were only around for a decade, there were established players for them to compete with, and even when the home brewing scene was rocking ten years ago I never saw Gigayeast at retail near me...

 

[Snark_Wolf_Brewing]

Well...they were only around for a decade, there were established players for them to compete with, and even when the home brewing scene was rocking ten years ago I never saw Gigayeast at retail near me...

Can't say that I ever saw Gigayeast offered at any of the homebrew stores I've frequented.

 

[moreb33rplz]

Feel like the homebrew yeast market has a pretty small customer base and a lot of competition, but sad to see anyone go! I used their vermont yeast a few times thought it was great.

 

[matt_m]

I think a number of people who hadn’t brewed for awhile returned to the hobby. It also seems like a large number of new small batch brewers got started. Our homebrew club was able to meet in person last night for the first time in a year and a half. We had excellent turnout. Old timers and a few new members looking to join up.

Interesting. I started to write a post around this last night. The one I attended one meeting for pre-my kid's senior year business, then not-so-busy with the pandemic I'm having trouble getting added to the Facebook group so I can see the events and there's a somewhat cryptic message about if/when meetings restart. The one I was looking to get involved in pre-pandemic looks like it is going to fold after one last event due to lack of interest.

 

[Knightshade]

not scientific in the slightest...but this poll may shed some light on it? Gigayeast did get the least votes.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/threads/your-favorite-liquid-yeast-brand.692975/page-2#post-9121366

 

[SanPancho]

my understanding, which is a bit old, is that they focused on the pro market. good pricing and quick shipping. but i never really got the impression they went after the homebrew market in a big way. maybe that was on purpose.

never really used them, but did hear good things about their conan strain.

 

[BrewerBrad82]

but did hear good things about their conan strain

Imperial A04 Barbarian.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

Interesting. But haven't I heard that homebrewing has gained in popularity over the pandemic?

Most yeast suppliers get their big bucks from selling brewery-sized pitches, homebrewing is not so important to them. And small commercial brewers have in general had a really tough time over the pandemic with the collapse in draught beer sales, the up-tick in homebrewing is a long way from compensating.

It's always sad to see a company disappear from the scene, and you never know what the real reason was. But just from a UK perspective, there was only ever one retailer who carried them, and there was never much reason to buy them - they generally had "me too" stuff apart from some speciality stuff that I imagine hardly anyone bought, and they were quite a lot more expensive than WL/Wyeast. Remember that liquid yeast is a pretty horrible product for retailers to stock compared to dry yeast - a few months of shelf-life versus 2-3 years, must be kept fridged when you can get away with dry yeast at ambient even if it's not ideal, and so on. That's why retailers tend to carry dry yeast from several brands, whereas there's a lot of pressure to use as few liquid suppliers as possible. A retailer kinda has to have either White Labs or Wyeast, but beyond that they're only going to use additional suppliers to fill in gaps in the main ranges. Yeast Bay are great for some of the wild stuff - and use Wyeast's production facilities so can easily slot into a Wyeast order, they even have Wyeast codes. Omega made themselves a must-stock for a while, by going hard on kveiks when they first became a thing. But Giga never had that kind of USP, so I guess they were having to compete on price on brewery pitches of Chico,"1318", Conan etc. Tough business to be in.

 

[MaxStout]

I had never even heard of it until I read about it in a few HBT threads. And I've never seen it at any of the local brew shops here, either. I usually find a decent selection of WY, WL, and maybe some Imperial. Liquid yeast is a gamble at retail, what with the short shelf life.

 

[Nate R]

Wait wait wait... how did this thread get back on track before it got shut down?!?!?


If i am indeed recalling correctly...
Giga was the first (or one of the first) to offer 200 billion cell packs. (I think they came in my LHBS scene before Imeperial did- but that could be geography). Hence the name giga?

Also- i think Giga started in cans first. (Or heck maybe it was Imperial or Omega? I am getting old)

Anyways... before (whoever it was) was using cans, the reviews always cracked me up, 'cause there was like a 20% chance the can would violently erupt upon opening! (User error maybe, but funny reviews nonetheless!)


Edit: spelling is awful but i aint fixin that.

It was Imperial yeast... here is a review from 2015:

Good concept. Bad execution.
No real directions on the can so went to their website. "Shake for 15 seconds" it says. Straight out of the fridge.

And then watch it explode all over you, wasting half the yeast and all of your hard work. Luckily I had a white labs pouch to hopefully salvage the day. Waste of money and effort. I live in Denver - maybe the altitude affected it?

Avoid unless you like wasting money and wearing yeast.

 

[day_trippr]

At most "giga" implies billions (10 to the ninth power). And in any case, certainly an order of magnitude, and not some random 200x or 1/5th of something

Cheers!

 

[MaxStout]

At most "giga" implies billions (10 to the ninth power). And in any case, certainly an order of magnitude, and not some random 200x or 1/5th of something

Cheers!

 

[Nate R]

At most "giga" implies billions (10 to the ninth power). And in any case, certainly an order of magnitude, and not some random 200x or 1/5th of something

Cheers!

Or maybe it was 1.21 Gigawatts!?!?

 

[day_trippr]

If I was a wizard I'd likely be in some extraordinary location and time

 

[Dog House Brew]

I never could get Giga locally. I really like their Kolsch yeast. I always wanted to try some of their Belgian stuff. When I emailed them, they never once responded. I heard they were closing and ordered a few packs of their Kolsch. I always thought it was similar to 029. It tasted like it was between 2565 and 029. Really not sure of the source. They may have had the “200”, but I had trouble with their yeast being healthy. I hate to see anyone go under!!

 

[couchsending]

Imperial A04 Barbarian.

Gigayeast version is/was better