Imperial Organic Yeast

[jmpreiks]

I really don't know the difference between "organic" yeast and regular yeast, but the new "Imperial Organic Yeast" cans look pretty interesting. Just thought I'd bring up that it is now available on HomeBrewStuff since I haven't seen it mentioned here before. Anyone try these yet?

Shopping: http://www.homebrewstuff.com/catalogsearch/result/index/?cat=3&dir=asc&order=name&q=%22imperial+organic+yeast%22

Info: http://www.imperialyeast.com/

 

[hirschb]

A bit frustrating that there is no conversion chart for these yeast so you can tell which Wyeast/White Lab strains are their equivalents. I get it that the yeast comes in cool looking cans and has a higher cell count, but I honestly wouldn't go out of my way to buy these unless they have unique yeast strains that I want to try out.

 

[Zigs6]

So this is now available on Morebeer.com which is usually my go to site. Tempting to purchase but why am I still scared?

 

[Dixon9717]

This is a brand new start up company in Portland. Only one LHBS had it right now. www.fhsteinbart.com

 

[Yooper]

I can't wait to get it in my store(s). First, I like the guys involved in this company (one is a friend who used to work at Wyeast). Secondly, I love the cans (they had a nice display at NHC) as I think they are better than the new White Labs packaging and the Wyeast smack-packs for protection and storage. Also, the cell count is much higher, and that is the best part for me.

They have descriptions of all the strains, so you can compare them that way. Even Wyeast or Omega doesn't say "our version closest to WLP001"- you have to figure that out for yourself.

 

[Dixon9717]

Yooper I believe the guy I bought my kegs from and gave me a tour of his facility is the same guy your talking about. I got a good impression of him and I think he will make Imperial a success. Seems like a straight up guy....

 

[outdrosman]

I just pitched their barbarian strain into an IPA a few minutes ago, I will report back and probably write a review when the beer is ready. I really liked the can and the convenience of not needing a starter because they come with 200 billion cells. The only problem I had was that I forgot to shake the can so I had to soak a fork in some starsan and stir the can. There is a ton of yeast settled on the bottom of these things so make sure you shake the hell out of the can before you try to pitch.

 

[davidgaines]

I can't wait to get it in my store(s). First, I like the guys involved in this company (one is a friend who used to work at Wyeast). Secondly, I love the cans (they had a nice display at NHC) as I think they are better than the new White Labs packaging and the Wyeast smack-packs for protection and storage. Also, the cell count is much higher, and that is the best part for me.

They have descriptions of all the strains, so you can compare them that way. Even Wyeast or Omega doesn't say "our version closest to WLP001"- you have to figure that out for yourself.

I love the cans. I'll just have to store them in other places away from canned beer. I could totally see a friend grabbing one and cracking one open.

 

[ontum]

I've used three cans of theirs in the last couple weeks and I am starting to prefer these over the competitors. It is nice to pitch these into beer without a yeast starter for only a couple extra bucks. Steinbart's (LHBS) here in Portland claimed that Imperial recommended to use only one can up to 5 gallons at 1.060. I don't know how man times my wife has suggest I brew today, and I didn't have a yeast starter going.

Although I would like to warn everyone not to let the can warm up to room temp, shack, and then open. I let the can warm up for an hour or so last night, gave it a good shack to break lose the yeast, and opened am explosion. Half the yeast was on my cabinets and ceiling. Imperial recommends that you pitch cold straight out the fridge. I contacted them about this and they said that pitching cold yeast into wort didn't have adverse affects on the yeast.

-
Craig

 

[angrybits]

I'm skeptical that pitching a 35F slurry into a 70F wort is free of adverse side effects.

 

[permo]

I'm skeptical that pitching a 35F slurry into a 70F wort is free of adverse side effects.

I cold pitch each and every time that i make beer and i have active fermentation much quicker than i did when i would try to match yeast starter and wort temps to pitch.

http://www.brewboard.com/index.php?showtopic=26969

 

[jmpreiks]

I cold pitch each and every time that i make beer and i have active fermentation much quicker than i did when i would try to match yeast starter and wort temps to pitch.

http://www.brewboard.com/index.php?showtopic=26969

Thanks for the link, interesting read.

 

[angrybits]

I cold pitch each and every time that i make beer and i have active fermentation much quicker than i did when i would try to match yeast starter and wort temps to pitch.

http://www.brewboard.com/index.php?showtopic=26969

That URL makes a lot of claims, but doesn't really explain why it works. It reads kind of like a diet pill ad, to be honest. But hey if it's working for you, who am I to talk you out of it? Anything that saves me time or headache on brew day is high value in my book. If I were using harvested yeast, I'd probably give this a try. I am exclusively dry yeast these days, I just can't be bothered to make a starter any more.

Cheers!

 

[sweetcell]

I just pitched their barbarian strain into an IPA a few minutes ago, I will report back and probably write a review when the beer is ready. I really liked the can and the convenience of not needing a starter because they come with 200 billion cells. The only problem I had was that I forgot to shake the can so I had to soak a fork in some starsan and stir the can. There is a ton of yeast settled on the bottom of these things so make sure you shake the hell out of the can before you try to pitch.

@outdrosman - how is this beer coming along? how was the attenuation? what was your OG?

 

[outdrosman]

@sweetcell I have it in the keg but I've run into a problem. This is the most cloudy beer I have ever seen. It's like completely opaque even though it was clear in the fermentor. It seems like it could be chill haze but I have never seen chill haze this bad. It started out @ 1.061 and got down to 1.014. It smells great, like a fruity melon-ish scent but the taste isn't quite there yet and I have a feeling that whatever is clouding it up is causing the bad taste.

 

[sweetcell]

outdrosman, thanks for the update!

conan is a notoriously poor flocculator but sounds like that might not be the problem, since you say it was clear in the fermentor.

i'm planning on giving this yeast a try. i'll be using ClarityFerm to prevent chill haze - then again, i plan on dry-hopping the beejesus outta this beer so maybe i won't bother. i don't filter so this beer is going to be opaque with hop resin& residue...

1.061 --> 1.014 = 77% AA... not bad, but i'll be shooting for 80+. supposedly Heady Topper is 81%. i like my hoppy beers dryyyyyyyy...

 

[outdrosman]

Sweetcell, is the Imperial Organic Yeast "barbarian" strain the same as Conan? What temperature do you mash to get there? I mashed at 152 for this one. I dry hopped with 6 oz of various hops so that could be part of my clarity problem but I don't think that's the whole story. I've never seen anything like this, it is like organic apple juice levels of cloudiness.

 

[Picobrew]

Sweetcell, is the Imperial Organic Yeast "barbarian" strain the same as Conan? What temperature do you mash to get there? I mashed at 152 for this one. I dry hopped with 6 oz of various hops so that could be part of my clarity problem but I don't think that's the whole story. I've never seen anything like this, it is like organic apple juice levels of cloudiness.

I have been told it is the same as Conan. Not sure what generation though! Some other people told me to heat it up at the end to get better attenuation. I've also been using the Workhorse yeast from Imperial, which is apparently the Wyeast 1581 Belgian Stout strain. This also benefits from some heat at the end. I used it in a couple IPAs and an India Brown ale and it's pretty clean and nice. Hoping to get a bit more fruity esters with Barbarian. Just pitched it on Sunday.

 

[mesooohoppy]

Steinbart's (LHBS) here in Portland claimed that Imperial recommended to use only one can up to 5 gallons at 1.060. I don't know how man times my wife has suggest I brew today, and I didn't have a yeast starter going.

-
Craig

So, for beers over 1.060, make a starter? Anything under 1.060 does not need a starter?

Would it be safe to assume that if I made a starter for a beer under 1.060, the yeast would be happier that I did so?

 

[outdrosman]

I have been told it is the same as Conan. Not sure what generation though! Some other people told me to heat it up at the end to get better attenuation. I've also been using the Workhorse yeast from Imperial, which is apparently the Wyeast 1581 Belgian Stout strain. This also benefits from some heat at the end. I used it in a couple IPAs and an India Brown ale and it's pretty clean and nice. Hoping to get a bit more fruity esters with Barbarian. Just pitched it on Sunday.

I found this on another forum and according to that they are not the same but it's unofficial so I don't know whether to believe it or not.

View attachment 1444690472077.jpg

 

[outdrosman]

I have been told it is the same as Conan. Not sure what generation though! Some other people told me to heat it up at the end to get better attenuation. I've also been using the Workhorse yeast from Imperial, which is apparently the Wyeast 1581 Belgian Stout strain. This also benefits from some heat at the end. I used it in a couple IPAs and an India Brown ale and it's pretty clean and nice. Hoping to get a bit more fruity esters with Barbarian. Just pitched it on Sunday.

I found this on another forum and according to that they are not the same but it's unofficial so I don't know whether to believe it or not.

 

[outdrosman]

I have been told it is the same as Conan. Not sure what generation though! Some other people told me to heat it up at the end to get better attenuation. I've also been using the Workhorse yeast from Imperial, which is apparently the Wyeast 1581 Belgian Stout strain. This also benefits from some heat at the end. I used it in a couple IPAs and an India Brown ale and it's pretty clean and nice. Hoping to get a bit more fruity esters with Barbarian. Just pitched it on Sunday.

I found this on another forum and according to that they are not the same but it's unofficial so I don't know whether to believe it or not.

 

[1977Brewer]

I found this on another forum and according to that they are not the same but it's unofficial so I don't know whether to believe it or not.

But it lists the source as Alchemist which leads one to believe that it should be.

 

[watermelon83]

Just used "Flagship" in my first batch of Centennial Blonde. Shook the can for a few seconds right out of the fridge. Opened it a moment later to a very loud pop. Fraging yeast everywhere. Even with the shaking I ended up dumping a slug into the fermenter. I would recommend opening these over a sink.

Edit: I contacted the company moments before posting this here. Within two hours a rep contacted me from Imperial. Had lots of questions about the age of the can and told me they are updating the video because this is happening. It is also available at a retailer much closer then the one that I had purchased it from, and the rep (and myself) think the product had woke up during shipping.

It is so cool to deal with folks like this. Care about not only their product, but it's pipeline. Bravo Imperial Organic Yeast, you have a new return customer!

 

[BrewerBrad82]

Just used "Flagship" in my first batch of Centennial Blonde. Shook the can for a few seconds right out of the fridge. Opened it a moment later to a very loud pop. Fraging yeast everywhere. Even with the shaking I ended up dumping a slug into the fermenter. I would recommend opening these over a sink.

I had the same experience, I got sprayed in the face with yeast...

But, the Flagship performed nicely and attenuated to 78%

 

[watermelon83]

Please see my edit.

 

[joshesmusica]

BUT, nobody's addressed one big thing from the OP. What is the difference? Why is this one supposedly organic and the others not?

 

[Picobrew]

BUT, nobody's addressed one big thing from the OP. What is the difference? Why is this one supposedly organic and the others not?

All ingredients used in the process (the malt, dme, etc) is organic.

 

[Picobrew]

By the way, I have been told (at FH Steinbart) to store the can upside down, pitch it cold right from the fridge, but to roll the can around a bit first - no shaking.

 

[sweetcell]

made a starter with Barbarian last night. production date was 20 days ago - hurrah for fresh yeast! lightly shook the can, top opened without issue. i had a slug of yeast at the bottom of the can that i rinsed out with a little previously boiled water. pitched around 11 pm, it was raging by 7 AM.

so far i'm a fan. high cell count, fresh yeast, easy to use container, good selection. but the real test will be performance... will report back in a few weeks.

 

[Picobrew]

made a starter with Barbarian last night. production date was 20 days ago - hurrah for fresh yeast! lightly shook the can, top opened without issue. i had a slug of yeast at the bottom of the can that i rinsed out with a little previously boiled water. pitched around 11 pm, it was raging by 7 AM.

so far i'm a fan. high cell count, fresh yeast, easy to use container, good selection. but the real test will be performance... will report back in a few weeks.

Just curious... how big was your batch and what was the OG? I think for smaller gravity 5.5G batches I'm going to stop making starters and just use these. I'm worried about overpitching if I make a starter.

 

[sweetcell]

Just curious... how big was your batch and what was the OG?

i will be fermenting 5.75 gals @ 1.065.

per mrmalty.com (or www.yeastcalculator.com), i need 259 B cells. at 20 days old, the 200 B in the can had fallen to 168. that's too big of an underpitch for me, i like my IPAs to be really dry and i have most success achieving that with a slight over-pitch.

I think for smaller gravity 5.5G batches I'm going to stop making starters and just use these.

depending on the OG and the freshness of the can, that could definitely work. in my case, if i was doing a 5.5 gal batch of 1.044 wort, my can would have been fine (171 B recommended, which is close enough to the 168 that i have).

I'm worried about overpitching if I make a starter.

i am much more worried about under-pitching. it's much more common prob for homebrewers, and causes worse problems.

unless you massively overpitch - like 3 or 4 times the suggested amount - overpitching shouldn't be a concern.

 

[brettwasbtd]

A bit frustrating that there is no conversion chart for these yeast so you can tell which Wyeast/White Lab strains are their equivalents. I get it that the yeast comes in cool looking cans and has a higher cell count, but I honestly wouldn't go out of my way to buy these unless they have unique yeast strains that I want to try out.

I found this on another forum and according to that they are not the same but it's unofficial so I don't know whether to believe it or not.

I have been working on a large table to incorporate all this info. I utilized Morebeer.com's comparison data to fill out the table, but this chart could be useful. Check out the link below

http://www.shegoguebrew.com/p/yeast-strains.html

 

[sweetcell]

Imperial Organic Yeast - Flagship is morebeer's BEERDEAL of the day!

 

[sweetcell]

i will be fermenting 5.75 gals @ 1.065.

checked gravity yesterday after activity had died down, day 11 or 12: 1.020. that's disappointing but Conan did exactly this to me the last time i've used it (from GigaYeast) so it's probably me. pitched at 64-63, hit 68 on day 3, 72 on day 6, 76 on day 8. i mashed low and kicked activity up with a sugar addition on day 5, usually this regime gets my beers really low. maybe i just don't get Conan...

i'll be firing up a starter of belgian yeast tonight to finish this off.

 

[m00ps]

that's weird. Ive used omega and giga yeast versions of it and both times it was in the low %70 attenuation but went up to 80% after the next generation. I kept it in the 60s the entire time too

 

[sweetcell]

that's weird. Ive used omega and giga yeast versions of it and both times it was in the low %70 attenuation but went up to 80% after the next generation. I kept it in the 60s the entire time too

maybe that's the secret: gen 1 sucks, subsequent gens rawk. i've never repitched. the attenuation on this batch is 72%, so seems to be in line with your experience. unfortunately i don't see myself brewing any time soon so I won't be able to repitch this cake.

maybe next time i'll add some hops to the starter, to get the yeast acclimated to a resinous environment. my theory is that i only use conan in massively hopped beers and while yeast is more tolerant of hops, the hops are not without effect. maybe the transition for hop-less starter to 5 gallons of hop soup is hard on the little guys. subsequent generations do better because they're used to all the hops.

 

[Dixon9717]

Got this from LHBSView attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1446741077.143366.jpg

 

[RedlegEd]

Sorry for the necro-post, but I recently made a Bock with the L17 Harvest, and it was spectacular! Deep, rich, and malty...everything you'd expect a Bock to be. I harvested the yeast since they don't carry Imperial locally (I had a buddy who lives in Portland pick me up a few cans.) I made a viability starter about 4 hours before pitching and it was going crazy 12 hours later. I highly recommend this yeast.

 

[thomas2357]

Recently used the A07 Flagship for a 7% Galaxy/Amarillo IPA. It went from 70 to 13, so just over a 80% AA in 14 days. Was still fermenting but didn't want it going much further. I have to say this made the best IPA I've made. It's a real juice bomb. Should also say I split the batch to test out WL San Diego Super yeast and this had similar numbers, went to 1.012, but in 6 days. Taste is good but not nearly the juiciness of the A07 nor the aroma. Will be using the A07 again soon!