Imperial Organic Yeast???

[pvpeacock]

Anyone try this yeast yet? Sounds interesting given that it comes in a can, claims to have 2 billion cells and doesn't need a starter. The descriptions of the various strains also sound interesting.

http://www.imperialyeast.com/about-us/

 

[jimdkc]

Interesting descriptions of the available strains.

I can only find it for sale at 2 places: HomeBrewStuff.com ($10/5 oz. can) or HomeBrewStuff's eBay store ($16/5 oz. can, + $1 for an ice pack)

I was wondering if the cans improved shelf life... Odd that I can find no info on that.

 

[hirschb]

I'm a bit hesitant to order this stuff. Some of the strains are likely the same as Wyeast/White labs, while others may be different/new strains. I think this company would do well if they made this info available. If the strains are the same as Wyeast/White Labs, why pay more for double cell count when you have to mail order it with no guarantee of manufacture date or decent handling in the mail? It makes more sense to me to buy fresh yeast from my LHBS. On the other hand, I'd be very willing to buy a can of yeast if it's a new strain I've never used before.

 

[Zigs6]

Ya, Just saw this on Morebeer. I would love to see a review. Yeast is such an important decision that it is truly nerve racking to just "try" something without reading a few reviews.

 

[hottpeper13]

Ya, the chicken or the egg?

 

[outdrosman]

I already posted this in another thread but I thought more people might be interested. 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.

 

[ImNoExpert]

Here's my problem with these and other 200 Billion cell packs like GigaYeast and some others: according to the pitch rate calculators, you still need more cells for moderate gravity 5 to 5.5 gallon batches.

All the calculators take into account viability in that the older the yeast is, the fewer viable cells there are to ferment your wort. So If it starts with 200B cells, by the time I get it three weeks (or more) after production, it's already lost 20-30B cells. Which means I'm still under pitching if the calculators are saying that I need 193 to 200B cells.

It's closer to the target, yes, but if I'm using the calculator, it's still underpitching.

End rant.

 

[BrewerBrad82]

I'm a bit hesitant to order this stuff. Some of the strains are likely the same as Wyeast/White labs, while others may be different/new strains. I think this company would do well if they made this info available.

From Reddit:

 

[outdrosman]

Here's my problem with these and other 200 Billion cell packs like GigaYeast and some others: according to the pitch rate calculators, you still need more cells for moderate gravity 5 to 5.5 gallon batches.

All the calculators take into account viability in that the older the yeast is, the fewer viable cells there are to ferment your wort. So If it starts with 200B cells, by the time I get it three weeks (or more) after production, it's already lost 20-30B cells. Which means I'm still under pitching if the calculators are saying that I need 193 to 200B cells.

It's closer to the target, yes, but if I'm using the calculator, it's still underpitching.

End rant.

Im lucky to live close Oregon so the can I got was I think about 10 days old. Also my gravity was 1.061 so for a 5 gallon batch I'm only 20 billion or so short of a good pitch rate which in my opinion probably isn't going to make much of a difference to the taste, at least I hope not.

I also didn't have time to make a starter because I didn't know I was going to be able to brew yesterday. So ~200 bn cells was still better than ~100 bn in a white labs vial. So for unexpected brew days I think they're great.

 

[wobdee]

If Morebeer had some of their Lagers strains I'd give it a try.

 

[Juno_Malone]

Here's my problem with these and other 200 Billion cell packs like GigaYeast and some others: according to the pitch rate calculators, you still need more cells for moderate gravity 5 to 5.5 gallon batches.

All the calculators take into account viability in that the older the yeast is, the fewer viable cells there are to ferment your wort. So If it starts with 200B cells, by the time I get it three weeks (or more) after production, it's already lost 20-30B cells. Which means I'm still under pitching if the calculators are saying that I need 193 to 200B cells.

It's closer to the target, yes, but if I'm using the calculator, it's still underpitching.

End rant.

So, I was at HomeBrewStuff today (I live in Boise, so they are my go-to LHBS), and they had the full (or at least most) line of Imperial yeast cans in stock. After talking to a couple employees at the store, both told me that 200B cells is actually an underestimate - that, when fresh, the cans actually contain closer to 280B. No clue why they wouldn't advertise that on the cans, so maybe take it with a grain of salt. Anyway, I was planning on brewing a Heady Topper clone this fall, so I'll probably try out the A04 Barbarian for that. Also about to brew a "fall-cleaning" IPA to clear out a bunch of hops in my freezer, I was going to use Wyeast 1272/WLP051 for that, so maybe I'll opt for the A15 Independence instead. I'll post updates here if anyone is interested.

 

[Juno_Malone]

Brewed a clean-out-the-freezer IPA yesterday using Imperial A15 Independence (supposed to be similar to Wyeast 1272/WL051):

http://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/102719/kitchen-sink-2015-ipa

Unfortunately...my goal was to end up with ~5.5gal of 1.065, and just use one can with the end result being a slight underpitch. However, I overshot my efficiency and underestimated my boil-off rate. So I ended up with 5.2gal of 1.074 wort, and no starter prepared. So I pitched the can of A15 (I had been shaking it intermittently for a couple days, and storing it upside down in my fridge - when I opened it, there was a little blast of yeast, so what I'll do next time is open the can facing downward towards my funnel in to the carboy), and then sprinkled about 7g (little over half packet) of spare US05 on top. My hope is that the A15 cells outnumber the US05 cells ~4:1, so I should still get dominant characteristics from the A15. But I was pretty disappointed in my mistakes that led to having to supplement with US05.

Anyway, I'll keep updated with results here. Next month I plan on brewing a 5.5gal batch of Heady Topper clone; I'm excited to try out A04 Barbarian for that, and I will definitely be making a starter ahead of time for that batch.