Imperial Pub A09 Crazy Fast Fermentation?

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Omahawk

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Just used Imperial A09 pub ale in a relatively standard pale ale recipe. First time using Imperial Pub yeast.

I PITCHED ON SATURDAY (1.052 OG) AND 48 HOURS LATER IT IS AT 1.010 SG AND APPEARS TO BE DONE. I checked it tonight after dinner and was shocked. No krausen or any activity. The trub cake is just sitting there like it’s been there for weeks.

The facts:

  • No starter. Pouch pitched directly into ~5 gallons 70 degree wort.
  • 75% pale malt, 20% Munich, some victory and acidulated malt. 5 ounces CTZ and Centennial at flame out.
  • I saw some visible fermentation activity within 8 hours.
  • Due to heat wave, fermentation happened at 74 degrees. I know I fermented a little warm, but I’m not overly concerned with some extra fruitiness in this hoppy ale.
  • Hydrometer sample tasted very “green” but no real off flavors.

Obviously my warm fermentation helped. But I have a fermenter in the same room that’s on Day 10 with 1056 yeast and it still has traces of krausen.

I know this yeast is supposed to be fast and flocculant, but is this right?

Thanks.
 
Last edited:
I haven't used the Pub yeast but I have used Kveiking and Independence and both worked very quickly!

Remember IOG is starting at with 200 billion cells so you have plenty of yeast to eat all that sugary goodness!

:mug:
 
A09 Pub should be Wyeast 1968. It's fast and agressive and will finish in 2-4 days. Does flocculate well, but will also make great hazy IPAs.
 
Thanks for the confirmations. It is just crazy how “done” it is after only 48 hours. It’s not “finishing up” - this sucker is finished.
 
I'd still give it a couple more days just to be on the safe side. If you test gravity, say, Thursday, and it's the same, then you should be good to move to packaging.
 
I'd still give it a couple more days just to be on the safe side. If you test gravity, say, Thursday, and it's the same, then you should be good to move to packaging.

Agreed. I moved it to a warmer spot last night and it’s still not budging. I’ve kegged beers that looked more active than this, but kegging 72 hours in seems ludicrous. I’ll give it till this weekend at least, and do a hydrometer sample one more time. Im guessing it’ll come out at 1.010 again this weeeknd.
 
Just used Imperial A09 pub ale in a relatively standard pale ale recipe. First time using Imperial Pub yeast.

I PITCHED ON SATURDAY (1.052 OG) AND 48 HOURS LATER IT IS AT 1.010 SG AND APPEARS TO BE DONE. I checked it tonight after dinner and was shocked. No krausen or any activity. The trub cake is just sitting there like it’s been there for weeks.

The facts:

  • No starter. Pouch pitched directly into ~5 gallons 70 degree wort.
  • 75% pale malt, 20% Munich, some victory and acidulated malt. 5 ounces CTZ and Centennial at flame out.
  • I saw some visible fermentation activity within 8 hours.
  • Due to heat wave, fermentation happened at 74 degrees. I know I fermented a little warm, but I’m not overly concerned with some extra fruitiness in this hoppy ale.
  • Hydrometer sample tasted very “green” but no real off flavors.

Obviously my warm fermentation helped. But I have a fermenter in the same room that’s on Day 10 with 1056 yeast and it still has traces of krausen.

I know this yeast is supposed to be fast and flocculant, but is this right?

Thanks.

Brewed twice recently: IPA on 8/5/2020 using A01 House, and an APA on 8/15/2020 using A09 Pub. Side by side fermentations @ 62F, the IPA was under ~5 psi pressure until <5 pts from completing, the APA was fermented at ambient pressure. Both reached Final Gravity at roughly the same time on 8/19/2020.

I then "soft crashed" to 48F and left for a week at the beach. Got back 2 days ago and took samples. Both had the same FG readings as before, and both had cleared nicely, though the APA was "near brilliant" and noticeably clearer than the IPA (non-NEIPA). Today I'll keg, crash and condition for two weeks, even though the APA is good/drinkable now.

So, yeah. That A09 takes off like a rocket, finishes fast and clean even at low 60s F, drops sediment like a brick on glass. In my 'semi-controlled' experiment it was at least 10 days faster than the other popular Imperial Yeast (A01), when brewing similar beers under nearly the same conditions.

Brooo Brother
 
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