K-97 Low Flocculation

[CUSTOM-441]

I've brewed with K-97 before, and never noticed this.

I brewed a pretty basic Kolsch recipe with mostly pilsner and <5% wheat. I pitched K-97 @ 60F and after 24hrs had massive krausen. I left it alone for 14 days as I do with all my brews and noticed there was still light krausen, airlock activity and the beer was still super cloudy. No biggy. 5 days later I checked again and not much change. I took an FG sample and I was where I needed to be, so I transferred to the keg and crashed to 38F in my kegerator. Same process as always - force carb @ 30psi for 2 days then drop to serving pressure. It's been roughly a week in the keg and every single pint I pull is insanely cloudy with tons of yeast still in suspension. If I let the glass sit on the bar for a while you can see the yeast sediment in the bottom of the glass. I have never seen such low flocculation especially after a week in the keg @ 38F. I don't want to drink it yet for risk of diarrhea or other gut issues so I'm not sure how to proceed. I did just add gelatin and hope that will help settle things out. I'm sure the easy answer is time, but wondering if anyone has other suggestions? Has anyone else experienced this with K-97? Cheers!

 

[Yesfan]

I have. I like K-97 and the low flocc is the only issue I don't like about it. One of my brew club members mentioned you can up the calcium amounts (CaCl?) in your recipe to help with the flocculation. He didn't give me a value to start with or how much more for a given recipe. Anyone else out there know, I'm all ears.....

 

[dmtaylor]

K-97 is not a good yeast. I'd rather use any other yeast than K-97. It gives no advantages. The near-permanent haze and tartness are some of its drawbacks.

 

[AlexKay]

K-97 is not a good yeast. I'd rather use any other yeast than K-97. It gives no advantages. The near-permanent haze and tartness are some of its drawbacks.

It has a nice ester profile when it works; that is, when it doesn’t go tart. The haze is a PITA, but long cold storage eventually settles it. I’d still use it if it didn’t give me a 50-50 chance of a tart dumper. But yeah, that’s a deal-breaker.

Except for gose. It’s a very nice yeast for gose.

 

[dmtaylor]

It has a nice ester profile when it works; that is, when it doesn’t go tart. The haze is a PITA, but long cold storage eventually settles it. I’d still use it if it didn’t give me a 50-50 chance of a tart dumper. But yeah, that’s a deal-breaker.

Except for gose. It’s a very nice yeast for gose.

J/K. Actually it *is* probably a perfect yeast for a gose. I never really thought about it but you're right.

 

[wepeeler]

Not a fan of K97, but there's a guy in my brew club who routinely wins medals, and BOS with it. BUT, he lets his beers condition for 6 months. You can use Biofine to speed up the floc, but personally, I wouldn't ever use K97 again. Check out Omega Kolsch II. You can ferment warm, and it drops nicely.

 

[wdavis2003]

Check out Omega Kolsch II

I'll be kegging my Kolsch tomorrow fermented with this yeast. Excited to see the results.

 

[kylewag]

I brewed a Kolsch earlier this year with K-97 with great results. I cold crashed for two days, fined with gelatin and it was pretty clear in less than a week of cold conditioning in the keg.

 

[CUSTOM-441]

I brewed a Kolsch earlier this year with K-97 with great results. I cold crashed for two days, fined with gelatin and it was pretty clear in less than a week of cold conditioning in the keg. View attachment 859671

This is usually my experience with this yeast, so I'm a bit surprised at how this brew has gone for me. Hopefully the gelatin helps!