Novalager Yeast.

[Nixie]

I am not sure about the copper wire trick, it might work...but the "low sulphur" might be more of a misleading marketing claim than anything. The description actually says:

"This strain is a low VDK/diacetyl producer and utilizes patented technology from the University of California Davis (USA) that inhibits the production of hydrogen sulfide (H2S) off-flavors"

I fermented my batch in a keg at 15 PSI and also served from that keg. I had a noticeable sulfur character. On a webinar with a rep from Lallemand, he said that the yeast does not produce the stinky rotten egg of Hydrogen Sulfide, but that it does produce Sulfur Dioxide (which is more the smell of a lit match). Is Hydrogen Sulfide really an issue with other brewing yeast?

I vented my keg several times over the first week, and that plus a little aging got rid of the Sulfur (Sulfur Dioxide?) characters.

Ah, perhaps its that, I will be sure to let it age and vent the keg often, tasting is difficult right now. Its hard to tell weather its rotton egg or matches im smelling but perhaps the fruitiness of the NZ hops is throwing me off

 

[Draft Master Flash]

After 14 days from grain to glass the beer is excellent. It poured pretty clear using a float tube and was praised by all who sampled it last night. It tasted very clean and crisp. I think given a few more days to a week, it is every bit if not better than Lutra Kveik for a lager type beer. Eventhough it was used on a Kolsch recipe the flavors came out crystal clear and balanced. This beer will be gone in no time!

I'm quite impressed!


DMF

 

[Craiginthecorn]

Cut and paste a recent reply I posted on a Reddit comment recent:

Good question ["How did the beer turn out?"]. I am in The Bru Club (online club), and a bunch of club members got packs of NovaLager. Many did split batches vs Diamond, and at least one did vs 34/70. A lot of people report NovaLager coming in a bit fruity. There were a range of temps used.

My beer is a very enjoyable beer, but it does not have a crisp "lager" type character. It might be the yeast, it might be due to fermenting warm (but under pressure), or it might be the recipe. The grain bill had some Honey Malt and Malted Wheat, and the beer was hopped with Citra and Mosaic. I put it into a competition as an American Blonde Ale (judging is this weekend).

I have made some similar beers that were 100% Pilsner malt, fermented with 34/70 at 62F. Those batches had that crisp and clean lager character, that let the hop character shine.

The NovaLager beer had a bit of a haze that was steady for about 3 weeks, then seemed to drop crystal clear overnight one day. No finings, just in a keg in my beer fridge.

Fermenting and serving out of the keg (with a floating dip tube) sure made "packaging" day easy! I just had to move the keg into the fridge and hook up CO2.

Edit: a recent pic:

View attachment 816468

Regarding the reports of fruitiness, the West Coast Pils style guidelines for this AvgBrü stipulated a fair amount of fruity American hops. Nearly everyone who did a split batch of Novalager and Diamond/34-70 reported much greater hop expression in the Novalager batch. That was my experience as well. Also, it is reported that Novalager is capable of biotransformation, which could create noticeably fruity character. So, WCP isn't a style where we can draw meaningful conclusions on subtle esters which would be much more noticable in a simple classic lager. That said, tasting panels have noted a slight red fruit character, IIRC.

 

[austbrewer]

I'm interested if anyone has recycled the Novalager I've done it twice and both times the beer has off flavours, fresh yeast is great can't complain about the results

 

[wepeeler]

I got sulfur in my only batch with Novalager yeast. Apparently it doesn't even have the capability to produce sulfur, so there's that lol.

I get sulfur on the nose but not in the flavor. Hoping it'll disappear with lagering.

 

[CascadesBrewer]

Some online buddies of mine have reported excellent results with NovaLager at traditional lager fermentation temps (50F to 55F), saying they get very fast ferments with clean flavors. I am curious where the sweet spot is for NovaLager. 50F? 60F? 70F? It might be a versatile house strain for making a mix of lager and ale styles.

 

[wepeeler]

Some online buddies of mine have reported excellent results with NovaLager at traditional lager fermentation temps (50F to 55F), saying they get very fast ferments with clean flavors. I am curious where the sweet spot is for NovaLager. 50F? 60F? 70F? It might be a versatile house strain for making a mix of lager and ale styles.

I did 52F for 3 days, then 55F for 2 days, then 62F to finish. I kegged on day 14 because I needed a fermenter for a brew day. Probably could have used an extra week or so for cleanup, but their website says full fermentation in 6-7 days. So....

 

[Draft Master Flash]

I've been fermenting at 66f then kegging after day 5. 1.051 to1.011. I cold crash for a few days. Having excellent results. Perfect for my kolsch recipe. No sulphur but have noticed some fruity esters.

DMF

 

[AmarikinBrew]

Well guys another 10 days and this Lager is turning out to be great. I don’t know that much about brewing Lager but I do know when it tastes good. I brewed the exact same recipe a few months ago and it took me eight weeks to get to this stage because This time I used Novalager and aN air stone to force carbonate. The hops are now coming through and the head looks good. I must admit the head retention is not lasitng but it still tastes and feels like the sas is in there. Maybe next batch I will go back to sugar for the carbonation.

It is said that acid malt @2% and above will help clear lagers with wheat, given time.
I've done this and within 3 or 4 weeks the beer was awesome clarity.