Omega Jovaru experience. Super high attenuation!

[Sammy86]

I'll be using this yeast next week. Split batch 1/2 with Jov half lager yeast. Very excited for this yeast...been waiting for the warmer weather to give this one a shot.

 

[Gusso]

I used Jovaru for the first time on 6/12. Roughly, 56 hours later, it went from 1.072 to 1.008. I pressurized to 30 psi when gravity hit 1.030. I fermented at 92. Looking forward to tasting it.

Looks about done at 1.005. Highly attenuated! Should be near or fully carbonated, too.

 

[Gusso]

Looks about done at 1.005. Highly attenuated! Should be near or fully carbonated, too.

Actually eeked out another point. 1.004. Time to cold crash. Damn, I got a 9% brew from 14.25 pounds of grain! Hopefully, it's not rocket fuel!

 

[DuncB]

Sounds interesting, would be good for a brut ipa or my recent fitbits clone as that only hit 1.005 and that was with enzyme and opshaug kveik.

 

[DuncB]

Recently made a "witbier" with Jovaru

57% pale malt
43% flaked wheat
10g warrior @FWH
Pitched a single pack of Jovaru @80°F
OG: 1.046

Bottled on day 5
Carbed to 3.6 vols

Honestly came out great. Might pitch a little higher to get more esters but otherwise tasty beer.

Might get more esters by only using half a packet or less.

Does the yeast dry and rework well?
The opshaug has been great for reusing the dried yeast from my first batch.

 

[Gusso]

Actually eeked out another point. 1.004. Time to cold crash. Damn, I got a 9% brew from 14.25 pounds of grain! Hopefully, it's not rocket fuel!

Drinking now. Quite good!

Actually eeked out another point. 1.004. Time to cold crash. Damn, I got a 9% brew from 14.25 pounds of grain! Hopefully, it's not rocket fuel!

On tap now. Quite good! Cleaner than i thought it would be.

 

[Gusso]

This sounds like a good yeast to make a golden strong with.

Originally, I named my beer made with Jovaru, Lithuanian Farmhouse Ale. Actually, Lithuanian Golden Strong Ale is more apt. Nice and clear 9% monster that looks like a pils.

Beer is much clearer than pic. The Charleston humidity is clouding my pics!

 

[Andres Falconer]

Following this thread with keen interest. I visited Jovaru brewery in Lithuania a week ago, and left with a 35L keg of their wonderful stuff and a precious little jar of bubbly yeast. I'm looking for recipe ideas, beyond trying to replicate the raw/no boil kaimiskas alus style.

 

[DuncB]

I have a small batch smoked and oaked porter on the go with opshaug. Pitched 48 hours ago into 1.077 and now at 1.018, hope it stops soon. Just building up some pressure on it now so that it starts to carb up before I move it to the brew cellar to sit in about 10 celsius for a couple of weeks with some Oak in the keg.
Will be an interesting comparison to the full batch done with a resuscitated WLP1983 ( Charlies fist bump lager yeast) that was 16 months past it's use by date.
That started at 1081 12 hours earlier with a big starter and it's at 1.051 but at 13 celsius.

Time will tell.

I've planted some juniper berries and hoping they will germinate as not much juniper bush in the wild down here for a crack at a Viking ale.

 

[Miraculix]

How did your guys jovaru smell when opening the package?

Mine smelled a bit off.... Pitched it anyway, without a starter and the best by date was also one or two months ago.... And I forgot to bring it up to room temperature as well....

Man ..... Don't drink that Chinese rice wine when brewing. Trust me on this one

Pitched yesterday night, now about twelve hours later no bubbles. I wait one more day before I start to panic.


Btw. I also managed to forget to hack in the custom efficiency when designing the recipe, so I calculated for 70%, but I actually have 82%. So my beer will be stronger. Luckily I also miscalculated the hops, which resulted in 7 Ibus more which should do well with the higher og, so bitterness should be spot on.

What a chaotic night.

 

[Miraculix]

Ok, it is bubbling but I forgot the blue flowers ......

... No need to worry! The beer will be too strong anyway, I'm boiling some blue flower tea right now and will add that to the fermenter. The little oxygen boost at this stage of fermentation should actually be even helpful for the yeast.

 

[Andres Falconer]

How did your guys jovaru smell when opening the package?

Mine smelled a bit off.... Pitched it anyway, without a starter and the best by date was also one or two months ago.... And I forgot to bring it up to room temperature as well....

Man ..... Don't drink that Chinese rice wine when brewing. Trust me on this one

Pitched yesterday night, now about twelve hours later no bubbles. I wait one more day before I start to panic.


Btw. I also managed to forget to hack in the custom efficiency when designing the recipe, so I calculated for 70%, but I actually have 82%. So my beer will be stronger. Luckily I also miscalculated the hops, which resulted in 7 Ibus more which should do well with the higher og, so bitterness should be spot on.

What a chaotic night.

 

[Andres Falconer]

The yeast has a strong and very pleasant smell. “Off” does not seem right! I’ve used both the Omega pack as well as an original strain I picked up when I visited the actual Jovaru brewery in Lithuania earlier this year. The owner of the brewery (and of the Jovaru strain), Aldona Udriene, insists that the *correct* fermentation temperature is 28C (82F) and that anything lower than that won’t really ferment. I’ve also harvested yeast from both sources, with equally good results, but I read that it cannot be dried.

Aldona mashes and ferments in big open tanks and is done, from brew day to keg or bottle, in 3 days. Her own beer tastes remarkably fresh, somewhat “Belgian” and “citrusy” as others have said, but that doesn’t do it justice and I lack the vocabulary. Certainly not sweet, for my palate. Hardly a trace of hop (I think she uses a Czech/Pilsen-type hop.) The yeasty aroma its quite noticeable. Her beer is always sold fresh and unpasteurized, even when bottled, and can evolve or sour quite quickly.

I got this 30L barrel of new beer from Aldona and it was simply delicious. There was a lot still going inside and the pressure kept building up dramatically even under refrigeration. I greatly enjoyed going through this batch.

I’ve never managed to brew anything as memorable as her own Jovaru Alus, but didn’t get to experiment much, either. It was always a simple, satisfying, quick and easy beer with decent results, made when I didn’t have access to my main brewing stuff.

 

[Miraculix]

I think the yeast I got was just old and partially started to digest itself to stay alive, maybe a hint of autolysis and some sulfur. It is fermenting now, so I am hopfell that I will have some nicely purple beer at the end. I will probably keep it in the fermenter for 3 weeks, as it is a saison strain. Not so keen on having bottle bombs....

 

[Miraculix]

This is one of the weirdest things I have brewed so far. First, normal sign of fermentation about to start. Then I added the butterly pea flower tea and next day I saw a Kräusen ring inside of the fermenter, but the Kräusen has already dropped significantly. Like as if fermentation has already finished. No bubbles in the airlock anymore.

So I drew a sample (something I normaly don't do). The reading was 1.32, the og was 1.047-ish. So something happened, the sample was also slightly carbonate and very yeasty (.... bah).

My first stuck fermentation? Let's see how it develops till the weekend. I will be drawing another sample by then.

 

[Andres Falconer]

I think you need a new pack of the wonderful yeast…

Were you fermenting warm? Like 28-35C?

 

[Miraculix]

I think you need a new pack of the wonderful yeast…

Were you fermenting warm? Like 28-35C?

Nope, Just room Temperatur.

 

[Andres Falconer]

I never tried brewing it at room temperature. Like I wrote above, the original owner of the strain claims that it only works above 28C, but I’ve heard otherwise. I think a belt or a pad under it might gets things unstuck if you still have viable yeast there. Normally fermentation kicks in so fast and is so vigorous you don’t even need to make a starter or even use a whole pack.

 

[Miraculix]

I never tried brewing it at room temperature. Like I wrote above, the original owner of the strain claims that it only works above 28C, but I’ve heard otherwise. I think a belt or a pad under it might gets things unstuck if you still have viable yeast there. Normally fermentation kicks in so fast and is so vigorous you don’t even need to make a starter or even use a whole pack.

Yes I've read your previous post which scared me a bit tbh

There is definitely viable yeast inside, it's already twenty points down, but isn't doing much anymore.

Let's see how it goes. I have no possibility to heat it up, so I will just let it ride. Maybe, is things go tits up and nothing happens till next week, I'll pitch some belle saison and call it a day. Belle eats everything. Maltotriose, maltose, your shoes, your cat... You name it

 

[Andres Falconer]

In many ways Jovaru and Lithuanian farmhouse yeasts in general appear to behave similarly to kveiks, but they haven’t attracted as much attention, so there doesn’t seem to have been much experimentation - on alternative temperatures, fermentation vessels and ingredients. I don’t think it would make anything like a kveik pilsen if fermented hot - it puts a lot more personality into the beer, so it isn’t really suited as a super fast shortcut to brewing the way kveik is used nowadays.

Let us know what you get! And I’m curious about this blue flower thing. I hadn’t heard about it previously.

 

[Miraculix]

In many ways Jovaru and Lithuanian farmhouse yeasts in general appear to behave similarly to kveiks, but they haven’t attracted as much attention, so there doesn’t seem to have been much experimentation - on alternative temperatures, fermentation vessels and ingredients. I don’t think it would make anything like a kveik pilsen if fermented hot - it puts a lot more personality into the beer, so it isn’t really suited as a super fast shortcut to brewing the way kveik is used nowadays.

Let us know what you get! And I’m curious about this blue flower thing. I hadn’t heard about it previously.

I've tried the sample I pulled (of course) and despite the awful yeast bite, I could detect what the yeast itself brings to the table, it was really interesting. A strong flavor which I have not had with any yeast before. One has to like it, it's a matter of personal taste, but if this beer works out, it's surely going to be an interesting one. A lot of flavor, that doesn't come from the hops or malt.

I moved the fermenter next to the heater.

 

[rmr9]

I think Jovaru (and previously mentioned 3711) are both diastatic strains so I think that would explain the really high levels of apparent attenuation. I want to try some of those strains out but I’m really paranoid about contaminating all of my equipment.

 

[Miraculix]

Fun thing is, the sample is actively fermenting. But as previously mentioned, is bottom fermenting. So I got either a leaky fermenter, or the extra oxygen in the open sample glass does the trick.

 

[Miraculix]

Opened the fermenter, saw a massive kräusen, refitted airlock (was a bit loose), closed it, didn't bubble, opened it again, screwed it very tightly again, instant bubbles in the airlock... There you go, leaky fermenter.

 

[Andres Falconer]

There may be a reason this yeast is traditionally fermented in open tanks… It finishes fast and is consumed fresh, so oxidation isn’t really a problem.

 

[Sammy86]

The owner of the brewery (and of the Jovaru strain), Aldona Udriene, insists that the *correct* fermentation temperature is 28C (82F) and that anything lower than that won’t really ferment.

I can say that it will ferment below 82F...over the summer I pitched it at 75° F and it didn't go much higher than 80 the entire time...came out beautifully...very distinctive taste...orange/marmalade very cool yeast that i plan on using again this spring/summer.