Omega Labs Bayern Lager vs. Octoberfest

[elproducto]

Omega is a great company to work with. I don't know if I had any direct influence on this, but I approached them and expressed my extreme disappointment that they were offering every single strain through Northern Brewer and didn't open that up to other retailers. I mean, here I am a relatively long standing internet retailer in the Northeast U.S. with not a yeast lab for hundreds of miles. All I had available were yeasts propagated in the far reaches of the West Coast (did you know we pay about $2 in shipping PER PACK?). They had an opportunity to make a big scene in uncharted lands. Boom, they released 10 more strains in homebrew packs the next month. Imperial is the only other company nipping at their heels via their new building in Philadelphia, but yet to ship homebrew packs out of there.

I'm also psyched to see the increase in slurry volume from Omega recently. 150ml. I'm putting 200B cells in the calculators with those new packs and I'm very comfortable with a single fresh pack pitch in a sub 1.060 ale (which is what most customers expect to be able to do).

I'm kegging the two beers in the split batch today. Report to follow next week.

That's fantastic that they've increased cell counts. Between Escarpment/Omega/Imperial there is no reason for me to consider White Labs anymore (not that I have in many years).

 

[Bobby_M]

No finite conclusion to report yet as the beers need a little more time to clear. I tend to use BioFine in the kegs as a fast lagering agent but didn't do it this time.
Bayern was fastest out of the gate and hit 1.011 in 4 days while Octoberfest was at 1.014 and still chugging hard. Bayern had a low sulfur aroma and Octoberfest had medium-low acetaldehyde.

Raised temps to 60F and waited another week. Bayern ended at 1.009 and Octoberfest was at 1.010. All byproducts were cleaned up. At kegging the Octoberfest had a noticeable increase in mouthfeel and malt character over Bayern, much more than I'd expect from one gravity point. Bayern tasted a bit more "German" due to the trace level of sulfur.


PS: I'm getting into a split batch groove lately. I have an American Pale Ale split between Omega Scottish Ale and Brit 8 (Fullers) and will be splitting an American Stout with Chico and either Wyeast Ringwood or Northwest next time.

 

[Bassman2003]

Thanks bobby!

 

[Bobby_M]

The results are in. Both beers cleared up quickly on their own in the 2.5 gallon kegs (something you don't realize happens when you're used to 5 gallon batches).

The Octoberfest strain left the beer with a little more mouthfeel, more esters, and more smoke.

The Bayern strain seems crisper with a more subtle smoke that blends with the malt better. It has a notably more German flavor with a touch of sulfur. About 20 people tasted both at a homebrew club meeting last night and 100% of the people preferred the Bayern. This is not a conclusive statement about it being a better strain for all cases, but it validates my previous experience that Bayern is a damn good yeast for any German lager.

 

[Terpene]

Looking forward to trying this strain. Thanks for the report.