What aren't you liking about it? I've used it as a replacement for 34/70 in my pilsners and can't tell a difference. I haven't done a side by side, but there was certainly nothing bad about it.
It doesn't seem to perform like 34/70. I've used it in two recipes that I've developed over the years, both have established records for producing highly fermentable worts that ferment to dryness with 34/70. I've run Diamond through the same fermentation program that I use for 34/70 and Diamond really isn't happy about it.
First, Diamond is quite sluggish below 55F. My standard practice is to pitch at 50F, bump to 52 once the yeast go active, then bump to 54 at half gravity, 56 once it hits the final quarter of gravity points, then up to 60 once the yeast show signs of slowing. On the first pitch, Diamond established itself, but didn't accelerate into high krausen. I started bumping the temperature and nothing seemed to perk up Diamond until it got north of 55F. At that point, its fermentation plot started to converge with a normal 34/70 plot. Okay, the first generation of a yeast isn't always a good representation of its performance, the second pitch is sure to be better. This was harvested and pitched on the same day and, to make certain Diamond got off to the strongest start possible, I pitched
really big, then waited for the fireworks to begin.....nothing. Again, Diamond was completely indifferent until it got above 55F. Under the same conditions, 34/70 would've staged a reenactment of the sack of Carthage.
Next, although Diamond is marketed as having high attenuation, I can't seem to get it to break 75% on two worts that have an established record of fermenting out to dryness with 34/70. Once it decides it's done, Diamond flocs hard. Which is great, it produces beautifully clear beer out of the fermentor. Unfortunately, it seems to like to leave several points behind that 34/70 will nibble at for a few days. There's no bumping Diamond up into the mid-60s to try to coax it to finish up a few more points, when it's done, it's done.
I'll readily admit that I'm making conclusions based upon a very small sample size. Nevertheless, I can't help but think about Diamond in the same way that I think about WY1968.
I'm not saying that they're in anyway related. but they do have similar tendencies and while I was thinking about ways to coax some performance out of Diamond, I kept finding myself coming back to 1968 as a reference point. I write that as a big fan of 1968, but just as I wouldn't use '68 in dry stout or West Coast IPA, I'm thinking Diamond is the wrong tool for work I'm trying to do. I think I would like it a lot more if I had used it in a dunkel. For the time being, I'm done with Diamond. I don't see the point in learning a new yeast when 34/70 performs well and delivers an excellent result. This will also give me the opportunity to do some side-by-side comparisons between the two.
I hope this was in some way useful.
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