[Iliff Ave]

I saw this price $1.30 for 11g and bought 3 packs. What should I brew? I just saw clean ale yeast. I saw Alt in this thread. What about blonde, APA, American Amber?

I actually thinking about trying an apa first and then basically using it in replacement of us05 to see how I like it in comparison. Eventually I will do an alt with it.

[Iliff Ave]

Thought I would post my impressions of this yeast although the beer is not finished.

I decided to take a risk a pitch one expired, non-rehydrated packet into 1.052 wort @ 65F . Activity was evident within 16 hours however it was sluggish for the first 3 days or so as it stuck around 62F. After that it took off and shot up about 8F above ambient temp which I cranked down to 56F in anticipation. It slowed down considerably however much yeast has stayed in suspension. On day 13 I was at 72% attenuation (expecting 80%) so I roused the yeast, warmed it up a few degrees and airlock activity picked back up a bit. I am hoping to get it down at least a couple of more points as it just seems that it doesn't want to quite finish.

Does this strain have a white labs / wyeast equivalent? From what I understand it is not WY1007. After using WY2565 recently it seems to behave a lot like that. Fermentis shows this with high flocculation however the yeast seems to be powdery and wants to sit in suspension. I will fine with gelatin in the keg since I plan to harvest this for future batches.

I realize that a lot of the behavior I am seeing could be related to using expired yeast but considering it took off so quickly I thought I was good to go in that respect. If anyone has any experience with this yeast I would love to hear it. I am curious if my experience it normal for this strain.

[tommymorris]

I have a batch with this yeast also. I pitched rehydrated yeast into a  1052 blonde ale. It took off really fast, big krausen in less than 24 hours. It seemed to finish in about 2-3 days. I checked gravity after 1 week and it went from 1052 to 1009. I pitched at 60F and let rise to 64F.

Mine is sitting waiting for a spot in the kegerator. Taste test so far seem clean and dry. Maybe slightly more malty than Chico. Very cloudy. As expected flocculation is very limited. Will need to use gelatin.

[Iliff Ave]

I have a batch with this yeast also. I pitched rehydrated yeast into a  1052 blonde ale. It took off really fast, big krausen in less than 24 hours. It seemed to finish in about 2-3 days. I checked gravity after 1 week and it went from 1052 to 1009. I pitched at 60F and let rise to 64F.

Mine is sitting waiting for a spot in the kegerator. Taste test so far seem clean and dry. Maybe slightly more malty than Chico. Very cloudy. As expected flocculation is very limited. Will need to use gelatin.

Thanks for your input. Mine was at 1.014 from 1.052 however I fear I may not have had a very fermentable wort. Good to know that Fermentis' description is once again inaccurate claiming 'high flocculation'. Beersmith's profile noted it as low floc...

[tommymorris]

The fermentis k97 data sheet does say high flocculation. This other comparison of their yeasts shows k97 has the lowest "sedimentation" of all their yeasts.

Link: http://www.brewwithfermentis.com/education/dry-yeast-characteristics/

[Iliff Ave]

Funny. The spec sheets say high flocculation and low attenuation which is opposite of your link. At least one source is correct...

http://www.fermentis.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/SFA_K97.pdf

[tommymorris]

Another thing about this yeast after 2 weeks in primary there was still a krausen. It seemed to be shrinking (very slowly) every day. I moved into a keg  which is sitting in the basement at about 65-70F (not sure exact temp) without waiting on the krausen to fall further. I am not sure if it is still fermenting in the keg or not. If so, that's good. I'll get some free carbonation.

[Iliff Ave]

I have been updated by Atlantic Brew Supply that Fermentis has released this and S-189 in 11.5g satchets. They will be carrying both strains. I assume a lot of other places will be too.

[tommymorris]

I have been updated by Atlantic Brew Supply that Fermentis has released this and S-189 in 11.5g satchets. They will be carrying both strains. I assume a lot of other places will be too.

Thats good. I liked the K97 a lot. It made a super clean blonde that would have definitely passed as a faux lager if I had used less hops. I am actually planning a future brew to test that formally after the holidays.

[Iliff Ave]

I have been updated by Atlantic Brew Supply that Fermentis has released this and S-189 in 11.5g satchets. They will be carrying both strains. I assume a lot of other places will be too.

Thats good. I liked the K97 a lot. It made a super clean blonde that would have definitely passed as a faux lager if I had used less hops. I am actually planning a future brew to test that formally after the holidays.

I have used it twice but need to do a couple more batches to get a better feel for it. Something light and clean should do the trick.