Another Potential Yeast for NEIPAs ?

What temp did you ferment the beer at? What type of effect did the yeast have on the aroma/flavor?

 

Well, one aspect of the Ringwood yeast is that it is known to drop quickly to make bright beers for 'regular' British style beers (e.g., an English Pale Ale). This example of 1187 being able to produce a so called 'NE' IPA is consistent with Dave Green's theory that English Ale yeast strains that flocculate quickly are candidates to produce hazy/murky/turbid/opaque hoppy beers.

I brewed a clone version of Heady Topper using Danstar Nottingham which is reported to be a quick flocculator but for my beer it resulted in a beer with just a hint of haze; no qualities of a so called 'NE' style IPA for me.

Cheers!

@telejunkie @SFACRKnight

 

I haven't heard anyone reporting neipa results with ringwood, but it may be due to the fact that ringwood is often overlooked anymore as a good option for fermenting, well, anything.

 

I personally have avoided using the Ringwood strain because of its reputation re: diacetyl.

A brewpub near me makes quality ale using the Ringwood strain. It is there house ale yeast strain for their core beers and they specifically selected this strain since it drops bright. The 'trick' is to ensure proper contact time towards the end of fermentation to permit the yeast to process the diacetyl that is produced during the peak of primary fermentation.

Even though I enjoy drinking their ales which were brewed using Ringwood I have never been motivated to try this strain but this is because I have my other favorite strains that I prefer to use.

Cheers!

 

I personally have avoided using the Ringwood strain because of its reputation re: diacetyl.

A brewpub near me makes quality ale using the Ringwood strain. It is there house ale yeast strain for their core beers and they specifically selected this strain since it drops bright. The 'trick' is to ensure proper contact time towards the end of fermentation to permit the yeast to process the diacetyl that is produced during the peak of primary fermentation.

Even though I enjoy drinking their ales which were brewed using Ringwood I have never been motivated to try this strain but this is because I have my other favorite strains that I prefer to use.

Cheers!

 

So ringwood needs longer contact time with the beer, and neipa is about fast turn around. I can see why nobody has experimented with it commercially. If it works, roll with it I suppose, however 4 weeks is a long time in primary. The importance of a quick fermenting yeast is that you can get some hops in at the tail end of fermentation, and another addition after fermentation is over. For me, thats why 1318 rules. It rips through wort quickly without alot of diacetyl or acetaldehyde production. I like three days of fermentation and then I add hops. I wait four days and add more hops. A week after that I am in bottles. I suspect ringwood would kill that schedule.

 

I had a homebrewed NEIPA brewed with 1318 and it was indeed a tasty beer!!

Cheers!

 

I'm with Jack. I've seen too many breweries misuse Ringwood or try to rush it with bad results for me to use it myself. I know that careful temp control and giving it plenty of time will take care of potential issues.
I don't see why you couldn't use it, but if you are going for the hazy neipa look, it may not cooperate - I think I recall it drops pretty clear.

 

Dave Green (@telejunkie) has a theory that it is highly flocculent yeast strains that 'make' the so called 'NE' style IPA. He discussed this in his article entitled "The Rise of the Haze" in the October 2016 issue of BYO:

"...for most of the yeast strains used to produce these hazy IPAs, most of them are considered to be "highly-flocculent" strains..."

"What some of these brewers point to is that these yeast strains flocculate almost too quickly. This doesn't allow time for the hop oils and polyphenols to adhere the the yeast, leaving those compounds and other hop derived compounds in solution instead of stripping them out."

If the above theory is correct than the "highly-flocculent" nature of the Ringwood strain may make this yeast strain a good candidate to brew the so called 'NE" style IPAs?

FWIW, I am not 100% convinced of this theory due to some contrary experiences in my homebrewing but I will continue to track the 'science' of producing hazy IPAs.

Cheers!

 

Now that you mention it, I did read that article - and I agree, I'm not 100% convinced.
I suppose that it comes down to the exact reason for the haze - is it unflocculated yeast? Then Ringwood and other highly flocculant yeast are not the ones to use. If it is proteins, hop oils and so forth, then there may be an argument there.
FWIR, The Alchemist's Conan yeast is a mutated strain of something like London ale yeast, a medium flocculation variety, IIRC. what mutated, I don't know - that's for the scientists to talk about.

 

Well, London III (Wyeast 1318) is a highly-flocculent yeast strain when used to produce beers like English Pale Ales. This would seem to indicate that for the case of 1318 the haze is not due to yeast.

There is lots of 'lore' out there about the origins of The Alchemist house yeast. What I can tell you with some certainty is that John Kimmich obtained this yeast strain from his mentor Greg Noonan.

Michael Tonsmiere discusses the Conan strain on his blog: http://www.themadfermentationist.com/2013/11/conan-ipa-and-yeast.html

Cheers!

 

Upstate Craft Beer Company in Greenville SC use Ringwood for all of their NE IPAs and claims they learned of it from a brewer from a "commercial brewery in the NE", but I've never been able to get any details of who out of the head brewer. I personally think their NE IPAs are not that good and sometimes full of diacetyl. They think it's on style but I think it's just bad off flavors.

 

Yup, diacetyl can indeed be an issue if there is end of fermentation problems (e.g., insufficient clean up time).

Cheers!