First time making a yeast starter (newbie home brewer). Check out this yeast starter I made up from Heady Topper Conan yeast! I'm impressed by the Krausen overflow on the flask! Took about 3 DME build up cycles on the stir plate.
Yes I am doing a Heady Clone. I'm also splitting this starter to use the yeast on an amber ale just to experiment.
FWIW: I've harvested Conan twice from the can, good results with copying HT. However, this is a high attenuater, first generation will start in the high 80s and it seems to mutate up to low 90s . . . plan accordingly. I only used three generations (two different times) before I found the peach/apricot flavor fading. My plan also, made a conventional pale ale with moderate dh'ing and it might have been as good as the DIPA. Also, be prepared for relatively low fermentation activity. No problem with anything but I pitched 200B+ very healthy cells, had a long lag time (10+ hours) and krausen ring was a puny 2". Yet everything finished just fine. Finally, I don't think you need much convincing to get a 2L flask . . .
I actually did an double IPA with Conan yeast over the weekend. I started with a small 1 liter starter then stepped it up to 2 liters. This little buggers are probably the most active yeast I have seen yet. Lots of krausen. Pretty much saw activity within a few hours in the fermenter and needed to add a blowoff within 12 hours. I did pitch a very big health starter though.
Nice. Only starter I've witnessed with that much action was 001. Since I can't acquire heady in my area, has anyone used Gigayeast (vermont IPA) or Yeast Bay's vermont ale strains before? Which would you prefer as a better substitute, and how do they compare to Heady? It's basically the same strain from what I've read
Hey, he's always welcome to just send some Heady my way as well! I'd be happy to just build from dregs
I also just brewed a batch w/ Conan (from HT dregs) a couple weeks ago. First pour off the keg is super-promising. Also noticed the same super-vigorous starter (almost foamed over). I've had a WY1318 starter do the same thing as what your Conan starter did...its also a vigorous top-cropper that makes an impressive krausen...even in a starter!
that's some serious starting of yeast! just sayin…fermcap is a great thing @Lukass & @JackHorzempa, the only commercial conan i've used has been Omega and wasn't impressed as the AA was in the low to mid 70s iirc for a DIPA and maybe an imperial red (can't remember the second one now). The yeast character was pretty subdued too. Still a nottingham fan personally….
If you're going to buy a new flask, you might want to consider 3 liters (or more) rather than 2. I make a lot of starters that would be blowoffs or nearly so with a 2L.
The Omega Conan worked pretty well for me. Used it three times. All fresh pitches. FG's were 1.010-1.014. ABV 7-8%. The peach ester was easily noticeable. I must have done something wrong because all three beers were hopped like a boss and finished clear. And when I say clear, I mean clear. Not almost clear. Clear.
