Imperial Organic Yeast

I'm betting it works just like all the other yeast vendor's Conan strains. The main Imperial yeast guy worked for Wyeast for several years and likely produces a quality product.

 

I saw this on morebeer's site and was wondering about it. Please report back once you've used it.

 

What makes it organic? Is it only fed organic fermentables and nutrients? Are there organic malts and hops available to homebrewers so that a 100% organic home brew be made?

 

I've got a sour wort golden ale going with A20 Citrus ale right now, which is their version of sacch trois. It's almost a month old and I've still got CO2 coming off the cake and decent airlock activity. I pitched a bit warm and got a lot of banana aroma in the first week or so. It's more orange and generic citrus right now. Happy with it so far.

 

A few companies make organic malt (Briess comes to mind) and I know you can get organic hops through hopunion and I'm sure other companies.

 

I believe they claim 200 billion cells at packaging, so depending on your gravity and how fresh it is, you may not need a starter. But I agree, it's the safest way to go.

 

I had no idea they had a version of sacch trois, thank you! I can't wait to brew something with it. I just learned that A04 Barbarian is Conan as well. And here I am ordering these fancy strains online, shipped to Portland, when they're being sold in 200B cell cans in my own backyard.

 

B56 Rustic is also rumored to be PC-WY3726 Farmhouse Ale

 

Good to know. That's my fav Saison strain and the seasonal availability bothers me a little. Have you used Rustic?

 

I have not, but the description sounds just like Farmhouse (lost of bubblegum and gummy bears). The owner/lab person for Imperial worked at WYeast until recently and then branched out to do his own thing. My understanding is that many of the yeasts they offer are ones that home brewers want but can't get due to seasonality or proprietary strains.

 

Well how about you try Rustic and give us your semi-professional opinion regarding the origin of the strain. It's ok if you use brett with it.

Imperial is not for sale locally and I have a strict policy prohibiting the purchase of yeast over the internets.

 

I tried their Citrus strain...I did not like it near as much as WLP644...used on 2 brews and will not use again...

 

Had very good results with their WLP002/WY1968 strain. Floc'd like a brick, produced expected ester profile.

 

Sorry to bring up an old thread, but I just wanted to say that I am extremely impressed with the customer service from these guys. I needed a commercial pitch from my brewery and Wyeast was backlogged in a way that I've never seen from them before. I called Imperial Organic and they told me they had the yeast I needed and they could ship today. I've never had another yeast company respond so quickly and I've never ordered from a lab and seen shipment the day of. I ended up talking to Owen on the phone and he answered a lot of questions I had about their processes and he took the time to tell me a lot about their yeast... Probably 20 minutes or so. They are obviously very knowledgeable, but the most impressive thing may be that you can tell these guys are also passionate about what they do. If the yeast comes in and performs as expected, they will be getting all of my brewery's yeast orders from now on.

 

I meant to add... I also am receiving samples of their yeast in cans. I'm getting Dry Hop and Citrus, so I'll be able to report back on what it is like to use the product that is available to homebrewers. I'm excited about these strains as they are ones that I've been wanting to use anyways, but hadn't gotten around to ordering.

 

I was not a fan of citrus but I got it second gen from a friend. Curious what your perception will be. I could see it being nice in a blend with Conan. I think Dryhop will be my next yeast order

 

How did the citrus A20 turn out? I'm curious about that yeast as a substitute for Wyeast 1318 in the AP NEIPA recipe.

Also, for anyone in the Chicagoland area, Citrus A20 mixed with barbarian A04 is what mikerphone uses in special sauce.

 

You need not mix the Barbarian with the Citrus strain, Imperial does it for you. A24 Dry Hop is the name of the strain.

 

I used the strains in NEIPA's and in dry hopped sours. I used these strains in NEIPA's and dry hopped sours. I loved each beer, but the Citrus strain is not what I would consider a typical flavor profile for NEIPA's. I would say it's more in line with a very lightly funky saison strain. If someone handed me a NEIPA brewed with it and all I knew was that it was supposed to be that style, I'd think they were crazy, but the beer was good... Just something entirely different.

 

Bringing this one back.. giving some updates on the A24 Dry Hop. They say 74-78% attenuation on their site, but I just bottled a cascade IPA and got a whopping 88% AA with it. 1.068 down to 1.009. Mashed at around 150F, and fermented on the high end around 72-74. Samples are fruity and juicy, with very low flocculation. No funk whatsoever from the Citrus strain. I'd say this is a great strain to use for a hazy NEIPA

 

Thank you so much for your post!!

I have a draft recipe for an Alchemist Focal Banger type beer: I call it Jack's Focal Point Ale.

I am leery about using a Conan type yeast strain since lots of folks report that for first use they obtain poor attenuation for their strains. I 'penciled in' using A24 Dry Hop strain for this batch with the hope that it would perform 'better' than a Conan strain would. Your post 'sealed the deal' here.

Thanks again!!

Cheers!

@telejunkie

 

Go for it! Although my review for this strain was based off of samples at bottling so I'll have to report back in a few weeks after bottle conditioning. Wish I could've kegged this one but the keg was full...

I've never brewed with any Conan or Vermont ale strains (only us-05/Chico for IPAs in the past) so take that for what it's worth, but I think you'll be impressed by it.

 

Please do.

I will not be brewing my beer until next fall but if I remember I will report back.

Cheers!

 

What did you think of your beer after a few weeks of conditioning? I'm gearing up to use the A24 next week.

 

Love it! I'm actually using it again in a pale ale in a few days. The decription on their website is pretty much spot on. Definitely a hazy strain though so don't expect to get a really clear beer from it.

 

Any easy way to get this stuff out of the can. Since the can reads "store cold, open cold" I was nervous to shake it up. I ended up scooping it out with a sanitized spoon.

 

So I brewed another beer with the A24 strain. Built up a healthy culture on a stir plate, and pitched into a 1.056 og citra pale ale 4 days ago. Fermented around 68F. Fermentation has slowed, and it's sitting at 1.004 at the moment. Samples smell like the Tropicana orange/peach/Mango juice. Still tastes very young/buttery but the aroma is something else. Can't believe the attenuation on this strain!

 

What was your grain bill for this beer? Did your other beer finish this low? Did the other beer taste too thin?

Cheers!

 

Mostly 2-row, touch of crystal and Cara pils. This was my first time doing an extended mash. I mashed at lunchtime and then collected the Wort around 5 so I'm sure it was very fermentable by then. Maybe that's why? Mouthfeel was still great on the IPA that finished around 1.008 so I'm hoping that's the case with this one!

 

It makes sense to me that an extended mash would result in a very fermentable wort.

Thanks for that clarification.

Cheers!