Anyone brewed with yeast from this lab? They claim 200b cells Retails locally for $11.95 Like how they map the strains to commercial products. http://www.rvayeastlabs.com/ale-strains.html
Never heard of these guys, not that that means anything... I will say that for the strains that we already know about, the suggested fermentation temps seem awfully high. For example, the Alchemist strain - I have been an Alchemist drinker since day 1 of the brewpub, have helped out in the brewery a (very) little, and have listened very carefully to every word John Kimmich has said. Their yeast generally works at 62-65F and sometimes cooler, certainly never seeing 70F unless something has gone terribly wrong with the fermentation. 76F would make a downright terrifying brew if this was truly the Conan yeast. Likewise the Scotch ale yeast... a real Scotch fermentation would seldom get above 60F (sorry Ron P. I just don't believe you - how would a Scottish brewer get his brewery up to 60F in February in 1830???*). If they are recommending highly elevated fermentation temps, there might be something less than ideal about how they are propagating the yeast. *Exchange with Ron Pattinson a few weeks ago about traditional Scottish brewing.
You know white labs also gives the same optimum temperature range for their Scottish yeast strain, right? http://www.whitelabs.com/yeast/wlp028-edinburgh-scottish-ale-yeast And that Wyeast gives a range that goes up to 75F? https://www.wyeastlab.com/hb_yeaststrain_detail.cfm?ID=143 Even if a company's yeast strains actually are descendants of strains that were used back before Scottish breweries could maintain temps higher than 60 degrees F (I have no idea what their breweries looked like in 1830), they have been propagated thousands of generations since then and there is no reason to believe that they have not adapted to different conditions. For that matter, even if the lower temp was the practice, it's possible that the yeast would do well at higher temps too (look at the range Wyeast gives). Just because the temperature a company lists for strains at seem unusual is no reason to dismiss the company. Look at how the yeast perform. They might do exactly what you want, just at a different recommended temp than you are used to seeing for a given beer or style. For people who have difficulty maintaining particular temps, it could actually be a good thing.
Since they are in Virginia, you might be in a good position to try and report. The one that I noticed that intrigues me is Orval. I am never ready to brew this when the platinum strain Bastogne is available.
Wyeast does indeed say the yeast will work at warm temps but notes that you will get a lot of esters, which would be out of style for anything Scottish. I wouldn't say it does 'well' at warm temps; it will survive and make some beer. I did use the WL Edinborough yeast once when I couldn't get 1728. Next time I'll wait for what I want. This is certainly not to say you shouldn't use a yeast outside its recommended/traditional range if it gives you what you're looking for, e.g. warm fermentation with lager yeast for cream ale, just that the RVA recommendations seem odd for those particular yeasts. Conan might make a decent beer at 70-76F but I'd sure do a small test ferment before committing to 5 gallons of who knows what. In any case we are just speculating until someone uses the yeast and talks about it. I'd love to have the Orval yeast too.
At $12 a pop ... it's kinda pricey ... and given my batch size is 2.5Gs ... I don't need 200b cells. . Package looks to be re-sealable.
Planning on brewing an IPA tomorrow with RVA 104. Like the large pitch count, no need to for a starter for a standard 5 gallon batch. Tried the Giga version of this strain, we'll see how they compare.
Been awhile but how did it turn out for you? I just picked some up. Planning on using it without a starter.
I used their Hop Topper (Conan) in a 4 gl batch of pale ale recently, no starter, did great! 1.052 down to 1.006. Pitched 46 days from packaging date.
This is the temperature profile we recommend for The Yeast Bay Vermont Ale. Keep it low for the bulk of fermentation and then raise it up a little to finish it off.
Anyone else give their yeasts a try? I stumbled on them when visiting a new homebrew shop and am going to give them a try for some of my upcoming batches.
Not sure about that, since it's Scotland... I'll say they probably did But it was nothing like modern central heating. Everyone still wrapped up and stayed close to the fire. As long as the yeast was still chugging they probably wouldn't waste much wood to warm it. The English were lucky to keep their living space at 55F in the old days; Scotland was probably worse.
