Llalbrew Dry BRY-97 : West Coast Ale Yeast

I recently used for the first time BRY-97 in dry yeast form. This West Coast Ale style yeast worked perfectly in a Brut IPA that I made. Complimenting completely the increased fermentability and reduced Hops in a Brut.
I’m very excited to have this as a dry form. I strongly recommend you try it out when you can.

"LalBrew® BRY-97 American West Coast Ale Dry Yeast (Danstar) was selected from the Siebel Institute Culture Collection and is used by a number of commercial breweries to produce different types of ale. It is a classic American ale yeast that offers the convenience and long shelf life of dried yeast along with high quality standards and excellent performance.

Quick, clean, and well-attenuating are the chief properties of this yeast. It is most comparable to the “Chico”-style strains. In our experience, this strain stays clean at relatively high temperatures (up to 78F), and flocculation is marginally better than other “Chico” strains. Due to the slightly higher flocculation tendencies, it does slightly reduce bittering levels in the finished beer.

Through expression of a beta-glucosidase enzyme, LalBrew® BRY-97 can promote hop biotransformation and accentuate hop flavor and aroma.

Beer Styles: Cream Ale, American Wheat, Scotch Ale, American Pale Ale, American Amber, American Brown, American IPA, American Stout, Russian Imperial Stout, Imperial IPA, Old Ale and American Barleywine
Aroma: Neutral with slight ester
Fermentation Temperature Range: 59 - 72°F
Optimum Temp: 64°-70° F
Attenuation: Medium to high
Flocculation: High
Alcohol Tolerance: 13% ABV"

I just used BRY-97 as part of a yeast experiment against S-04 and London ESB, same wort (cream ale) split 3 different ways. I found BRY-97 to be excessively yeasty and bready in flavor even after 4 months of age, although it is clear as crystal. Reminds me very much of K-97 actually. Might be good in hoppy styles. But in my opinion, not great in light styles like a cream ale, blonde ale, etc. I will stop using these for lighter styles in future.

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Hmm I didn’t notice any yeasty-bread like flavor in my Brut. But tasteS are different l. I do agree SO4 has no yeast character which is why I don’t often use it as I’m a fan of yeast driven character. Nice that you did a three way comparison. I wanted to do a two way comparison with their dry Eastcoast ale but didn’t have enough fermenters available.

S-04 was actually my favorite out of the three, it had the most yeast character, fruity esters and just pleasant overall. The London ESB was relatively watery and bland, but great if you don’t want a huge yeast impact.

Very interesting. Do you know your pitch and general fermentation temperatures? I’ve never used the ESB

Pitched them all cool in the mid-50s then brought up to about 68 F after a couple days.

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