I have used this yeast several times since first trying Heady Topper. Tasting Heady made me realize that the right yeast esters and residual body are almost as important with hop-forward beers as the hops themselves.
Starting this thread on this forum so people can post results of fermentations with Conan, recommended pitch rates and recommended temps.
Yesterday we brewed a Robust Porter (riff on Edmund Fitzgerald) and another IPA.
Conan Gen 3 from a vial from The Yeast Bay - this time we pitched actively fermenting starter to try to get some more ester production.
Porter is fermenting/pitched at 64*
IPA fermenting/pitched at 67*
Pitched just slightly over the recommended amount of slurry for each batch, active starter after high krausen.
Looking for information on fermentation schedules and how it affects ester production.
I have pitched at 62* and ramped up to 70* after Day 3. Going to try ratcheting the IPA up to 70* sooner.
Made my Galaxy DIPA this past weekend, 3-gallons, OG 1.082. No starter, just pitched the vial at 58*F. It’s starting very slowly, so I may warm it up a few degrees in a day or two if it doesn’t pick up.
I figure 3 gallons of wort at 1.082 is kind of like 5 gallons at 1.051, so it’s a healthy under-pitch, but I’m hoping the yeast growth with pure O2 will be OK. I’ve regretted under-pitching in the past, but this is all an experiment anyways.
I figure 3 gallons of wort at 1.082 is kind of like 5 gallons at 1.051, so it’s a healthy under-pitch, but I’m hoping the yeast growth with pure O2 will be OK. I’ve regretted under-pitching in the past, but this is all an experiment anyways.[/quote]
My bad, didn’t register the 3 gallons. To your point, probably slight underpitch if at all. Please post results back here!
No worries! (I meant dumb on my part, sorry if it didn’t come across that way). I’m a bit of a rookie when it comes to yeast handling, so I’m kind of making it up as I go. I’ll post an update as things progress.
Well when I got home last night, there wasn’t any sign of continuing fermentation so I bumped the temperature up slightly from 58F to 60F. This morning, it’s chugging along nicely at 60-61*F. I’ll let it ride at this temperature and see where it goes. Probably will bring it up a little more once fermentation dies down.
I’ll be doing a HT clone (just going with the kit from NB) next so I’ll be checking out this thread to see what to expect.
The kit recommends fermenting at 68 and bumping up to 72 to finish it off. Any experience with fermenting this warm with this yeast? I don’t want the esters to get too out of hand but I know that is part of what makes HT so interesting so I may give it a whirl. Probably won’t brew it for a few weeks here so I’ve got time to discuss
My IPA is going at 67 and I will be bumping to 72 after day 3. I should hopefully be tapping this before you brew, so I will let you know how the esters are!
Note this is also gen III for me, but this go-round we bought from Yeast Bay as opposed to can culturing.
Well this yeast is VERY happy at 62*F. Fermentation slowed down after a few days, so I brought it up to 65F and it’s chugging along nicely again.
I’ve got the HT clone from NB as well - assuming that active fermentation is done by this weekend, I’m going to brew the kit and pitch on the yeast cake from the 3-gallon batch. I think it would be best to keep it on the cool side with that much yeast - the only times I’ve had the lid blown off a bucket was pitching onto an entire yeast cake.
Well I’m not sure if anyone else is following this thread, but I racked the IIPA to secondary for dry hop, and the yeast finishing at about 65F took the gravity from 1.076 to 1.012 in about 10 days, for 83.2%AA. It was certainly working for the entire 10 days, too, whereas something like WY1272 gets it done in half the time. So slow and steady, but it got it done.
As for the flavors, I’m not sure if it was the Conan or the Galaxy hops, but this thing is a tropical fruit hop bomb! Looking forward to trying it in a couple of weeks, but it’s all good so far.
My IPA (brewed around the same time) has a ton of tropical/stone fruit (almost star fruit) esters, and I didn’t use any galaxy. Dry hop 1 starting tomorrow. Probably need to bump the amount of Columbus for the next beer to balance out the citrus (I used Chinook as my ‘dank’ hop this time, but in small proportions next to the Apollo, Centennial, and Simcoe).
We just kegged the porter yesterday, and I wasn’t catching any stone fruit/tropical in the aroma, just yummy roast and malt. Maybe lower pitch/initial ferment temp = less stone fruit with conan? Stands to reason I guess (though I know there are some yeasts that kick off more esters at lower temps, like US-05 and the peach at 60*).
[attachment=0]porter.jpg[/attachment]This. Porter. Is. Excellent.
I would perhaps cut the bittering hops a bit on the next go round, but its within the style. And awesome. Its official in my mind: Conan can make a great porter. Would guess the same for stouts and some other style categories.
Not really any noticeable esters coming off of it either.
Just to update my use of this yeast. I pitched this into my HT clone at 66 deg on Sunday afternoon and it was at full krausen by Monday afternoon. By Wednesday the krausen had dropped quite a bit so I bumped it up to 70. Thursday the krausen had pretty much completely dropped so I bumped it up to 72 (per the directions on the yeastbay site as well as in the kit instructions) and going to leave it there for a couple days then just let ambient temps take over at that point. I’ll probably take a gravity reading at 10 days at which time I’ll also take a taste sample. So far it smells amazing!
So I decided to take a gravity reading just to see where everything is at. This yeast is a BEAST! 1.070 to 1.012 in less than a week and dropped out just like that. Initial taste was amazing! Even flat and not dry hopped this is easily the best IPA I’ve ever made.
Just to update this again, we brewed a 1/2 bbl of a Sip of Sunshine-inspired beer yesterday, and pitched a slight overpitch of actively fermenting Conan. It took off right away, with a very active airlock within 18 hours or so. We have it going at 68, and are planning on a nice long d-rest at 72-74
I was just given 4 fresh cans of the original Heady over a week ago. They are gone, but I did culture yeast successfully. I actually was able to get a great sample from the first 2 cans and the yield was impressive. I have the dregs from the other two cans on the stirplate right now. Hopefully I can get as much yield this time too.
I have made the Pliny the Elder clone, but not the HT. I have seen recipes online for the HT, and I’m curious as to the NB kit and how it stacks up to other clones that are out there. Has anyone tried both the kit and another recipe and have a comparison?
Regardless, I can’t wait to make something with this yeast. The aroma and flavor of the HT was unreal.
The NB recipe is identical to Bear-Flavored’s (homebrew blogger, now pro brewer) recipe, the most acclaimed clone out there, which is pretty darn close. I have to believe the difference is in the water.
Something else to consider: I am of the opinion that Alchemist wants you to drink Heady from the can so the yeast will mix in and you will taste it in each sip (similar to how hefe is consumed). I think the body/mouthfeel of Heady is one of the things that sets it apart (in addition to yeast esters, which are WAY undervalued in most IPA recipes IMO).
I cultured from a can before “Vermont Ale”/“Northeast Ale” was widely available. Worked great for me (and it sounded like it did for you), but some have reported that Conan tends to start to drop in attenuation after multiple generations, so you may want to err on the side of overpitching. This is why Heady is most certainly different batch-to-batch. I made an awesome standard bitter with it to grow up a slug for a IIPA pitch.
I’m curious to see how the beer comes out pitching an actively fermenting starter. I do this with saisons where I want more yeast character, but not over the top.
Funny story, 2 friends and I took a road trip to VT last year to procure Heady, Sip of Sunshine, and Hill. In our cab from Stowe to Waterbury, the cabbie said he loved Heady, and the best way to drink it was to drop a shot of vodka into it. Our expressions were somewhere between utter disbelief, maddening anger, and bottling up uncontrollable laughter.
If you are really interested in Heady, check this out:
Alrighty, took a gravity sample of my “Off the Topper” last night. It was brewed on April 1st, so I figured I’d start to test it out. The taste was pretty interesting. It was good, don’t get me wrong, but I guess I am looking for that hoppy IPA goodness even though I haven’t dry hopped yet. Interesting type of fruit flavor I can’t quite put my finger on. With the way it tastes now, I think the dry hops will really make this taste good. I’m pretty excited.
OG before pitching was 1.071. Last night it was at 1.012. It is still definitely very hazy. I am thinking I’ll wait until Wednesday, take another reading, then start the dry hop process.
