I'm going to brew a Mexican lager (Northern Brewer Atlantico). I am going to try the Novalager yeast and was wondering if anyone has any experience with this yeast. Any insight is appreciated.
Thanks Ramjet
Thanks Ramjet
I've done three batches with it so far. It's a nice neutral yeast, no sulfur or off flavors; but if you're looking for bright clear beer from it, you're going to wait a while. The flocculation is meh at best, even with gelatin in the keg it takes a couple of weeks for it to really clear out.Thanks everyone. I brewed yesterday pitched the yeast about 65 degrees, set the fermentation chamber at 60 degrees and had activity in the airlock after 12 hours. Hope it turns out.
I have an experimental 2.5G batch of Pilsner fermenting with Novalager right now. I was quite pleased with it in my AvgBrü West Coast Pils, but the high attenuation and hop expression were positive attributes for that beer. I'm interested to see how a highly-attenuative lager yeast will affect the final beer in a fairly standard Pilsner recipe. I'm hoping for something very crisp, like a Mexican lager. I mashed at 147F and Brewfather is predicting nearly 92% attenuation, which seems awfully high--too high, actually. So, your comment on puckery dry is concerning. As an aside, mouth-puckering dryness almost sounds like astringency to me.So I've now brewed four beers with this yeast, and I'm giving my final take on it. It's a great concept, and technically a good yeast; but I'm not liking the aggregate results. I've done one very good beer on it. Two of the others were meh, but I'm calling myself out on that as the recipes weren't the best for the yeast. However, the last one I brewed with it, a Marzen that I've done many times before, came out pretty not good. Yes, I used slurry on it, and some may say I overpitched (1.061 SG so I'm not thinking that), but I'm not really liking the flavor. My process was pretty much on point (yes I am aware that I could have missed something). Beer is very dry, no oxidation or off flavors, just puckery dry on the back end. Yes I could have screwed something up, but going back over my notes it was done right.
I can get past the lack of clarity, that's what time (and gelatin) is for. But I'm not too terribly fond of the flavor. I'm going to brew the exact same recipe in the next few weeks but ferment on 34/70 instead, and compare the results.
The primary goal for Lallemand in developing this yeast was the ability to reduce fermenter and tank residency time, while producing a clean lager flavor. Lagers have traditionally needed to rest in cold storage for many weeks to allow off flavors to be corrected and also to allow time for clarification. So, while you might have to wait for your Novalager-fermented beer to clear, you should be able to enjoy drinking it much sooner than traditional lager yeasts. At least, that was the intent.Giving it is a lager, taking awhile to clear is a good thing. Lagers have to age.
I just ordered a pack and will be banking it up. I'll let you know the results!I'm interested if anyone has recycled Novalager yeast, I've done it twice and both times there has been off flavours in the beer, first use has has great results
Miine came out pretty good and tasty
I'm interested if anyone has recycled Novalager yeast, I've done it twice and both times there has been off flavours in the beer, first use has has great results
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