New strains from Fermentis

[RobB]

It looks like Fermentis released a few new strains of dry yeast late last year. Has anyone tried them?

W-68 - Looks like it could be the dry equivalent of 3068.

BW-20 - Belgian wit yeast.

E-30 - I honestly don’t know what to make of this one. A lager strain with banana esters?!?!

BR-8 - Dry Brett. I think this one has been around for a little while.

DW-17 - A yeast/enzyme mix for extremely dry beers.

 

[philrob]

Not used any of these so far. I still generally use liquid yeast, although the convenience of dry yeast is becoming more attractive.

 

[eldertaco]

I hadn't noticed but it would be nice to have some dry 3068 available, might have to give that a go. Anywhere you know that's stocking it?

 

[RobB]

I hadn't noticed but it would be nice to have some dry 3068 available, might have to give that a go. Anywhere you know that's stocking it?

I haven’t looked yet, but I did notice that the Fermentis site showed 11g sachets as well as 500g bricks, so we should be seeing them soon.

 

[Sidney Harbour-Bridge]

I'd certainly give the W-68 a go, if we see it here

 

[bradmcm]

W-68 is meant to be very similar to Lalbrew Munich Classic, Wyeast 3068 or White Labs 380.
BW-20 is similar to Wyeast 3942 or White Labs 410. It's also (v. probably) sold by Mangrove Jack's as M21.
SafLager E-30 was only announced two weeks ago (https://x.com/Fermentis/status/1747985657652187269) so I haven't seen any real world reports about it's use yet. Like you say, a lager strain that produces isoamyl acetate (banana). Fruit forward lagers seems to be a niche category. Maybe it's the new thing?
DW-17 I haven't come across either but looks interesting. HA-18 and DA-16 are strains on their website I haven't seen here, not to say they're not, just not in the HBS I use.

 

[dmtaylor]

W-68 is meant to be very similar to Lalbrew Munich Classic, Wyeast 3068 or White Labs 380.
BW-20 is similar to Wyeast 3942 or White Labs 410. It's also (v. probably) sold by Mangrove Jack's as M21.

Where did you get all that from?!

 

[bradmcm]

I did a little bit of digging around myself and looked at various characteristics but I did base some of it on (Mangrove Jacks Craft Series Yeasts Substitution Chart)

 

[eldertaco]

SafBrew™ Dw-17 is an All-In-1™ solution from Fermentis especially for dry complex beers with fruity, woody and slight acidic characters.

Sounds like a possible candidate for a saison?

 

[wide eyed and legless]

They also have one for low-alcohol beers but are not yet into the little sachets.

 

[shmick]

David Heath has a video about some of these yeast/enzyme blends but there's not a lot of real world experience showing up yet.
Seems to be more a convenience thing than actual new yeast strains.

 

[Vic]

They also have one for low-alcohol beers but are not yet into the little sachets.

And never will be if you mean LA-01. Beer made with this yeast has a lot of unfermented sugars so refermentatiom is highly possible so you can end up with more alcohol than intended. As beer made with this yeast needs to be pasteurised it’s only available to commercial brewers who have the required resources.