Any ideas or experience with Safbrew la 01

[duncbrewer]

I've just got some of this yeast

https://fermentis.com/en/product/safbrew-la-01/
Has anyone on the forum used this yeast? or got any recommendations for a recipe to try with it?

I'm wondering a mild recipe mashed hotter than usual or just try it in the David Heath Low alcohol IPA recipe.

Maybe both.

 

[BrewLizard]

Would love to try it, but in 500g packs, I'll have to give it a miss.

 

[duncbrewer]

Agreed shame it's only in big packs, need a co-operative on them. I got lucky with some "gifts".

 

[The Mack]

I've got some but haven't used it yet, I follow a couple Facebook groups where people have experience with it- Low/ Ultra low/ No alcohol brewing... Main thing I've taken in is not to use wheat in the grist as this yeast will throw a bunch of phenols when yeast is present (don't ask me why- it's the only thing I can remember)

 

[duncbrewer]

@The Mack
Thanks for that tip, I'll check the intended recipe and if necessary dewheat it.

 

[MHB]

Had a taste of a beer brewed with LA-01 by a friend through the week

The one big standout for me was the very low ester levels, more like what you would get from any other ale yeast brewed right at the bottom of its temperature range. Sort of Faux-Lager with US-05 type of esters.
The brewer is very skilled and turned out an excellent beer, better than several commercial examples I have tasted. The beer was built around a firm bitterness (perhaps a touch too high for the style and body) and a lot of late hops. I would keep the bitterness restrained <30IBU, probably closer to 20 for my palate.
There was a noticable dextrin sweetness in the flavour. I wouldn’t mash hot like you would with a mild, I suspect it would come over way to dextrinous, which would overshow the very subtle ester and fairly low malt profile.

Interesting yeast, and it’s going to make for some very interesting beers, I suspect more in the XPA direction than any other. My first thought would be that Carapillis is your friend, it is used up to 100% for making neo-beers, probably wouldn’t go that far but I'm thinking 50% is on the cards. The extra help with head retention wouldnt go astray.

Lots of fun to be had, just watch out for a normal yeast getting in, if you are bottling, think about pasteurising as soon as its carbed. If kegging, get it cold and keep it that way and hope for the best.
Mark

 

[duncbrewer]

Thanks for those tips @MHB it's an unique yeast so there's going to be some challenges. Guess it's not one to completely squash any expression with pressure. I'm wondering if back sweetening a recipe with only fermentables by the yeast might make it a little safer for late contamination risks with native yeasts and still work. Much to think about with this. I will be kegging so something less to worry about.

 

[MHB]

I wouldn’t pressure ferment any beer, personally I think it’s a WOFTAM, it’s just trendy if we wait a while most people will stop doing it. This one in particular would be one to avoid pressure as it struggles to give enough beer flavours; in fact I suspect open warm fermentation will give the best flavours.

I'm not 100% sure what you are aiming at with the back sweetening. But the yeast only eats simple sugars so really Glucose is about all you couldn’t add to the brew.

Fermentis have a bit of a discussion with the guy who found the yeast, worth a read.
Mark

 

[BrewLizard]

I wouldn’t pressure ferment any beer.

Interesting. Most people start their brewing with bottle carbonation. Does that mean you've only made still beers when bottling or kegged with force carbonation?

(The point being that you can pressure ferment at the end, using residual sugars to achieve a carbonation target, i.e. spunding. It'd be strange to be opposed to this if you are okay with bottle carbonation.)

 

[yankinoz]

Fermentis have a bit of a discussion with the guy who found the yeast, worth a read.
Mark
[/QUOTE]

Thanks for the reference, but I note from it that Fermentis recommends pasteurisation to prevent other, stray yeasts restarting fermentation. In bottled beers that could mean bombs or gushers as maltose ferments, and that's presumably behind BrewLizard's commenty on bottling. For keggers the worst would be possible off-flavours, though keeping the keg cold might prevent that. Thoughts?

 

[Grmblz]

#6 ^

 

[MHB]

Interesting. Most people start their brewing with bottle carbonation. Does that mean you've only made still beers when bottling or kegged with force carbonation?

(The point being that you can pressure ferment at the end, using residual sugars to achieve a carbonation target, i.e. spunding. It'd be strange to be opposed to this if you are okay with bottle carbonation.)

Most people don’t start brewing with a yeast that can only eat Dextrose (pretty much) so obviously it’s different when you use a fully attenuateive yeast.
Have no problem with bunging to condition beer either. Just can’t see how starting a brew at high pressures does any good. The big difference in the flavour of Ale and Lagers is esters mostly made by yeast during the early reproductive phase of their life cycle. Pressure suppresses esters by suppressing yeast reproduction.
If you want ale flavours it’s better to let the yeast reproduce. To get quick clean ferments you will need much larger yeast pitches if you are suppressing reproduction.
The main commercial users of pressure fermenters are Lager brewers who care more about getting the beer out faster and from what I can see care less about the quality of the beer.
Even the very early formitive work done on pressure fermentation really only looked at Lager brewing. They reported the best results at 1 Bar (100kPa/14PSI) but noted that the beer was different to the same beer brewed conventionally.
I suppose it’s down to all of us which approach we use, me I don’t see any advantages in pressure fermenting ales (actually some downsides) and when I brew a lager I really don’t want to rush. The best lagers I have ever tasted are made low and slow, there what I’m trying to copy.
Mark

 

[duncbrewer]

@MHB
Thanks for that link to article very interesting info and we seem to agree not one for a pressure ferment. I was thinking that a hotter mash would produce fewer simple fermentables but not sure why back sweetening came into my chain of thought as it should have plenty of unfermented sweetness in the wort.
Regarding pressure ferment and paraphrasing the Firm
"It's beer, Jim
But not as we know it
Not as we know it
Not as we know it
It's beer, Jim
But not as we know it "

 

[MHB]

There is a small amount of Glucose, Fructose and Sucrose in malt before you start mashing, actually in the barley before they malt it. It ammounts to around 12% of the fermentable extract being made up of Fructose and Glucose that are available for LA-01 to use.
I find hot mashed beers tend to taste dextirinious (a bit gluey). Still a lot to learn about this yeast but I think I would stay with a normal mash regime.
Anyhow - Live long and prosper...
Mark

 

[duncbrewer]

Interesting, so what would happen if you basically cold mashed and sparged a grain bill to extract those GFS from the malt.

Then could go on and hot mash the wort to make another beer, a bit like a negative or reversed parti gyle.

 

[MHB]

She would be a very thin beer.
M

 

[Mysticbrewer]

I found via a quick search the yeast either split or in 12g bags, cant tell from the pic, incase ppl are interested :
https://lazydayzbrewingsupplies.com.au/product/safbrew-la-01-12g/

 

[yankinoz]

I found via a quick search the yeast either split or in 12g bags, cant tell from the pic, incase ppl are interested :
https://lazydayzbrewingsupplies.com.au/product/safbrew-la-01-12g/

I see the site's description does not carry a warning about possible later fermentation by other organisms. Is that on the package directions?

 

[The Mack]

That's where I bought mine from (Lazydayz)- it's in vac sealed bags (split from a brick).