Brew Cellar American Ale Yeast

[mr_fuggles]

First post here - been reading for a while. Thanks to everyone for the great resource you've created here. It has really helped me out.

I brewed an APA a few weeks back with a very standard recipe (DME+Crystal+Chinook+Cascade) and the wort smelled/tasted great. I pitched the Brew Cellar American Ale Yeast which I hadn't used before just for something different, and ended up with a beer having a very medicinal/metallic taste to it which I think might be the result of the yeast (can't think of what else it would be). Also, the fermentationtookabout 48 hourstostart andusually only takesmeabout12 hours orless whenIrehydratea dry yeast prior to pitching.

I've read from searching these forums thatitisthesameas the SafaleUS05yeast,but I've managedtoscrewup arelatively simplebeerand it's eithera funkyyeast or ithas beeninfected somehow.

I've used US05 before and loved it.

Anybody else had a bad experience with this yeast?

EDIT: I should add that when I rehydrated the yeast, it did have a slightly stronger/funkier smell than other dry yeasts I've used.... maybe I should have given up on it then?

 

[joshuahardie]

Sure have.....

It is the only yeast that I have ever used in 6 years of brewing that did not produce 1 gram of alcohol.

Rehydrated, into airated wort, and a week later SG had not moved a millimeter.

Pitched a packet of the us-05, and got my beer, just a week later than usual.

Never used it since, don't plan to.

 

[mr_fuggles]

Interesting.... and I see that you're from the Central Cost - I'm from Newcastle. Maybe the batch that got delivered down our way was a bit off?

Also, and I can't believe that I forgot to mention this in the OP, I brewed this beer as a kind of experiment with a mate. He brewed exactly the same beer but with Amarillo for bittering rather than Chinook - we were going to do a taste test and see which we preferred. He also used the same yeast and got the same taste in his beer, which makes me think it's not an infection (would be a very very strange coincidence since neither of us have made an infected batch thus far). He also had the problem of the slwo start and actually ended up pitching another sachet of the stuff.

 

[newguy]

It could be an infection, just not a bacterial infection. Your mention of medicinal is one of the classic tell-tale signs of a wild yeast infection. It can also be caused by supposedly normal yeast if it is stressed/unhealthy. Your sanitation is probably fine. I'd bet the yeast is the issue, either health-wise or contamination from the manufacturer. Rebrew with some other kind of yeast and you should get a much better result.

 

[Back Yard Brewer]

Isn't that ironic. I have used the exact same yeast for several AG's in the past but my last one just would not take off. I even rehydrated it as normal, the yeast was quite active when hydrated. In the end I used the wyeast 1056 and away it went. I have lost a little faith in that brewcellar strain so I am now going to stick with the wyeast for the time. BTW after all the f%%%%ng around the beer eneded up with a sort of "funky" tatse. I have brewed quite a lot of APA's so I consider myself to have enough experince with APA's

BYB

 

[Nedelz]

hmm this is interesting. I had the same exact problem just recently. Pitch one packet of brew celler yeast. Nothing for 2 days. Pitch a second lot of their yeast still no activity after one week. OG 1044, current SG 1044, and starting to get a funky smell. Whilst this is the first problem i have had with this yeast, i won't be rushing to use it again.

 

[Uncle Fester]

I have used this yeast three times. Twice I have had to follow it up with another yeast chaser.

Once a kit generic yeast, and yesterday, a fresh US-05.

Never going to try this yeast again. Its easy because the supplier is local. However its the same price as refrigerated US-05 from my proper LHBS.

Twice bitten, thrice shy.


Fester

 

[Back Yard Brewer]

Has anyone notified the supplier of this particular problem?? I would not have a clue where to start but it is an interesting chain of events

BYB

 

[butters73]

I put down a Cascade choc mahog porter and after reading all the bad press about the cascade yeast i used a brewcellar english ale yeast. It was slow to start and seemed to only falf do the job, when tasting before bottling it was sweet with a distinct dodgy taste that I have tasted from a dodgy brew years ago. Chucked it. Never again, probably would have been better off using the cascade yeast. Kingo. PS I'm in central queensland.

 

[tim_mortensen]

I tried two brews with this yeast about a year ago, and had exactly the same results.

-> Very slow start to fermentation, even with vigorous aeration and 2 packs of properly rehydrated yeast.

-> Strong phenolic taste: medicinal and metallic.

Poured both batches out.

Never had any other infections or phenolics before or since. Gone off Apa's now, reminds me of that smell every time :angry:

Bought mine in Melbourne. Guy in the shop swore it was just repacked US-05, yeah right....

 

[Sammus]

I put down an apa recently with normal us05. It was a bit of an experiment involving a kit, whereas all my other beers for a year or more have been AG. The fermentation had about 10hrs lag, and I tasted it out of the fermenter and it tasted weird and metallic like what your all describing, I just put it down to 'kit twang' . Hopefully it mellows a bit. The kit was super fresh (morgans kit usebuy 2010 I think)

 

[Stuster]

The fermentation had about 10hrs lag

Not that long a lag IMO.

 

[joshuahardie]

Interesting.... and I see that you're from the Central Cost - I'm from Newcastle. Maybe the batch that got delivered down our way was a bit off?

Funnily enough, I bought this yeast whilst in Newcastle. There would be a strong chance it is from the same batch.

 

[warra48]

I used some packets of this yeast about a year ago, and it was fine then, Took off quickly, and fermented out well. And that's even allowing for the fact the local HB shop here doesn't have a fridge in the shop!
It seems the latest batch is probably at fault, rather than the yeast as a whole.
Anyway, it's not a problem for me anymore, as I have a full stock of yeasts from Ross to do me for at least the next 15 brews.

 

[warrenlw63]

Hey just out of curiousity who's repackaging this stuff? Does anybody have any idea of what sort of conditions its being handled in?

If its not being vacuum-sealed or nitrogen-flushed in sanitary conditions I'd be wary.

Might be worth dropping a line to the reseller.

Warren -

 

[mr_fuggles]

Hey just out of curiousity who's repackaging this stuff? Does anybody have any idea of what sort of conditions its being handled in?

If its not being vacuum-sealed or nitrogen-flushed in sanitary conditions I'd be wary.

Might be worth dropping a line to the reseller.

Warren -

I'll definately be mentioning the problem to the HBS where I bought it from. I'llleaveituptohim todecideifhewants totake itup with the distributor.

I'll definately be sticking to Fermentis dry yeasts from now on....

 

[T.D.]

I'll definately be sticking to Fermentis dry yeasts from now on....

I think that's a wise move - I recently decided to do the very same thing. Either that or liquid yeast! I've never had any trouble with genuine fermentis sachets, but I have had trouble with repackaged yeasts and have heard a lot of bad stories from other brewers too. Just not worth the risk of stuffing up an entire brew.

 

[Uncle Fester]

I'll definately be sticking to Fermentis dry yeasts from now on....

I was talking to my distributor of Brewcellar yeast a few weeks ago and he indicated that the yeasts are repackaged fermentis yeasts anyway. I have no idea if he was giving me a bum wrap or not.


That being as it may, I will stick to the refrigerated US-05, Windsor and Nottingham from my LHBS (BYOAH) from now on.

 

[Ross]

Hey just out of curiousity who's repackaging this stuff? Does anybody have any idea of what sort of conditions its being handled in?

If its not being vacuum-sealed or nitrogen-flushed in sanitary conditions I'd be wary.

Might be worth dropping a line to the reseller.

Warren -

Brew Celler yeasts are all fermentis & Danstar yeasts repackaged with nitrogen flush. From my investigations the repackers don't take any particular sanitary precautions, other than normal food handling procedures, though this may have changed. I was originally looking at getting ours packaged through one of these companies but decided against it, preferring to seal by vacuum in house. The nitrogen flush is done for cheapness on a commercial scale, with vacuum packaging giving the better product.

Cheers Ross

 

[Sammus]

Not that long a lag IMO.

No it's not, I wrote that to indicate that I didn't have the lag that others talk about.. maybe I should've pointed out what I meant