Morgans Premium Lager Yeast, what strain?

[Bribie G]

I've got a couple of packs of Morgans Premium Lager Yeast 15g packets.
Not the Mauri Yeast that comes under the lid of the Blue Mountain etc tins, this one's European.



They also do a German Lager yeast from Weihenstephan so that's got to be W34/70

On the Premium Lager Yeast pack they state that it's used by Western European brewers so by elimination I'd say that it would have to be S-23.



Anyone used it? I'm thinking of doing a couple of Pale Continental lagers shortly and mature them for the forthcoming comp season.

 

[Bradgc]

I've just put on a lager with this yeast and unfortunately the temp is around 25°c.

Do you think it'll still be drinkable at this temp? What are the flavours like at these temps?

 

[Bribie G]

Any chance of getting it down to maybe 19 with wet towels / frozen bottles etc? Most lager yeasts will still do a reasonable drop at those temperatures.

 

[Bradgc]

I've just moved house (living with the in-laws for a few months) so I'm already kind of walking on eggshells. When we were at our old place, I'd put in in the laundry sink with a bag of ice and then rotate a couple frozen bottles of water and it worked perfectly.

But unfortunately here, it's just sitting in a hot garage.
I'm hindsight I should have added a us05 instead.
I could still add one, or perhaps a kit yeast or 2?
Any suggestions would be much appreciated.

I know with wheat yeasts you get the bananery flavours, but no one really mentions what the actual flavours are from lager yeast at high temps?

 

[Bribie G]

Yeah maybe a kit yeast might take over the fermentation. Probably going to get a fruity Blonde ale whichever way you go

 

[Bradgc]

All good. As long as it doesn't give off flavours

 

[MHB]

As far as I know Morgan's Premium Lager Yeast is a dried version of W 34/70 available from the yeast library maintained by the brewing university at Weihenstephan, along with a bunch of other yeasts. I think the Yeast Lab is now a spinoff business from the uni.
There is no indication (outside the speculation on home brewing forums) that it is or ever was the or a yeast used at the Weihenstephan Brewery, the two have been totally separate for quite a long time. All institutions that teach brewing maintain yeast libraries, VLB in Berlin has a big one, there is also the National Yeast Archive in the UK with over 20,000 Ale yeasts in storage, the list goes on.
S-23 was sourced from the VLB yeast library, that doesn't mean its a north German yeast.

Mark

 

[Bradgc]

Thanks! Very interesting

 

[Let's Brew Beer]

Yeah i recently did a American Barleywine with Morgans American Ale Yeast which i'm told is just repackaged US05, first time i've ever used this product before. I was after the Wyeast American Ale II 1272 but my LHBS didn't have it in stock.