Conan Yeast Experiences

Williams 728
Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
moreb33rplz said:
I'm a little disillusioned with Conan so far. Only have one batch in bottles, and the second fermenting so maybe I'm jumping the gun but....

I bombed an IPA with whirlpool/dry hop Citra and Mosaic, and it just tastes like juice. Very little aroma, and an atypical hop flavor. Interesting, but not what I was looking for.

Hard to believe this is the Heady Topper yeast, tastes nothing like it!
Click to expand...

Ok, I mostly take it back. Another few days of aging is making a world of difference. It actually tastes like beer now, and pretty good beer at that.
 
hopbrad said:
still dropping 4 days later. gravity sample was 1.016.

it originally read 1.020, I usually drink the sample right after reading it but i got distracted with my brew day and came back to it 2 hours later and it was 1.016. maybe some c02 in solution that possibly skewed the first reading?

75% attenuation at the moment.

regardless, im going to dry hop on friday and keg on sunday. tasted good, still sorta on the sweet side. will update with 1 more gravity reading when i keg and then a taste update when its carbed up.
Click to expand...


Dry hopped with an oz each of mosaic, Columbus and simcoe. FG was 1.014 when I kegged. I didn't cold crash but already pretty clear after 3 pours.
It doesn't work for all yeasts but I've found for many that if I let it go warm after all/most fermentation is complete, yeast floc better. Cold crashing obviously helps too. But it seems to work well.
Anyway, this is one of the best IPAs I've ever made and I attribute it to mainly the yeast, I also added a touch more gypsum. If the next generation can drop another few points I'll be beyond stoked with conan.
View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1458181316.474795.jpg
 
I've found after two beers made with the oly52 strain that it attenuates will hit 1.010 on both IPAs and it leaves the beer or adds to the haziness I brewed these NE style with wheat malt and flaked oats and wheat and it leaves a slightly thicker mouthfeel than say 05, 001, etc but I don't really get any of that peach/apricot it's known for, could be the massive hop stand and dry hops I used just covering it up. I pour some off from my starters every batch so I'll def keep using it just to have something diff to use but overall I'm middle of the road, not disappointed but not like wow this is the best yeast in the world for IPAs. My batch fermenting with 1318 right now has been much more potent coming out of th airlock than either with the Conan yeasts so I'll look forward to seeing what's happens.
 
moreb33rplz said:
Ok, I mostly take it back. Another few days of aging is making a world of difference. It actually tastes like beer now, and pretty good beer at that.
Click to expand...

Ok I take it all the way back. The beer now tastes like a wonderful IPA. It took a good 3 weeks or so in the bottle to get there, it just tasted like orange juice, but it got there. Maui wowie it's good!
 
sweetcell said:
i'm currently drinking a 9.2% abv DIPA made with conan.

not sure it's the best choice for a RIS. seems too fruity to me.
Click to expand...

Was that bottle carbed, or kegged? I'm having issues with conan carbing a 9.2% DIPA...curious if yours was bottle carbed, and if so, did it take a while for them to carb up?
 
sweetcell said:
bottle conditioned. definitely took a while, like 3-4 weeks.
Click to expand...

Ah dang, mine's been in there two months and still a little flat :/

I'm wondering if the yeast are just too stressed and I should've added some high-abv yeast like CBC1 at bottling.
 
You can add Conan for bottle conditioning, just don't let it go above 70* for the first 4-7 days. I've successfully bottle conditioned with Conan in as little as 4 days, but it can take 3 weeks. IMO if it takes longer than 3 weeks to carb your yeast is almost dead, that's why you should always add a little fresh yeast just to make sure.
 
I just kegged a Galaxy, Citra, Nelson IPA that's easily the best beer I've ever made.

Used TYB Vermont Ale and fermented at 66º for 3 days after visible fermentation started, then rose to 72º over 24 hours and held until complete.

Started at 1.069, finished up at 1.014 with 80% attenuation. Dead on what I was shooting for. Super juicy, hop aroma and flavor for days with plenty of citrus and a really pleasant bitterness.

I really think the key is to start Conan cool, then after 72 hours get it warm to finish up, it doesn't like fully attenuating when it's cold the entire time.
 
beskone said:
I just kegged a Galaxy, Citra, Nelson IPA that's easily the best beer I've ever made.

Used TYB Vermont Ale and fermented at 66º for 3 days after visible fermentation started, then rose to 72º over 24 hours and held until complete.

Started at 1.069, finished up at 1.014 with 80% attenuation. Dead on what I was shooting for. Super juicy, hop aroma and flavor for days with plenty of citrus and a really pleasant bitterness.
Click to expand...

What was your grain bill?
 
doomXsaloon said:
What was your grain bill?
Click to expand...

Here's the full recipe:

[size=+2]New Kegs IPA[/size]
[size=+1]21-A American IPA[/size]
Date: 3/2/16



Size: 5.5 gal
Efficiency: 80.0%
Attenuation: 80.0%
Calories: 227.82 kcal per 12.0 fl oz

Original Gravity: 1.069 (1.056 - 1.070)
|======================#=========|
Terminal Gravity: 1.014 (1.008 - 1.014)
|===================#============|
Color: 7.4 SRM (6.0 - 14.0)
|==========#=====================|
Alcohol: 7.23% (5.5% - 7.5%)
|=======================#========|
Bitterness: 67.1 (40.0 - 70.0)
|======================#=========|

[size=+1]Ingredients:[/size]
6.5 lb (48.8%) 2-Row Brewers Malt
6.5 lb (48.8%) Maris Otter
6 oz (2.3%) Crystal 15°

.25 oz Warrior 60 m
1.11 oz Galaxy 10 m
.5 oz Nelson Sauvin 10m
.5 oz Citra 10 m
1 Whirlfloc Tablet 10 m
1 oz Galaxy - Whirlpool @170º
1 oz Nelson Sauvin - Whirlpool @170º
1 oz Citra - Whirlpool @170º
1 Yeast Bay WLP4000 Vermont Ale
2.5 oz Citra (14.2%) - Dry Hop 3 Days
1.5 oz Nelson Sauvin (12.0%) Dry Hop 3 Days

Cold crash and fine with 1/2 tsp gelatin and transfer to keg.

I was going to make this an all Galaxy and Nelson IPA but found out I had less Galaxy than I had thought so subbed in the Citra for what I was missing.
 
generation 2 and 3.
I pitched some conan slurry from an IPA into a pale ale. I let it ferment in my cold room instead of chest freezer to see what happens at warmer temps. My cold room gets ambient down to upper 60's...sometimes mid 60's at best a few days in. I agree you get some belgian spice characteristics from fermenting it on the warmer side. My guess the Pale ale was fermenting mid 70's. Definitely got a little bit of clove on the backend.

I brewed a 1.070 IPA yesterday and pitched some of the original slurry from the 1st IPA and some of the slurry from the Pale Ale. Set my chest freezer to 63F. 16 hours in, no airlock activity yet but it looks like some bubbles are starting to form. not bad for lag time considering i didnt do a starter, the IPA slurry is over a month old and the pale ale slurry is about 2 weeks old. i slightly overpitched bc i didnt make a starter. will update
 
beskone said:
I just kegged a Galaxy, Citra, Nelson IPA that's easily the best beer I've ever made.

Used TYB Vermont Ale and fermented at 66º for 3 days after visible fermentation started, then rose to 72º over 24 hours and held until complete.

Started at 1.069, finished up at 1.014 with 80% attenuation. Dead on what I was shooting for. Super juicy, hop aroma and flavor for days with plenty of citrus and a really pleasant bitterness.

I really think the key is to start Conan cool, then after 72 hours get it warm to finish up, it doesn't like fully attenuating when it's cold the entire time.
Click to expand...

At least with our isolate, The Yeast Bay Vermont Ale, we have definitely found that the ester production and attenuation are maximized starting anywhere from 64-68F, and then ramping up to 70-72 F as fermentation finishes off.

Glad our Vermont Ale worked well for you!
 
I just sampled a Session Pale Ale that I made and split into two fermentors. One was pitched with US-05, the other with Conan. The Conan batch took longer to get to gravity, but it is definitely the better beer at the end of primary at least. It has a crisper finish and seems fuller and a bigger beer than the US-05. The US-05 seems drier, thinner, less body, not as crisp. I know it sounds odd that the US-05 seems drier and thinner but also less crisp, but that is my perception so far. Can't wait to carb them up and continue comparing.


Recipe Type: All Grain
Yeast: US-05 vs. Conan
Yeast Starter: US-05 - Repitch Harvested Yeast; Conan - Starter
Batch Size (Gallons): 12.86 G
Original Gravity: 1.044
Final Gravity: 1.011 (both hit the same)
ABV: 4.4%
IBU: 20 with Rager
Boiling Time (Minutes): 75
Color: light orange
Primary Ferm (# of Days & Temp): 17 days: US-05 66-69 / Conan 62-69
Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): none yet
Tasting Notes: Orange color, cloudy, flowery, perfumey hop character - very general hop character. US-05 drier, thinner, more bland. Conan better so far, crisp, full body, better flavor -same sort of hop character.

GRAIN BILL: (based on Tasty's Session Pale Ale)
43% GW 2 Row
19% Maris Otter
14% German Pils
14% Crystal 20L
5% Crystal 45L
5% Carapils

45 minute mash @ 165F, step up to 170F and hold 10 mins, then fly sparge

WATER PROFILE:
1 Campden tablet added to MLT and HLT before heating
Salts added to get estimated ion content in brewing liquor:
Ca = 65
Sulfate = 102
Chloride = 34

Mash pH = 5.38 at RT
Sparge water adjusted to 5.52 with Phosphoric Acid

Conversion Efficiency: 88.8%
Lauter Efficiency: 91.1%
Overall Mash Efficiency: 80.9%

HOPS:
60 Min. = .78 oz of 14.3% Warrior for 20 IBUs with Rager
Chill to 165F 2/2/2.42/2/2.85 oz of Amarillo/Centennial/Summit/CTZ/Casc.
Whirlpool 50 minutes, then through counter-flow chiller into carboys

Dry Hop #1- At day 5 of ferm. - add the following to primary fermenter:
2/2/2/2 oz of Amarillo/Centennial/Summit/CTZ to each of the fermenters.
 
Lately, I've been mashing most of my beers at 165. To my taste, the resulting beers taste the same as at a lower temp (for the same OG) but have a lot less alcohol. It works great for low alcohol beers especially. I am thinking of pushing it higher, maybe 168, to see if I still get the same conversion efficiency. I can get down to low 70%AA with Chico if I mash at 165, but I'd like to get even less attenuation for lower ABV beers.

And, no, I don't think the beers taste sweet, as long as the maltose is thoroughly metabolized by the yeast, but I haven't done a side-by-side test of two identical mashes in one beer. In my experience, the effect of brewing ions, sparge method and pH adjustments are more important than mash temp for perception of dryness
 
I tasted 1st hand a split batch @ 142 & 162 mash temps with no perceivable difference so I believe it!
 
stickyfinger said:
Lately, I've been mashing most of my beers at 165. To my taste, the resulting beers taste the same as at a lower temp (for the same OG) but have a lot less alcohol. It works great for low alcohol beers especially. I am thinking of pushing it higher, maybe 168, to see if I still get the same conversion efficiency. I can get down to low 70%AA with Chico if I mash at 165, but I'd like to get even less attenuation for lower ABV beers.

And, no, I don't think the beers taste sweet, as long as the maltose is thoroughly metabolized by the yeast, but I haven't done a side-by-side test of two identical mashes in one beer. In my experience, the effect of brewing ions, sparge method and pH adjustments are more important than mash temp for perception of dryness
Click to expand...


jessup said:
I tasted 1st hand a split batch @ 142 & 162 mash temps with no perceivable difference so I believe it!
Click to expand...

Well damn, I learn something new every day!
 
took a gravity sample. 12 days in at 1.015. Stoked with the attenuation. A bit disappointed on the hop/yeast character. a bit boozy, but not too worried about that, should fade. Going to let it go another 2 days to make sure its done, then crash, trasnfer so i can harvest yeast, dry hop, keg later this week.
Will up the dry hops an oz or so. I ran out of Mosaic/Simcoe on the Flameout/WP addition so going with a big Citra/Columbus combo on the dry hop. :rockin:

hopbrad said:
generation 2 and 3.

I brewed a 1.070 IPA yesterday and pitched some of the original slurry from the 1st IPA and some of the slurry from the Pale Ale. Set my chest freezer to 63F. 16 hours in, no airlock activity yet but it looks like some bubbles are starting to form. not bad for lag time considering i didnt do a starter, the IPA slurry is over a month old and the pale ale slurry is about 2 weeks old. i slightly overpitched bc i didnt make a starter. will update
Click to expand...
 
I love brewing with Conan. Any Colorado Brewers can find this yeast easily through Inland Island. Their "Colorado IPA" yeast is Conan, and it works like a charm.

In my experience, this yeast takes off quickly and provides a fast and rigorous primary fermentation. This yeast hasn't flocced very well at all for me in the past, but I'm not too hung up on sediment in my IPAs. The flavor is definitely suited for juicy American IPAs, but I've had good success with this yeast when doing Cascadian Dark Ales as well.
 
lizardspeak said:
I love brewing with Conan. Any Colorado Brewers can find this yeast easily through Inland Island. Their "Colorado IPA" yeast is Conan, and it works like a charm.

In my experience, this yeast takes off quickly and provides a fast and rigorous primary fermentation. This yeast hasn't flocced very well at all for me in the past, but I'm not too hung up on sediment in my IPAs. The flavor is definitely suited for juicy American IPAs, but I've had good success with this yeast when doing Cascadian Dark Ales as well.
Click to expand...

what temperature profile do you use to get decent fruity aromatics? I just bought a vial of INISBC 003 yesterday.
 
So anybody seen conan finish in 3 days? Krausen dropped after 48 hrs. I don't want to check the gravity as Im worried I will see 1.015 to 1.018... what have folks done in cases where attenuation doesn't come around. I wouldnt do anything until day 7 or so but I'm trying to prepare myself as this yeast has let me down before. I did do a 1 liter starter to ensure 260 million cells this time around as the last time I just pitched the contents. Original gravity was 1.058 and i did mash at 153.
 
I used Conan for the first time a few weeks ago making a NE IPA. It stalled at 1.018 so i added done slurry from a 1056 batch I had.
Found out after the fact I should have brewed s blonde and use that slurry.
 
First time I used this yeast I didn't ramp Temps nor a starter and I only got to 1.016. I'm looking for 1.013.


Well here's hoping.... just seems like the yeast is slowing and 3 days in has me a bit concerned...
 
I feel like the solution to low attenuation with this yeast is to mash longer. I changed my process to no sparge with brew bag in 10 gallon cooler and now I wind up 1.010- 1.012 with it. I was getting 1.006- 1.008 with it before and in reality probably mashing 90 min or more, somewhere in that time range.
 
madscientistbrewNq said:
So anybody seen conan finish in 3 days? Krausen dropped after 48 hrs. I don't want to check the gravity as Im worried I will see 1.015 to 1.018... what have folks done in cases where attenuation doesn't come around. I wouldnt do anything until day 7 or so but I'm trying to prepare myself as this yeast has let me down before. I did do a 1 liter starter to ensure 260 million cells this time around as the last time I just pitched the contents. Original gravity was 1.058 and i did mash at 153.
Click to expand...

start to bring temps up. 72-75F should be good if your krausen already dropped and your 3 days in. Did your recipe have any crystal/special malts? that, along with 1st generation and mashing at 153 may lead to a higher FG. My IPAs with this yeast I mash at 150, 100% base malt and/or 5% table sugar and I usually get 1.012-1.014 depending on the OG.
 
mashed my latest session ipa @ 156. split batch between conan (omega) and 007. conan (3rd gen) got 79% AA, 007 got 77% AA. started both about 66...let rise to 68 for 4-5 days and finished off at 70.

conan did take 24-36 hours to show signes of fermentation while 007 took off within 8.
 
Tiny amount of crystal 20 like 3 % of grain bill. The rest was flaked adjunct like barely, wheat, and oats plus golden promise and 2 row. Checked gravity and we are at 1.013.... buggers worked fast....

No peachy tones though....
 
Luckily the starter got fermentation off and running around 16 hrs so i didn't lag but I didn't expect it to finish in 3 days....
 
Don't take Conan above 70* if the gravity is over 1.015...unless you are looking for Belgian characteristics. I would also advise staying under 70* for at least 4 days when bottle conditioning.
 
So, I was hoping to get some reassurance. I brewed an IPA three days ago using the Yeast Bay Vermont Ale (OG = 1.052, 1.8 L starter for 301 billion cells). Started fermentation at 64 F and ramped to 68 F over 14 hours. Fermention was solid at that point. At 84 hours, I added dry hops (SG was ~ 1.023) and bumped to 70 F. The fermenter dry hop addition was a bit earlier than I have done on this beer in the past. Usually I add fermenter hop with ~3 to 5 points remaining before FG. Airlock activity was decent before adding. One hour after adding the hops, the airlock activity was zero and continues to be zero 12 hours later. Is it possible the yeast stalled out here after adding the dry hops? My experience is that normally adding dry hops actually prolongs airlock activity, as they promote slow CO2 evolution over time, well after fermentation has actually ended. I guess I'm worried the earlier hop addition shocked the yeast. Has anyone experienced this? I'll check the gravity when the beer would normally come off the hops (2 or 3 more days), but I don't want to open the fermenter, if i don't need to. I'm just worrying it's stalled, even though this yeast hasn't stalled on me before.
 
Last generation of Conan hit 85% AA, bringing a pale ale I mashed at 153F down from 1.055 to 1.008. And that was with a tiny yeast pitch, about a tablespoon of yeast slurry revitalized with a 1L vitality starter. This strain is nuts, I'm going to have to start pitching something more neutral like WLP007 concurrently to slow it down next time.

I will say this pitch took a long time to get started (72 hours) and even longer to attenuate (21 days), so the extra ester production was an awesome windfall. Sort of makes sense why Alchemist takes 28 days grain to glass.
 
Ive used Omega's Vermont IPA yeast twice recently. Here are my results:


American IPA - 6.5%abv:
1.058 OG
1.008 TG
5% dextrose
149* mash temp
86% AA

2j5ggpl.jpg



Double IPA 7.9% abv:
1.070 OG
1.010 TG
8% Dextrose
149* mash temp
86% AA

33456vk.jpg
 
I have a question for you folks. So I had an issue with my fermentation chamber (user error), and I'm curious what you think about how I handled it. This is 2nd generation Conan that I pitched into 5.5 gallons of 1.063 wort Sunday night. I got the wort down to 65.5F, pitched the yeast, tossed it into my ferm chamber set to 62F and let it sit overnight. Yesterday morning, I checked it and everything seemed fine so I selected the fermentation profile I used on my last Conan brew (62F for 2 days, 5 day ramp to 70F) and went on with my morning.

However, this is only my 3rd brew with my Brewpi system so I didn't realize that I had to update the dates when I load a previous profile (it was early, I hadn't had any coffee and my 15 month old son was sitting in my lap) so over the next 3 hours my beer went from 62F to 68F (green line is beer temp, I'm measuring temp via a thermowell in the center of the beer). Once I realized what was going on, I thought about just leaving it at 68F, but I went ahead and cooled it to 66F over the next hour, then slowly eased the beer back down to 63F over the rest of the day where it has been sitting since.

The yeast is very active and I have a nice 1.5" thick krauzen sitting on the beer so I don't think anything fell out of suspension (not that this yeast flocs much anyway). I am well within temp range, but that is a lot of movement over the course of a day. Just wondering what you would have done in this situation and any negative impacts you would anticipate?

Conan.JPG
 

Similar threads

Tony B
Too much yeast?
Replies
1
Views
301
Tony B
Tony B
H
Yeast starter not starting
Replies
16
Views
1K
HB2112
H
S
Improved yeast starter results
Replies
9
Views
2K
RM-MN
R
T
Adding DME to starter in progress
Replies
6
Views
1K
t^3
T
Architect-Dave
Conditioning Yeast preparation
Replies
6
Views
756
Architect-Dave
Architect-Dave
Williams Brewing 300

Latest posts

Back
Top