Imperial A34 Julius yeast

[isomerization]

Just noticed a new seasonal release from Imperial:

https://www.imperialyeast.com/organic-yeast-strains/yeast-types/seasonal/julius/

This appears to be the same strain (by listed characteristics) as the previous A34 - Riverside

See here:
http://www.bottletobarrel.com/liquid-yeast/

Can anyone shed light as to what strain this likely is or compares to?

Thanks!

 

[Sbe2]

Saw this on Instagram and wondering if anyone has any experience with this?

 

[day_trippr]

And if said anyone has comparative experience with A38....

Cheers!

 

[couchsending]

Their version of 1882? If it was originally called Riverside. Might make sense.

 

[hottpeper13]

I'm in the what the hell kind of yeast is this category for all the Imperial products and don't use them because of there vagueness. I wonder how many of us there are?

 

[isomerization]

Their version of 1882? If it was originally called Riverside. Might make sense.

Sounds like a winner to me!

https://wyeastlab.com/yeast-strain/thames-valley-ale-ii

Seems obvious that they are branding for hazy status, but I wonder how it performs in a juice bomb?

 

[couchsending]

@Northern_Brewer thoughts?

 

[Dgallo]

I love Imperial yeast but it kills me how many companies and farms are using “Julius” in names for marketing purposes. It feels a little like this, “hey guys, I have an Idea lets name the yeast (or hop variety) after one of the most sought after beers in the world so people will buy it”

 

[isomerization]

I love Imperial yeast but it kills me how many companies and farms are using “Julius” in names for marketing purposes. It feels a little like this, “hey guys, I have an Idea lets name the yeast (or hop variety) after one of the most sought after beers in the world so people will buy it”

Exactly, but doesn’t rule out that it could make something cool. I will probably try it because why not, but just looking for more info.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

Interesting. I've no specific ideas, but the assumption with all the Imperial stuff at the moment is that they are ransacking the back catalogues of existing companies for ideas - one of their core strains is Joystick when Pacman is only a PC strain at Wyeast. So it's quite plausible that it's a close relative of 1882 but I've never used the latter.

I love Imperial yeast but it kills me how many companies and farms are using “Julius” in names for marketing purposes. It feels a little like this, “hey guys, I have an Idea lets name the yeast (or hop variety) after one of the most sought after beers in the world so people will buy it”

It's been happening for hundreds of years, but now you understand why Europeans get so upset about this kind of stuff :

 

[couchsending]

Interesting. I've no specific ideas, but the assumption with all the Imperial stuff at the moment is that they are ransacking the back catalogues of existing companies for ideas - one of their core strains is Joystick when Pacman is only a PC strain at Wyeast. So it's quite plausible that it's a close relative of 1882 but I've never used the latter

any idea what the “defunct brewery on the banks of the Thames” might be? 1275 is supposedly from Brakspear?

 

[bierhaus15]

Unless the 1882 description is intentionally misleading, it pretty much has to be Morrell's Brewery. Having used the yeast extensively, it is a dry, mineral-forward yeast that can produce some fruity esters, but nothing approaching "oranges, lemons, and apricots." That 'Julius' yeast description is utter marketing BS anyways. If WY1882 is from Morrells, then it is another Whitbread B derivative.

WY1275 is attributed to Brakspeare, who used a dual yeast until the 90's when they switched to a Burton style yeast (per where 1275 comes from). The original dual strain is still used by Coniston I believe.

 

[tmendick]

I love Imperial yeast but it kills me how many companies and farms are using “Julius” in names for marketing purposes. It feels a little like this, “hey guys, I have an Idea lets name the yeast (or hop variety) after one of the most sought after beers in the world so people will buy it”

Im going to let you in on a secret, there's this stuff they used to sell it in the mall, called Orange Julius. I have a feeling that the "Most sought after beer in the world" took some naming rights from that same source.

 

[Dgallo]

Im going to let you in on a secret, there's this stuff they used to sell it in the mall, called Orange Julius. I have a feeling that the "Most sought after beer in the world" took some naming rights from that same source.

That is exactly where the name came from lol But I don’t think it was named that for strictly for marketing purposes for TH, where as the yeast and the hops are.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

Unless the 1882 description is intentionally misleading, it pretty much has to be Morrell's Brewery.

Morrell's were in Oxford, whereas "on the banks of the River Thames outside of Oxford" could fit Abingdon (Morland) or Henley (Brakspear) as an approximation from a foreign perspective. Arguably Abingdon would be the better fit as it's closer to Oxford, but in theory it could be almost any of these.

I've also seen it suggested that 1275 and 1882 share the same origins, which could be the old Brakspear multistrain. Which supposedly was bought from Mann by Simpson's of Baldock back in the 1930s and then got shared around the Home Counties fairly widely.

 

[bierhaus15]

Well, Morrell's brewery was located a few bridges outside the old city center "on the banks of the River Thames." It is also a defunct brewery.

And WY already had the Brakspear single culture, no doubt picked up in the 90's from a bottle of Brakspear bitter that was then using a Marston strain. Whatever the origins, I am more curious where the WLP030 Thames Valley yeast comes from.

And to the original point, none of these yeasts make beer that tastes like oranges.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

Nah - the Lion Brewery was 100 yds from Oxford Castle, it was between the station and the High St - by any definition it is *in* Oxford. Whereas Abingdon is the sort of place that the average USian would not have heard of, but would be located by them in relation to Oxford. Henley is a bit more of a stretch in that regard, further away and more famous in its own right.

One thing I try to think about when matching yeasts to breweries is what bottle-conditioned beers might have made it over to the US in the 90s, and were famous enough that people might want to harvest from them. Then you see White Labs recommending WLP030 as "Great for porters, stouts and ESBs." That's a very "London" range, the only dark beers from brewers based in southern England that would have attracted US attention would have been Mackeson milk stout, Mann's and Courage IRS, of which I guess only the latter would get to the US in bottle-conditioned form (and even then it was sometimes pasteurised)? It's always possible that tourists were grabbing cask dregs, but exported bottles are a more likely source.

It's well known that Courage moved from London to Reading in 1981, it's less well-known that IRS production went to Tadcaster at that time. But most people would think of late-20th-century Courage as the epitome of a "Thames Valley" brewery.

I've got absolutely no solid proof, but my 50%-confidence guess is that WLP030 came from Courage IRS.

 

[Phil_2CR]

Per an email exchange with Imperial Yeast wrt the origins of A34 "its assumed origin is the Brakspeare (Oxfordshire, England) strain."

Cheers,
Phil

 

[Chris-18]

So I have made 3 different batches of hazy double IPA with this yeast.
It behaves quite strangely. After about 48 hours, it starts kicking off huge amounts of sulfur, like even more than any lager strain I have used before.
And after about 18 hours, the sulfur is gone again.

It flocs like a f*ing train, it is so easy to harvest and work with in that regard.
The aromas it produces are really nice, very much like orange peel, and dank citrus fruits and overripe pineapple.

However, it really seems to enhance bitterness, in a way i can't figure out.
The first batch I did, had 70 calculated IBU, same hop loads etc. that I have done with other yeasts, and this one tasted remarkably more bitter, almost like biting into an actual orange without peeling it first. I've had to drop IBU almost 20-30% to get it in a accetable range.
I think this yeast would lend itself nicely to a lactose IPA, just because it needs to extra sweetness to balance out that bitterness.

 

[bierhaus15]

Regarding the WY1882 source, I found a Wyeast catalog from 1998 with their seasonal strains. It had this to say:

"1882 Thames Valley II - Slightly fruitier and more malty on the palate than 1275. Well balanced with a clean, dry finish. The source of 1275 and 1882 uses them together to produce a highly complex flavor profile and spicy character."

So it's definitely Brakspear.