I pitched one pack into 3 gallons of 1052 OG Mexican Dark Lager on Sunday. The guidelines on the product page on Morebeer.com are to pitch between 2.5-4 grams per gallon. So, my pitch is in the right ball park.
The lag time was 17 hours to the first blip on my Tilt. That seems fine.
I pitched at 59F. It drifted down to 53F before rising back to the 55-57F range where it has stayed since. Optimum fermentation temperature is listed as 50-57F.
Now 3 days in the beer is averaging dropping 2.1 gravity points per day. That is a slow crawl!
I plan to leave it alone for now. I am hoping it speeds up.
Anyway, I wasn’t really looking for advice. Just sharing my experience so far. I will report back. Hopefully, the beer is worth the wait.
I used it once in a Pils/Toasted Corn Malt Lager. 1 full pack into 3 gallons of 1.049 wort.
Pitched at 59, dropped to 52 about 4 hours later, then I just let it slowly rise to the low-mid 60’s. I saw air-lock activity in about 9-10 hours post-pitch.
No tilt here, but as is my usual, I kegged the beer 2 weeks later when all signs of fermentation were over. It finished with 80% attenuation. Initially, I had a touch of sulfur (but that faded quickly) and I thought the yeast was a bit…um…“yeasty”. Eventually - after 3 weeks of cold conditioning - the beer cleared nicely, finished mostly clean with a bit of breadiness, and was very decent. I’m no expert lager brewer, but I thought it was a pretty good yeast, if not quite a home run.
I have now fermented two batches with Baja. One went from 1052 to 1012 SG the other from 1050 to 1011 SG.
The first was a Mexican Dark Lager. It is quite tasty though it has only been in the keg for a week.
The second is a Mexican Pale Lager. I kegged it today. It is also tasty at this point.
I do think there is a Mexican flavor. I am not sure if this the same as WLP940 since I have never used that one. But the Mexican Dark reminds me of Negra Modelo and Dos Equis.
I should clarify. The Mexican Dark I brewed reminds me of Dos Equis Amber or Negra Modelo. Probably a bit more Dos Equis Amber because it has a noticeable caramel taste.
The Mexican Pale Lager I brewed has a finish that reminds me of Modelo Especial. I think that beer (Modelo) has a very unique finish. This pale lager seems similar but I tried a flat sample straight from the fermenter so I could be imagining that one.
I think the 77-78% attenuation may have something to do with it. I think Diamond or 34/70 would have taken the same grain bill for the pale lager down a couple more points.
Guys, I pulled a package of Omega Mexican from my fridge knowing that it had been in there awhile. The date on it is March 2023 which is older than I thought. I planned to make a starter with it tonight but I don’t know that I can resurrect a package of lager yeast that old. I also see that I have two packs of Baja in the fridge. Does anyone in here have enough experience with WLP940 and Omega Mexican to tell me if Baja has the same character? If it does, I would try it. If it doesn’t I would attempt the starter with Omega Mexican. IME, Omega Mexican and 940 are the same strain. Any advice on trying the starter with a package this old? I have had good luck with ‘expired’ yeast but this feels like it’s pushing it.
@Denny: To me, 940 screams “Mexican”. It can’t really be described, you just have to know it. When I drink Victoria or Modelo, I get that awesome 940 aroma. 940 absolutely has to be Modelo’s strain of lager yeast. You can only really know it by tasting it and knowing how the yeast character should be. I stopped at a little brewery in western Illinois this past week and there was a Mexican Lager on tap called Isabelle. I ordered it and it was fine but it didn’t have that character. At some point Wyeast released something called 2005 Mexicana Lager (or Mexicana Cerveza). I hoped it was Wyeast’s version of 940 but it wasn’t. The other big brewery in Mexico (Cerveceria Moctezuma) brews Dos Equis, Sol, Tecate, Indio, Bohemia and some others. These beers don’t have the same character as the Modelo beers … Corona, Modelo, Victoria, Negra Modelo, etc. If Baja doesn’t have the 940 character, maybe it’s a dry version of 2005 Mexicana or something else entirely.
I am a fan of Cellar Science yeast, in general. The price is right, and it makes good beer for me. I haven’t tried the Baja yet. Does anyone know if they actually have their own independent lab? Or is produced by another familiar lab and repackaged?
I made an SNS starter with this Omega yeast on Tuesday afternoon. My weekend is flexible enough where I could brew Friday evening, Saturday or Sunday depending on when the starter looks active. As a backup I did some homework that I believe had already been done by someone else here but the description below suggests this IS a dry version of Modelo’s yeast which is what I’m looking for. I believe my sense of smell will verify this one way or another so if the starter does not wake up, I will use two packs of Baja instead.
Overnight Thursday into Friday my starter kicked in. This morning there was some foam and it seems to be in good shape. The starter liquid from the pouch appeared good and the aroma coming from the starter is very nice. So about 2½ days for a year-old (year+) starter to be resurrected. I’m going to brew this evening and make a simple beer … 65% Avangard Pils and 35% Swaen Munich 2 (8L), Magnum and Hallertau Mittelfruh hops, Omega 113. 5%, SRM 6, IBU 24.
