I’ve been on the fence about biotransformation, it sounds cool and all, but is it really real? Cosmic Punch by Omega seems to release a ton of tropical aromas. It is supposed to unlock thiols through biotransformation … and for all intents and purposes it appears to be true.
I used a blend of Mosaic, El Dorado and Loral. Boom! Probably the most hop aromatic beer I have ever brewed.
That’s good to hear. I ordered some and some Calypso to go with it. Have you gotten any sulfury/diesely flavors from the beer? I’ve had two beers made with it (Triptych Thiol Trip Tech Vol 1 & 2, both with Cosmic punch and Phantasm) and while they had a lot of flavor and aroma there was a definitely diesel kind of flavor to it.
I hope not! This is still in fermenter taking samples of zwickle. Blown away by aroma I won’t blown away with diesel. No sulphur in aroma.
Glad to hear some good results with it. I have a pouch sitting in my fridge that I haven’t gotten around to using yet. I’m not sure if I want to try it out with the same recipe as the last IPA I brewed to get a decent comparison to something fresh in my memory, or if I want to go all-out with extra big flameout and dry hops along with some grapefruit zest.
I remain skeptical, but… as a chemical engineer, I also understand how magical chemistry can be. Especially organic chemistry. So, I guess I’m staying tuned until I might one day participate in some blind tastings of my own to know for sure. Seems interesting if it’s real. Eyes still slightly squinted…
There’s a really good podcast on the MBAAon the yeast and thiols. Check it out. it goes into way more technical stuff than I’m going to be able to post here
Very interesting. Good to know that some yeast are more adept at that conversion!
Using a blend of cryo pop and other cryo according to the charts in the survivable booklet I achieved the same type of result. Of course, there’s no way to compare with what you got, but I can’t imagine it could get much better.
Those cry hops are sooo expensive and can be hard to get. Yeast is comparably much cheaper and can be reused.
From everything I have read, biotransformation is a real thing, in that there is measurable biochemistry happening. But what’s measurable via lab equipment isn’t necessarily measurable to a palate. In other words, I think the question isn’t, “is it a real thing?” but rather, “does it matter?”
Maybe it does, maybe not. The beer might be different…but different and better aren’t the same thing. I am also skeptical. Homebrewers are like beer consumers in that they are always transfixed by the shiny new object (process-wise).
Side note: Omega yeasts are mostly, if not all, GMO. Majorvices, if this was a commercial batch, I’d be curious to know how well that is received by your customers. GMO-anything is generally a third rail in the brewing industry.
It was a 7 bbl batch. I’ll definitely post impressions once they come rolling in. i jumped the gun a little by posting after sampling the zwickle but i can tell it’s gonna be an amazing beer.
When were hops added to maximize biotransformation?
Having never used liquid yeast and wondering out loud, would this work in a hoppy IPA? Any recipes out there that you all think would be a good fit for this? Any special ways it has to be handled? If I am over my head as a newbie, please let me know, but I read the description on morebeer and it sounded pretty good.
WP and near end of fermentation.
Keep in mind that bioxformation only works with certain yeasts and hops.
Right now 1 lb of Calypso, which is supposed to be chock full of the right compounds, is $7.99 at Morebeer. Hard to beat in terms of value. Omega mentions Cascade, saaz, and mittelfruh as other hops that should work well. Makes it kind of nice if you’re trying to buy hops in bulk and just use what you have.
https://omegayeast.com/news/cosmic-punch-new-thiol-boosting-strain
Of course, there’s a lot of variation in hop oil contents, so you have the hope the hops have the right precursors, you add them at the right time, and the yeast is under the right conditions to biotransform. I’m not sure how much yeasts that biotransform always do, or if thats dependent on strain or what. Cyropop could be more consistent.
For anyone interested in a relatively deep dive on GM yeasts, Sapwood Cellars’ Scott Janish has an excellent article:
I have heard presentations by Lance Shaner at Omega and he is doing some intriguing things with sugar loving fungi.
I was just reading this yesterday…The Locksmith: Utilizing Bioengineered Yeast and High Bound Thiol Precersour Hops and Phantasm Powder to Thiol Drive Beer - Scott Janish
I had done a hazy ipa with Strata and Sabro. Split a 10 gallon batch into 2 5 gallon fermentors. Did a starter of London Ale III and Cosmic Punch. I perceived a difference. Cosmic Punch seemed to have more to it - even bitterness. I got a real strong coconut and “tropical” hop character in it. London Ale III was still very good, but I preferred Cosmic Punch. A few of my trusted homebrew buddies liked Londone Ale III better, but admitted there was more to Cosmic Punch.
I wouldn’t say Omega is overstating their claims!
The beer is doing well in the tap room. I’ve had a couple of 8 oz pours since it was released. My biggest take away is huge aroma development. These were spot hops, I don’t have some fancy contract like all the really great breweries out there have. SO it’s similar to hombrewing – I take what I can get. Extremely “juicy” and tropical. Supposedly this yeast boosts thiols in the malt as well as the hops. I can’t attest to that but I can say that it has is very strong in the aromatic department.
If there is a complaint it is that it sort of falls flat in the finish. Granted, that may be a recipe thing.
I should reiterate: I am not a fan of hazy IPAs, but I do appreciate their aroma. My takeaway is that this is an aroma bomb that that drinks easily at 6.5%. Nearly all the hops went in at WP. About 10 IBUs went into the boil.I used chit malt over oats or oat malt and I wonder if that was actually part fo the issue with the flat finish.
Regardless – definitely something to play around with. I brewed a stout with it (around 1.065OG) that has a huge charge of Amarillo at flame out and dry hopped during end of fermentation with Amarillo ad dry hopped with Amarillo and Mosaic.Another beer style I ammnot typically fojndof (black iPa) but was trying to just get a very fruity and “tropical” tasting stout and it definitely did that. Aroma is like chocolate and orange. It is still in fermenter.