I am looking for a strain that would be suitable for a Vienna Lager then a Marzen and would prefer to use Imperial Yeast.
First of all, is it a bad plan to use the same strain for these styles?
From what I can tell Imperial L13 Global is equivalent to WY2124/WLP830 and L17 Harvest is equivalent to WY2352/WLP860. Does anyone know if this is accurate? Would either of these be suitable for both styles?
I’m wondering about the Imperial harvest as well. Following
Looks like L13 might be better for the Vienna and L17 better for the Marzen…
Maybe I could use L13 for both?
I’ve used the Wyeast (2352) and Omega (Bayren Lager) versions of L17 Harvest before, and I’ve only had good experiences with Imperial’s comparable strains. Supposedly, this specific strain is the lager strain from Augustiner brewery in Munich.
L17 should work VERY well in both of the styles you mentioned. I actually developed one of my Marzen recipes around this yeast strain, and have no doubt that it would work in a Vienna just as well.
It’s a very clean fermenter, has a very neutral character, and flocculates better than the 2124 strain. It doesn’t attenuate quite as much, and will leave the beer with ever so slightly more body. Definitely one of my favorite lager strains, and I need to get back to using it again.
Thank you very much for the feedback. I think I will give it a try!
Harvest is the Augustiner yeast, confirmed by the Imperial guy who was at the Bell’s Homebrew expo.
I have used the harvest yeast before and the beer came out really clean. I made a Munich helles and fermented low. The malt came through and the beer was crisp as well with nice body.
Give it a shot. I think with imperial saying bock pils helles dunkles, for the yeast, Vienna should be fine.
Resurrecting this thread on Harvest. This is my first time using this yeast and am curious if others get this performance from Augustiner yeasts:
I was expecting FG 1.013 (per BeerSmith) but I am at 1.011 with 4 days to go in my normal process though I don’t expect much if any more change. 2 points is not a problem and within my personal brewery tolerance — more of a curiosity.
My OG was 1.056 so I have a 79% measured attenuation. A bit high for the advertised 70-74% attenuation even though I was within spec 50-60*F temps in both SnS starter and fermenter.
One other first time use variable is the Mecca Grade malt. Maybe it’s high performance malt.
Incidentally, it threw off more sulfur smell during fermentation than I’ve experienced with other lager yeasts I’ve used. The smell dissipated at the conclusion of active fermentation and the hydrometer samples show no sign of sulfur taste. In fact, the small samples taste great though I expected more hop impact for this Export style beer. I’ll wait to critique when the beer is finished but first impression is to increase hops next time.
Just some interesting data points I’ve experienced.
Just used that same strain in my Vienna lager that just bottled. Did a great job. Tastings along the way we’re very good. We will make a final determination after they carbonate.
I used Imperial Harvest for a Dortmunder, Porter and Dopplebock in succession recently and all 3 came in a couple points lower than expected. I too noticed an off smell 1-2 weeks in but it didn’t show up in the final product. I kind of regret using it in the porter as it such a clean yeast, just was being frugal and repitching what I had on hand. It really seems to get out of the way and let the malt and hops sow thru