New Yeast Company

Ingredients
1

Did anyone catch the name of that new yeast company?  The one that will be selling 200 billion cells per pitch in little metal canisters.

2

Imperial?

3

That’s an impressive looking lineup. I’ll be curious to see who uses their yeast and what they think.

4

“Organic” yeast sounds like a gimmick.

5

Yeah I wondered about that too.  Clearly it is important to a growing segment of the market.  Specifically I wondered how the managed culturing yeast in a way that it could be described as organic.  I wouldn’t be surprised if most or all yeast could be labeled ‘organic.’

Regardless, I too am interested.  The thing I see regardless of packaging (smack pack, can, vial…) is that they all are attempts to meet the needs of the producer.  No one seems to make packaging that meets the desires of the homebrewer.

As an example of what I am talking about: if they would put a spout on the package it would be more sanitary (no package entirely open to the air) and effective (how many times have you cussed while trying to pour a smack pack into the top of an Erlenmeyer flask?)

6

That why funnels were invented!

7

I’m pretty excited about this. Starters will generally be unnecessary, and you get all the advantages of cans. Apparently the homebrew packaging will start shipping in the next month or so. Commercial pitches are available now.

I know we aren’t allowed to discuss politics, so maybe I’ll just say that it’s exactly as much a gimmick as “organic” anything else. :wink:

All it means is that they use USDA Organic barley as the substrate for propagation. As far as other yeast being “non-organic”, the dextrins, proteins, etc. from the malt would be left behind in some quantity. Supposing you could remove them, though, would the yeast be “organic”? Does “non-organic” maltose become “organic” pyruvate? Or are those carbon atoms forever cursed?

8

I gotta say,…I get great results with the smack packs and a starter…No reason to change now…kinda like batch sparging in the somewhat rough looking blue cooler…if it isnt broke there is no need to fix anything…easy…

9

Call me cynical, but I can name most of the strains in that collection.  The big thing that Imperial brings to market is organic propagation.  That’s important for the organic crowd.

10

I’m mostly excited about the 200 billion cells per package.

Edit: Fixed embarrassing typo

11

Wow, trouble at Wyeast?  I know Jess was formerly at Wyeast and I think Owen and Jason were too, though Owen may have left a while back.

12

I don’t think it’s trouble, any more than leaving a large brewery to start a small one would indicate trouble. Local malt and yeast are going to be the next wave of this thing, and we’ll see more startups.

FWIW, I had the chance to hang out with Jess and Jason a bit at the conference and it certainly seemed like everything was amicable. I’m sure the bottom line is that Wyeast could enforce a non-compete if it wasn’t.

13

I thought omega was 2 billion per pack as well?

14

Whether or not organic is a gimmick in this instance in my mind has to do with the amount of harmful chemicals goes into the ingredients used in yeast. I tend to get organic with things like corn, soy, and potatoes that have a big chemical load and don’t worry so much with things that don’t. For those local is the first preference.

15

You forgot the organic water.  I kid.

Edit - 2 billion cells? shouldn’t it be around 200 billion to get the excitement up?

Edit #2 - From Portland, go figure.

Edit #3 - not knocking Organic. I love to visit Portland.

16

$?

17

When I talked to them, they were not yet shipping or selling product other than to some local breweries. I believe they said their prices would be competitive with White Labs, etc. I didn’t pick up one of the cans of yeast - but apparently they were giving some away the last day of the Expo.

Wondering if they are going to sell direct through internet sales.

18

They aren’t in stores yet, but at NHC they were saying around $10.

19

I think everything what grows is organic. And everything what is on this planet is natural.

Do not let me start on word “fresh”.

Sometimes words lose their meanings in this age.

20

I agree that how the word fresh is used in marketing is silly but the word organic does have meaning even if usda organic doesn’t go far enough, it still at least means that dangerous chemicals are not used. I I’m happy to pay a bit more for corn that’s not “round-up ready” or potatoes that weren’t dosed with herbicide the day before to make harvesting easier.