I don’t hate W-34/70. I just do NOT love it like I wish I could. I will not be using it anymore for this precise reason – I do NOT love it, and I DO love many other lager strains.
Interesting. I’ve never noticed the lemon thing, but I use Sterling for my lagers and could have easily written it off as hop character.
FWIW, I think 34/70 is the ultimate jack of all trades yeast. It can make a passable version of just about any lager or non-yeast forward ale, and it is very forgiving with fermentation temperatures. That said, it is not my first choice for any style unless I need to ferment a lager near 60F.
S189 is a better choice for a clean, dry lager yeast, but it is way more temperature sensitive. It can throw fusels as low as the mid 50s. And I still prefer liquid yeast when I want that touch of sulfur for a German lager style.
I always pitch my North East, heavy hop schedule IPAs hot because I love the yeasty, estery flavours. I do pitch a massive starter though.
I pitched the last one at 167 degrees. It was awesome and this coming from someone who has been a beer buyer for China for a number of years.
Absolutely now way you pitch at 167 and have that yeast survive. That’s 10-12 second pasteurization temp.
After pitch it went straight in the fridge at 67.
Fermented happily there during primary and racked off to carboy for a few weeks before kegging.
Juicy af.
Who needs yeast and alcohol when you can just enjoy juicy hop soup!? ;D
Again, absolutely no way their is any truth to this story.
Y’all should try it instead of sitting there saying “I know better”.
I don’t just experiment but it is, as it has always been, the key to progress.
Oh look an old meme.
So tell me, what is wrong with me commenting with my personal experiences in the hopes of provoking a constructive discussion around fermentation temps? You don’t like change? I’ve disrupted the forum hierarchy by refusing to defer to presumed superiors?
Yes, that temperature is very high and according to the science, the yeast should have died. But they didn’t and I got something wonderful out of it. Tell me where the negative is in that?
Sorry, I just couldn’t resist. ;D
If he says he pitches at 167 F and gets good results, and we haven’t tried it, truly, who are we to doubt. I doubt that 100% of the yeast is instantly killed. Some of them may be mutants, survival of the fittest, and just start working all the faster at the high temps.
just seems to contradict this
And every middle school biology book from the past hundred years.
I know of many homebrewers and some breweries that are pasteurizing their wort prior to lacto souring using temps somewhere in the 165 degree range and none report yeast contamination. If you had a successful fermentation, it was probably from something besides the yeast you pitched.
…or a broken thermometer.
That is an even more likely theory.
But, no need to respond further. The troll is gone, and the bait very well consumed.
Even if it is bait, not disagreeing and leaving it could cause a new brewer to jack up an expensive batch because this wad was trolling.
Pretty sure he meant 67, as in his second post, and 167 is a typo!
I wonder if there is variability in the quality of 34/70. I noticed a weird flavor sort of tart/caramel in my last batch I thought was some sort of mild infection. The identical recipe fermented exactly the same a few months ago didn’t have the flavor.
The very same thing just happened to me. However, the yeast was like 4 years old so this could be my own fault too.