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#1 jayb151

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Posted 11 July 2017 - 02:33 PM

I just moved, so I went to my LHBS today to check out what they had. Cool place, but when I asked about liquid yeast it turns out that they only carry Omega yeast.

 

Any one have any experience with these guys? I'm a huge fan of WY 1272 American Ale 2, and 1275 thames Valley.

 

I'm also looking to have a house saison or belgian yeast as I've been getting into those recently.

 

Thoughts? Thanks all!



#2 Big Nake

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Posted 11 July 2017 - 02:52 PM

JayB: Where did you move and who is your LHBS? I'm mainly using What's Brewing in Palatine and there is a Brew & Grow in Roselle that is close to a couple of my customers so I will stop there occasionally. Both have been solid.

The one thing I do not care for is that there is no nutrient pack in the Omega yeast. I have made 5% ales with swollen packs of 1056 with no starter. I wouldn't do that with a lager but ales, yes. So I used the West Coast Ale (similar to 1056) without using a starter and got burned. I am currently using Omega Bayern Lager yeast (2L starter) and it's been excellent. It's supposed to be Augustiner's yeast and using it in a helles or dunkel is really nice. I have another pack of the West Coast Lager that will be started as well. Those are the only two strains I have experience with.

#3 Bklmt2000

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Posted 11 July 2017 - 03:49 PM

I just moved, so I went to my LHBS today to check out what they had. Cool place, but when I asked about liquid yeast it turns out that they only carry Omega yeast.

 

Any one have any experience with these guys? I'm a huge fan of WY 1272 American Ale 2, and 1275 thames Valley.

 

I'm also looking to have a house saison or belgian yeast as I've been getting into those recently.

 

Thoughts? Thanks all!

 

For saisons, 3726 is a nice house yeast.  Monster attenuator, great flavor, and doesn't need the heat that the DuPont/3724 strain can require, to finish fermenting in a timely manner.

 

3711 is also nice, but between the two, my pick is 3726.



#4 jayb151

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Posted 11 July 2017 - 07:26 PM

For saisons, 3726 is a nice house yeast.  Monster attenuator, great flavor, and doesn't need the heat that the DuPont/3724 strain can require, to finish fermenting in a timely manner.

 

3711 is also nice, but between the two, my pick is 3726.

 

I've done a bunch of the Wyeast stuff, but I'm asking about Omega. This place doesn't have Wyeast, and sounds like they are phasing out White Labs too. So I'm stuck with Omega yeast unless I want to order online.

 

I like to support my LHBS, so I'll use Omega, but I just want to see if it's worth using it or if I should be looking elsewhere for my yeast.



#5 jayb151

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Posted 11 July 2017 - 07:30 PM

JayB: Where did you move and who is your LHBS? I'm mainly using What's Brewing in Palatine and there is a Brew & Grow in Roselle that is close to a couple of my customers so I will stop there occasionally. Both have been solid.

The one thing I do not care for is that there is no nutrient pack in the Omega yeast. I have made 5% ales with swollen packs of 1056 with no starter. I wouldn't do that with a lager but ales, yes. So I used the West Coast Ale (similar to 1056) without using a starter and got burned. I am currently using Omega Bayern Lager yeast (2L starter) and it's been excellent. It's supposed to be Augustiner's yeast and using it in a helles or dunkel is really nice. I have another pack of the West Coast Lager that will be started as well. Those are the only two strains I have experience with.

 

I'm over in Batavia, so my local place is in St. Charles, appropriately called "home brew shop."

 

the guy at the shop said that Omega ships with 2x as much live cells as wyeast, so it sounds like a good deal if that's true. I am also kind of leary of not having a smack pack to see the true activity. 

 

So, sounds like a little hit or miss?



#6 Big Nake

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Posted 11 July 2017 - 07:34 PM

I think you just have to be sure to make a starter and then all would be good. I like the idea of smacking a Wyeast pack, seeing the activity and swollen pack and then 1) make an ale with it or 2) make a starter if it's lager yeast. The fact that you can tell that it's ready to roll is something that we have probably all taken for granted all this time. You don't get that with White Labs or Omega so you just have to make a starter no matter what (and I suppose cross your fingers). I didn't hear about the 2x cells but the more the merrier. Please report back if you use any of the Omega. There are some here that have used it but we don't have A TON of experience as a group. Cheers.

#7 jayb151

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Posted 11 July 2017 - 07:50 PM

. I like the idea of smacking a Wyeast pack, seeing the activity and swollen pack

 

Exactly. I'll have to get used to making starters I guess.

 

I'll be sure to report back after trying!



#8 neddles

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Posted 11 July 2017 - 08:01 PM

the guy at the shop said that Omega ships with 2x as much live cells as wyeast, so it sounds like a good deal if that's true.

 

 

 I didn't hear about the 2x cells but the more the merrier.

 

https://www.omegayeast.com/homebrew/

 

 

For most of the strains in our collection, our home brew pitches contain at least 150 billion viable yeast cells at packaging.

That would be 1.5x a Wyeast smack pack.



#9 neddles

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Posted 11 July 2017 - 08:03 PM

Also here is their saison yeast. I have not used it (Maybe Drez did?) but have heard good things. 

https://www.omegayea...steins-monster/



#10 Big Nake

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Posted 11 July 2017 - 08:06 PM

There are enough of you Belgian guys here (Brother Poptop?) that you should be able to suggest some good shizzle.

#11 neddles

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Posted 11 July 2017 - 08:12 PM

The only Omega I have used is their lactobacillus blend. I was quite happy with it. I wouldn't hesitate to try any of their yeasts.



#12 HVB

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Posted 11 July 2017 - 08:15 PM

Also here is their saison yeast. I have not used it (Maybe Drez did?) but have heard good things.
https://www.omegayea...steins-monster/


Used it and liked it, worked fast with no stall.

#13 neddles

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Posted 11 July 2017 - 08:19 PM

Boom. Delivery.


Edited by neddles, 11 July 2017 - 08:20 PM.


#14 Big Nake

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Posted 11 July 2017 - 08:24 PM

The only Omega I have used is their lactobacillus blend. I was quite happy with it. I wouldn't hesitate to try any of their yeasts.

The Bayern lager yeast is fantastic. I'll report back after using the West Coast Lager but it's supposed to be 1056-like so... some of you will yawn. :D

#15 HVB

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Posted 12 July 2017 - 04:51 AM

The patersbier I made a couple weeks back was done with an expired pack of Omega Belgian W.  I did a Shaken not stired starter and pitched it all.  Took off fast and was hammering in a day.  I will get a taste of it today as I keg it but my experience with Omega has been good except for one starter that turned.  To be fair to them it was a 2 year old package.  I did not care for their version of Conan but I think that has more to do with the homebrew version of Conan than Omega.



#16 HVB

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Posted 12 July 2017 - 09:07 AM

The patersbier I made a couple weeks back was done with an expired pack of Omega Belgian W.  I did a Shaken not stired starter and pitched it all.  Took off fast and was hammering in a day.  I will get a taste of it today as I keg it but my experience with Omega has been good except for one starter that turned.  To be fair to them it was a 2 year old package.  I did not care for their version of Conan but I think that has more to do with the homebrew version of Conan than Omega.

 

The Patersebier dropped to about 1.007 and has a real nice flavor.  The yeast did its job well!



#17 jayb151

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Posted 12 July 2017 - 02:44 PM

NICE! Sounds like everyone has been having pretty positive experiences overall, taking into account they when there were bad experiences it can be explained.

 

I've got a blueberry cider in the hopper now, but I can't wait to get back to brewing!



#18 Big Nake

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Posted 12 July 2017 - 03:16 PM

JayB, there have been some good conversations here lately. The 30m boil thing seems to be awesome so far but there have been some other conversations that have changed brewing a bit. If you've taken a break, we should compile a list of some of the good stuff out there including some of the ExBEERiments that have been done by Marshall.


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