Imperial Yeast Strain Descriptions
| A04 Barbarian | Excellent yeast strain for any hop forward beers. Wonderfully suited for juicy, hazy New England IPAs. Commonly referred to as the Conan yeast strain, it's ready to attack your IPA. Barbarian produces stone fruit esters that work great when paired with citrus hops. Barbarian will give you what you need for an exceptionally balanced IPA, leaving a nice round and full-bodied mouthfeel. |
TEMP: 62–70F (17–21C) FLOCCULATION: MEDIUM ATTENUATION: 73–74% ALCOHOL TOLERANCE: 10% |
| A10 Darkness | Brewers love this yeast strain for dark beers. Its high alcohol tolerance make it a go-to for big beers. A beautiful strain for stout, porter, brown, and amber ales. Darkness produces a unique character that matches up perfectly with roasted and caramel malts. This strain is alcohol tolerant, so don’t hesitate to throw high gravity worts its way. |
TEMP: 62–72F (17–22C) FLOCCULATION: MEDIUM ATTENUATION: 71–75% ALCOHOL TOLERANCE: 12% |
| A18 Joystick | Clean American brewing yeast strain. Excellent choice for big, high alcohol, hoppy beers. This strain is a fast mover and can be used at the low end of the ale fermentation spectrum to keep it clean. Joystick is a great choice for big, high alcohol, malt forward beers but will shine just as well in a hoppy double IPA. |
TEMP: 60–70F (16–21C) FLOCCULATION: MEDIUM-HIGH ATTENUATION: 73–77% ALCOHOL TOLERANCE: 12% |
| A24 Dry Hop Pouch | A blend of two highly popular yeast strains, well suited for hop forward beers. Dry Hop is a blend of A20 Citrus and A04 Barbarian. When this blend goes to work on your hoppy beer, the hop aroma blows up. The combination of these strains produces amazing aromas of citrus, peach, and apricot that will accentuate your IPA, pale ale, and any other hop-driven beer. This blend contains a strain that tests positive for the STA1 gene via PCR analysis and is therefore considered to be Saccharomyces cerevisiae var. diastaticus. |
TEMP: 64–74F (18–23C) FLOCCULATION: MEDIUM ATTENUATION: 74–78% ALCOHOL TOLERANCE: 10% SPECIES: Saccharomyces cerevisiae var. diastaticus |
| A38 Juice | The go-to for juicy, hazy, NE IPAs. Hardly a one-trick pony, it can also be a great choice as a house ale strain. Juicy. Fruity. Juice is the go-to strain for hazy, juicy New England style IPAs. The ester profile of Juice brings out the aromas and flavors of the new school hops and creates a beer that is greater than the sum of its parts. Resulting in a beer that is at once round in mouthfeel but retains a nice sharp citrus edge. Keep an eye on this strain, it likes to move to the top of fermentation and will climb out the fermenter if too full. This strain has demonstrated the need for higher wort dissolved oxygen (DO) levels than most ale strains. Target 20-25 ppm DO or set the oxygen regulator flow to 50% higher than normal. |
TEMP: 64–74F (18–23C) FLOCCULATION: MEDIUM ATTENUATION: 72–76% ALCOHOL TOLERANCE: 10% |
| A43 Loki | Norwegian Voss Kveik Strain. Highly versatile, can be used in a wide variety of beer styles. A traditional Norwegian Kveik strain that has an extremely wide fermentation temperature range. This strain has been traditionally used in Norwegian farmhouse style beers however, due to it’s fermentation temp range can be used in a variety of beers from pseudo lagers, Belgian inspired, and hop forward beers. The possibilities seem endless when fermenting with Loki. On the cool end of the range Loki is super clean; producing little to no esters. On the high end of the fermentation range, 85-95F, it tends to produce a huge fruit ester profile. |
TEMP: 65–100F (18–38C) FLOCCULATION: MEDIUM-HIGH ATTENUATION: 75–85% ALCOHOL TOLERANCE: 10% |
| A44 Kvieking | Blend of 3 kveik strains conquers wort, leaving tropical fruit flavors in its wake. Kveiking [Kuh-vahy-king] noun: A blend of three Kveik strains that can produce an insane amount of pineapple, guava and other exotic tropical fruit aromas. verb: Hopefully not an Old Norse term for an activity we should not be promoting. The Kveiking blend thrives in hot fermentations when big complex ester profiles are desired. A low pitch rate can be used to drive these aromatics even higher but the brewer should ensure this low pitch rate can be combined with a continuously high fermentation temperature. If the temperature drops too low, the corresponding level of attenuation can be low, with high terminal gravities. This blend contains flocculent and non-flocculent yeast strains, therefore the clarity of the final beers produced can be variable. Use this blend for anything from new school hazy IPAs to traditional Norwegian farmhouse brews. The Kveiking blend also works well when fermenting kettle soured worts for a strong tropical fruit character. |
TEMP: 75–97F (24–36C) FLOCCULATION: LOW ATTENUATION: 75–85% ALCOHOL TOLERANCE: 12% |
| B44 Whiteout | The go-to brewing yeast strain for wit beers. Whiteout produces an excellent balance of spicy phenolic character and esters. Along with the necessary aromatics, this strain produces a significant amount of acidity which is perfect for wits and other light colored Belgian ales. Whiteout can be flocculent during fermentation, then become non-flocculent at the end. This may lead to slower than normal fermentation. |
TEMP: 62–72F (17–22C) FLOCCULATION: MEDIUM-LOW ATTENUATION: 72–76% ALCOHOL TOLERANCE: 10% |
| B56 Rustic | Fantastic choice for a Belgian saison or farmhouse beer. This unique yeast can be used in your saison, farmhouse ale, or other Belgian styles where high ester levels are important. Rustic typically produces a lot of bubblegum and fruity/juicy aromas that compliment complex maltiness. Balanced by a light clove phenol profile, Rustic produces lovely flavor profiles indicative of those classic Belgain styles known and loved. This strain tests positive for the STA1 gene via PCR analysis and is therefore considered to be Saccharomyces cerevisiae var. diastaticus |
TEMP: 68–80F (20–27C) FLOCCULATION: MEDIUM ATTENUATION: 72–76% ALCOHOL TOLERANCE: 12% SPECIES: Saccharomyces cerevisiae var. diastaticus |
| B64 Napoleon | Classic strain to produce French Saison where a balance of fruit esters and spicy phenols are necessary. This yeast is an insane wort attenuator. Napoleon will destroy the sugars in your saison and farmhouse beers – even the ones in which most brewer’s strains have no interest. When all is said and done, Napoleon produces very dry, crisp beers with nice citrus aromas balanced by subtle black pepper phenols. Yeast settling times can be long, usually requiring filtration for bright beers. This strain tests positive for the STA1 gene via PCR analysis and is therefore considered to be Saccharomyces cerevisiae var. diastaticus |
TEMP: 65–78F (18–26C) FLOCCULATION: LOW ATTENUATION: 77–83% ALCOHOL TOLERANCE: 12% SPECIES: Saccharomyces cerevisiae var. diastaticus |
| F08 Sour Batch | An exclusive funky blend containing a low attenuating Belgian saison yeast, Lacto, and three Brett yeast strains. This blend is great for emulating lambics, Flanders reds, sour farmhouse ales and any other brew you would like to funk up. Keep your IBU's under 3 to allow the lacto to work. Considering the components of this blend, allow for a long conditioning period of at least 6 months to really let the brett strains to shine. This blend contains a strain that tests positive for the STA1 gene via PCR analysis and is therefore considered to be Saccharomyces cerevisiae var. diastaticus. |
TEMP: 68–76F (20–24C) FLOCCULATION: LOW ATTENUATION: 80–95% ALCOHOL TOLERANCE: 12% |
| G01 Stefon | Brewers love this traditional hefeweizen strain for any of their weizen beer needs! This is a traditional German hefeweizen strain used to produce world-class Weizen beers. Balanced with mild clove and prominent banana esters, this strain will produce amazing beers. Stefon produces a slightly higher level of acidity to give your beer a super crisp finish. Slightly underpitching will help increase the banana character. |
TEMP: 63–73F (17–23C) FLOCCULATION: LOW ATTENUATION: 73–77% ALCOHOL TOLERANCE: 10% |
| W15 Suburban Brett | Proprietary to Imperial, this brettanomyces strain produces lovely pie cherry and tropical aromas. Suburban Brett really shines when used in wood barrels and will produce complex and balanced aromas of sour cherry, dried fruit and balanced by a unique tropical fruit profile. It can be used for as a primary strain for brett only beers as well as a secondary aging strain. Maturation times tend to be on the quicker side for brett fermentations. |
TEMP: 64–74F (18–23C) FLOCCULATION: LOW ATTENUATION: 75–80% ALCOHOL TOLERANCE: 12% |