[fredthecat]

I very well have missed it. Can someone tell me the advantage of using nova over other dry yeasts such as Diamond, 34/70, 189, etc?

It also is supposed to have no sulfur and not throw diacetyl.

I used it for 3 batches and liked the results a lot.

i think this is it - for me to make a good lager, imho it takes about 6 weeks minimum, probably longer. if it is pretty comparable and still has the "lager flavour" i wiould go for that.

[tommymorris]

I very well have missed it. Can someone tell me the advantage of using nova over other dry yeasts such as Diamond, 34/70, 189, etc?

It also is supposed to have no sulfur and not throw diacetyl.

I used it for 3 batches and liked the results a lot.

i think this is it - for me to make a good lager, imho it takes about 6 weeks minimum, probably longer. if it is pretty comparable and still has the "lager flavour" i wiould go for that.

Novalager is fast. I kegged multiple batches after a week in the fermenter. I wait until fermentation stops (I have a tilt) then wait 3 more days.

The beer was clear very fast. I drank them at 3 weeks from brew day and they were good. However, I do agree 6 weeks is about right for a lager to be conditioned to perfection, but I think Novalager shaves a week or two off that number.

[Village Taphouse]

This stuff is absolutely chugging.  It's in a fridge with the temp controller set to 50° and it's blazing through this wort FAST!  It's good that it can go grain-to-glass quickly because I brewed my Festbier on July 20 and I'd like to get it on tap the last week of September. 

[Village Taphouse]

Novalager update:  I transferred batch #2 with Nova to a keg today and I got that same unusual aroma when I went to harvest the yeast.  I thought it would be smart to sample batch #1 (a festbier .. kegged, cold, carbed) before I went any further.  The sample was good.  Mildly yeasty and still a young beer but it was tasty.  I thought about brewing Tuesday evening 9/12 and I just wanted to make sure this stuff didn't have a weird character that I don't care for.  So tomorrow a "gold beer" that is 80/20 Avangard Pils and Bonlander, new Edelweiss hops early and late. 

[Village Taphouse]

Okay, another WTF moment with Nova.  My second and third batches with it (both brewed in September) were "gold lagers" .. 80/20 Pils/Munich 1 and then 80/20 Pils/Munich 2 with different hops.  I put the first one in the draft fridge this week and then ran some beer to clear the line of yeast.  The color was darker than expected and there was quite a bit of sludge.  I ran a bit more and then stopped.  Last night I tapped a glass of it and I have no idea what's going on.  It's MUCH darker than it should be and the flavor seems off.  It's like I messed up the pH or something.  I drank about half the glass and poured the rest out.  I thought I had a dumper so I pulled that keg out of the fridge and put the other one on tap.  SAME THING!  Way darker than it should be and super-sludgy.  I don't get this at all.  One bad batch is understandable but TWO?  No way.  Has anyone experienced this with Nova?  Does it drop like a rock and leave a dark sludgy mess on the bottom of the keg?  I'm quite certain I will never use this yeast again!    Cheers Beerheads. 

EDIT:  As an aside, the first beer I made with this yeast (Festbier) did end up being a very nice beer .. clear, balanced, maybe slightly lacking in the yeast character department but a good beer that friends, family and neighbors have all remarked favorably about. 

[denny]

Nothing like that has happened to me with Nova, and I've never heard it from anyone else.

[ynotbrusum]

Nothing "off" noted on Nova and I used it for several iterations and serial re-pitches.  Maybe the strain batch which you received in the sachets was somehow defective?  Recalling the point of pitching - was there any noticeable issue with the sachets, such as loose packing?

I am sure that your process is clean, but maybe something happened at the plant in the packaging of the yeast packs?  We tend to take for granted the dry yeast viability and sterile conditions in packaging; perhaps that was an issue here?

[Village Taphouse]

Nothing like that has happened to me with Nova, and I've never heard it from anyone else.

I'm going to pretend I didn't see this. 

[Village Taphouse]

Nothing "off" noted on Nova and I used it for several iterations and serial re-pitches.  Maybe the strain batch which you received in the sachets was somehow defective?  Recalling the point of pitching - was there any noticeable issue with the sachets, such as loose packing?

I am sure that your process is clean, but maybe something happened at the plant in the packaging of the yeast packs?  We tend to take for granted the dry yeast viability and sterile conditions in packaging; perhaps that was an issue here?

I can't see it being a manufacturer issue plus that first batch was okay so it can't be that.  I could imagine that something happened to the yeast (a contamination) between batch one and two but a contamination that turns the beer dark?  Not.  The fourth and last batch was a Vienna Lager (still in the on-deck fridge) and then I retired the yeast.  The only thing that I thought was off was the aroma of the first beer that I made with Nova and a few others (BrewBama?) mentioned an unusual aroma as well but the resulting beers were okay.  I'm going to give the beer some time and I'm going run off a bit more of it just to see if it's sucking up some settled yeast from the bottom of the keg.  In brewing, I generally don't like surprises so I hope this is just a weird blip with this yeast. 

[BrewBama]

I did get weirdness early in the process but ended up being a nice clean beer. No sludge or darkened beer or anything

[Village Taphouse]

I'm a little embarrassed to post this although this looks a little better than the glass I tapped last night ...



I figure I'll fully plead my case and also establish a benchmark in case the beer rallies and turns into something better.  It's not young .. I brewed in on 9/1 so it's it's been kegged, carbed and cold for 3 months.  Again for the record this is 80% Avangard Pils and 20% Best Malz Munich 1, Liberty hops and Novalager yeast.  I'll update this as I sample the beer. 

For comparison, this beer is also 80/20 Pils/Munich 1 and made with 2124. 

[chinaski]

I'm a little embarrassed to post this although this looks a little better than the glass I tapped last night ...



I figure I'll fully plead my case and also establish a benchmark in case the beer rallies and turns into something better.  It's not young .. I brewed in on 9/1 so it's it's been kegged, carbed and cold for 3 months.  Again for the record this is 80% Avangard Pils and 20% Best Malz Munich 1, Liberty hops and Novalager yeast.  I'll update this as I sample the beer. 

For comparison, this beer is also 80/20 Pils/Munich 1 and made with 2124. 

I can guess which yeast you'll go to for the next time you brew this.  But then again, maybe it's the difference in containers- is that a plastic cup in the first photo?

[denny]

Keep in mind that correlation is not necessarily causation.

[Village Taphouse]

Keep in mind that correlation is not necessarily causation.

Last night I was convinced that this batch was doomed.  So much so that I took the keg out of the draft fridge and put it on the garage floor.  Then I grabbed another batch (very similar recipe and also made with Nova) and it looked the same!  Could I have bumped my head and screwed up two batches by screwing up the pH or something .. maybe but it would be very much out of my experience.  Don't get me wrong, I can mess up a batch of beer with the best of them but whatever I'm seeing right now is WEIRDNESS and I'm pointing to the Nova because it's the least familiar thing in these two batches.

Yes, that's a plastic cup in the first photo. 

[Village Taphouse]

Also for comparison, here's a shot of the first batch I made with Nova (an Oktoberfest Lager) ...