Hoppy American Pale Ale Tasting X 2

How important is yeast strain selection for the perception of hops in the finished beer? Some yeasts, especially highly flocculant strains, have a tendency to strip hop compounds (including bitterness) out of the wort. This is the reason that some brewers suggest waiting until after fining or filtering a batch to add dry hops. Neutral-flavored moderately-flocculant American ale strains like 001/1056 are a safe choice if you want the yeast to simply stay out of the way.

There is another school of thought however. Some brewers select yeast strains that provides an estery character that blends with the hops creating a more powerful/complex aroma. There are breweries that opt for Belgian ale or saison strains (Charlevoix Dominus Vobiscum Lupulus), while others choose English ale strains (Ithaca Flower Power). The right combination can be transcendent, but the wrong pairing of hops and yeast can be close to undrinkable.

In a world where every brewery has access to the same malts and hops, having a house yeast strain is one way to give your beers a distinct character. At the moment, the highest rated hoppy beer on BeerAdvocate that isn't brewed by Russian River is The Alchemist’s Heady Topper. For me John Kimmich's hop saturated beer lived up to the hype (unlike the bottle of Kern River Citra DIPA I opened last week) with a wonderfully pungent hop aroma mixed with a peachy ester that seemed yeast derived.

“‘The heart of the beer is my private strain of Conan ale yeast,’ John explained. ‘It produces very distinct apricot and tropical fruit esters, but you have to know how to handle it, how to draw the character out.’ It took years of tweaking to get the age and the generation of the Conan yeast just right so it would produce the flavor John wanted.” via Sip this world-class beer straight from the tallboy

In July I cultured Conan from a fresh can of Heady Topper, starting it in the can before building it up on my stir plate. I pitched the yeast it into an extra gallon of wort from my Hoppy Pale Ale. Hoping for the best, but given the proprietary nature of the strain hard to know for sure what temperature to target.

So here is the side-by-side tasting of the same wort fermented by the two very different ale strains (note that in addition to the yeast difference, the WLP001 fermented potion also received a substantial dose of keg hopping.)

Hoppy Pale - WLP001

Appearance – Nearly clear, golden beer. Pours with a large head, but it quickly settles to a dense, creamy white cap. Pretty lacing and retention.

Smell – More malt aromatics than I expect in a hoppy American beer. The Victory malt really comes through, with fresh baked bread and crackers. Plenty of hops too, pine and citrus, fresh and bright. It is an interesting combination, but not the balance I had envisioned.

Taste – The flavor is a good mixture of malt and hops, but I intended it to be hop first with a malt background. The hop flavor is really saturated with the hop bursting, hop standing, hop backing, and dry hopping. Good classic West Coast hop character: orange, pine, slightly dank, balanced. Firm bitterness, without lingering too much. Clean fermentation.

Mouthfeel – Decent body for a session beer, solid carbonation.

Drinkability & Notes – Like most of the other first attempts we’ve made at recipes for Modern Times, the results are good, but not exactly what we wanted. A few tweaks to the malt bill (removing the Victory) and hop bill (considering some Southern Cross in place of the Columbus) and we’ll be closer to the target.

Hoppy Pale - Conan

Appearance – Pours with a similar color to the standard version, but considerably hazier (thanks to bottle conditioning and storage at room temperature). The head doesn’t have the same creamy texture, and retention is much weaker despite higher visible carbonation.

Smell – As expected it lacks the big hop nose, thanks to the lack of dry hopping. Unexpectedly however, the strong maltiness is also absent. Both are preset, but are subdued. Taking the lead is an assertive fruity/spicy yeastiness, with peach and clove most prominently.

Taste – The flavor is a bit drier, which accentuates the bitterness. As with the nose, the yeast character plays a big role. The moderate West Coast hopping melds well with the yeast character. The bready malt comes through more on the palate than it did in the nose. As it warms I detect a slightly funky edge, hard to tell if it is from a stressed fermentation, or something that got into the yeast culture.

Mouthfeel – The medium-high carbonation is a bit more than I prefer, but it doesn’t come across as over-carbonated. The extra bubbles make the body seem lighter, although maybe that is just higher attenuation.

Drinkability & Notes – I was under the impression that the Alchemist’s house strain “Conan” was English in origin, but the phenols give this beer a Belgian slant. I actually enjoy this variation, but without dry hops the yeast overpowers even the considerable late/post boil hopping.