Safale K-97

[jceg316]

Has anyone used this yeast for more than kolsch or alt styles? I bought it on a whim and because it was cheap, but not sure I want to brew a kolsch/alt. If not, does this yeast highlight malt flavours well? How does it compare flavourwise to s-23 or W-34/70?

Thanks.

 

[Yamye]

Has anyone used this yeast for more than kolsch or alt styles? I bought it on a whim and because it was cheap, but not sure I want to brew a kolsch/alt. If not, does this yeast highlight malt flavours well? How does it compare flavourwise to s-23 or W-34/70?

Thanks.

Hi Jceg316,

Im brewing an ipa inspired beer 18 litres with this yeast. It has 4kg marris otter(less than alcohol standard for ipa i know), 14g admiral first wort hops at 13.8 alpha. 100g willamette and 100g chinook for a 30 min steep at 75c and pitched k97 at 15.5c. It took off really well on 2nd May stil has a big krausen. I cant wait to see how it turns out so will let you know.

 

[jceg316]

Hi Jceg316,

Im brewing an ipa inspired beer 18 litres with this yeast. It has 4kg marris otter(less than alcohol standard for ipa i know), 14g admiral first wort hops at 13.8 alpha. 100g willamette and 100g chinook for a 30 min steep at 75c and pitched k97 at 15.5c. It took off really well on 2nd May stil has a big krausen. I cant wait to see how it turns out so will let you know.

Sounds like a good pale! Do let me know how it comes out. That's a lot of flavour hops so it will be interesting to hear whether the yeast carries forward all those flavours whilst keeping a malt balance.

 

[MickDundee]

I used it for a Kolsch back in March. It’s still conditioning but the 2 bottles I’ve had were really nice.

It has a massive Krausen that sticks around forever - you might need to give the FV a shake and drop the temperature a few days before bottling.

 

[Yamye]

Sounds like a good pale! Do let me know how it comes out. That's a lot of flavour hops so it will be interesting to hear whether the yeast carries forward all those flavours whilst keeping a malt balance.

I was debating using the same amount of hops for a 38L batch but wanted the hops to be very proud. Its my first brew with 2/3rds RO water aswell so not fair to use as just comparing the k97 yeast . What put you off brewing a kolsch or alt with the yeast?

 

[Ajhutch]

I brewed an alt with K97 last year and it wasn’t pretty good. I brewed it quite bitter but the malt flavours did come through pretty well. It would be interesting to know if it is quite fruity in a pale Kölsch like grist instead, but I didn’t find it to be a particularly characterful yeast. One point to mention is looking back at my notes I had a very scorched element on that brew and when I did a side by side with a commercial alt I decided I could pick out a bit of burnt taste

 

[jceg316]

I just don't fancy a kolsch or alt right now.

@MickDundee was it a very malt forward beer you made?

 

[MickDundee]

I just don't fancy a kolsch or alt right now.

@MickDundee was it a very malt forward beer you made?

Yeah it was the Greg Hughes Kolsch recipe but with 100% hallertau mittlefrau. Tastes very much like a German pilsner, very crisp but with a distinct fruity “German” flavour.

 

[jceg316]

Yeah it was the Greg Hughes Kolsch recipe but with 100% hallertau mittlefrau. Tastes very much like a German pilsner, very crisp but with a distinct fruity “German” flavour.

That sounds very nice actually. I love pils and helles, I've not had a great deal of kolsches but what I've tried can be a bit "softer" in terms of flavour.

@Ajhutch it's a shame yours didn't come out too well, but it's useful to know it was a malt forward tasting beer.

 

[jceg316]

Reviving this as I've now used this yeast twice. First time for an IPA and second time for a kolsch. Both times it got stuck. First time I thought the attenuation was lower than stated as I left it to ferment for a few weeks and the FG didn't move. I bottled it and that entire batch were violent gushers. I had to empty the remaining batch as I was scared I'd get bottle bombs if I left for longer.

I'm brewing a kolsch now and used this yeast, same problem. I fermented it at 20C for 2 weeks, ramped up to 22 for a week but no shift in gravity so I've transferred it to a glass demijohn where I'll leave it for a while. I'm hoping the shaking of the FV as I carried it and the transfer will get more yeast into suspension so it can carry on fermenting. The cupboard it's in is quite warm too.

Both beers taste(d) really good though, and even for the IPA I think I preferred K-97 over US05. The kolsch is tasting great so far and I can't wait for it to be ready. It's a shame this yeast doesn't attenuate properly otherwise it would be my go-to yeast, but as it stands it's a bit unusable.

 

[MrRook]

This would probably work for a Widmer style American hefe.

 

[clib]

Anyone know if CML has a close match for K-97? I mean difficult to tell apart, not vaguely similar.

 

[An Ankoù]

Profile: A true top cropping yeast with low ester formation and a broad temperature range. Fermentation at higher temperatures may produce mild fruitiness. This powdery strain results in yeast that remains in suspension post fermentation. Beers mature rapidly, even when cold fermentation is used. Low or no detectable diacetyl.

This is the profile description for Wyeast 1007, which K-97 is said to emulate. I used K-97 in a copy of La Goudale, which is a mass-produced hybrid bière de garde and I found that the yeast behaved exactly as above. I despaired of getting the beer to drop clean in the fermenter, but it did so in the bottle. The yeast conditions very quickly and, I have to boast, my version of La Goudale was better than the industrial stuff- even if that's not a bad drink.
As for a CML equivalent, I haven't tried it yet with my La Goudale recipe, but next time I'll be substituting CML Høg Norsk.
As a matter of interest, I did my LG recipe with Wyeast Scottish just out of a sense of sheer badness. Everybody, especially The Wise One , loved it, but then they didn't know what it was supposed to be. The K-97 was much, much closer.

Fermentis ramble on about "delicate" beers. What the squat are "delicate" beers when they're at home?

 

[clib]

Profile: A true top cropping yeast with low ester formation and a broad temperature range. Fermentation at higher temperatures may produce mild fruitiness. This powdery strain results in yeast that remains in suspension post fermentation. Beers mature rapidly, even when cold fermentation is used. Low or no detectable diacetyl.

This is the profile description for Wyeast 1007, which K-97 is said to emulate. I used K-97 in a copy of La Goudale, which is a mass-produced hybrid bière de garde and I found that the yeast behaved exactly as above. I despaired of getting the beer to drop clean in the fermenter, but it did so in the bottle. The yeast conditions very quickly and, I have to boast, my version of La Goudale was better than the industrial stuff- even if that's not a bad drink.
As for a CML equivalent, I haven't tried it yet with my La Goudale recipe, but next time I'll be substituting CML Høg Norsk.
As a matter of interest, I did my LG recipe with Wyeast Scottish just out of a sense of sheer badness. Everybody, especially The Wise One , loved it, but then they didn't know what it was supposed to be. The K-97 was much, much closer.

Fermentis ramble on about "delicate" beers. What the squat are "delicate" beers when they're at home?

From what I have read about Høg Norsk, it seems to have some similartities to K-97 at least.

 

[dmtaylor]

Anyone know if CML has a close match for K-97? I mean difficult to tell apart, not vaguely similar.

My understanding is that CML probably repacks yeasts from other manufacturers, so their Kolsch yeast is probably identical to either K-97 or Lallemand Koln. My bet for CML equivalence is on the Lallemand Koln. All of these are pretty similar anyway, with K-97 tending to flocculate slower and remain tart and yeasty for a longer time than Lallemand Koln. So between Lallemand and Fermentis, their strains are similar but different. You might find you prefer one over another and that's fine of course, but should end up with very similar results, if not identical.

 

[clib]

My understanding is that CML probably repacks yeasts from other manufacturers, so their Kolsch yeast is probably identical to either K-97 or Lallemand Koln. My bet for CML equivalence is on the Lallemand Koln. All of these are pretty similar anyway, with K-97 tending to flocculate slower and remain tart and yeasty for a longer time than Lallemand Koln. So between Lallemand and Fermentis, their strains are similar but different. You might find you prefer one over another and that's fine of course, but should end up with very similar results, if not identical.

I'm not sure that CML does re-package. Possibly, but none of the (several) yeasts I have had from them have struck me as matches. 2 or 3 were just not as good as the options from Fermentis and Lallemand. Midland is a bit different from Nottingham. I'm tempted to believe that there is a producer somewhere in Europe cloning the strains from the big manufacturers. It's possible some are re-packages and some aren't I think.