BRY-97 American West Coast Yeast Review
Friday, May 24th, 2013BRY-97 is a relatively new dry yeast on the market released in limited amounts in 2012. Got a pack for the first time late last year. That brew is almost completely gone, and I’m happy with the results, but there were a few surprises!
In a nutshell, BRY-97 is NOT your typical Chico strain like US-04, Wyeast 1056 or White Labs WLP001.
BRY-97 accentuates malt character and provides some fruity notes (pineapple, citrus). It also has a huge frothy krausen head and a long lag time compared to US-05.
I brewed an IIPA with it, fermented at 65F (not too cool, not too warm). The beer was great, but I was surprised that it wasn’t a more neutral strain, like the Chico strains. The shed smelled like pineapple the entire time it was fermenting! The tropical note has dropped off now after several months in the bottle but there is still something sweet and fruity about it.
Since I only had one pack, I did a starter – check out the krausen head:
Normally with dry yeast I would buy more packs instead of making a starter. I could only get one pack on special order with BRY-97, so I did a 1.5L starter. Due to the lag with this yeast (which I was not aware of at the time), it took 2-3 days longer than normal to finish out, and I had juggle my brew schedule.
Flocculation was great, the beer was clear after 2 weeks. No off flavors or any issues with esters or weirdness. The beer was quite drinkable after 30 days, so I take it this yeast doesn’t stay green as long. I’d use BRY-97 again for something along the lines of a Kolsch or summer beer, but not in a brew where I want the hops to shine.
This Home Brew Talk thread has pages and pages of interesting comments. There is a lot of concern about the lag time, extra price, and muted hops:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/anyone-try-bry-97-yet-333553/
Danstar’s product page is here:
https://www.danstaryeast.com/products/bry-97-american-west-coast-yeast
Post by Larry
3 Responses to “BRY-97 American West Coast Yeast Review”
Nice review. I hope to see some more yeast reviews in the future!
I tend to buy fresh yeast VERY rarely, and when I do buy a good strain, I tend to culture up a LOT of it and keep it stored in the fridge.
I need reviews like this to make the best possible purchases to make sure I have the best variety of yeast ^_^
By aaron on May 26, 2013
I used this in a rye pale ale not expecting the sweetness to come through but it was a pleasant surprise. Especially because it was paired with, citra cascade and amarillo. I definitely would use American west coast again.
By Adam D on May 28, 2013
I made 2 side by side kolschs with BRY-97 AND S-05 displaying very different yeast characteristics. Since I’m in commercial wine production, I tend to rehydrate ADY with some DME and some Nutriferm (micronutrients and Vit. B1) so I didn’t have much lag time delay in either batch. What impressed me was the speed of fermentation and the compact flocculation of the BRY-97. In the resulting beers, the BRY-97 does have a noticeable fruity aroma component while the S-05 lacks that and being cleaner, allows the subtle German hops (Saaz & Tetnang) to come thru. I bought some more BRY-97 and will experiment some more with this yeast.
By shon on Jul 1, 2013