Omega Yeast OYL400 Bananza Ale Yeast

I have not.
Cann I assume this is a yeast that throws banana flavors?
 
Isn't this one of the new genetically modified beer yeast? I think there's also a fruit one released by the same company. I know winemakers have been using GMO yeast for decades, but I'm pretty sure it's new for beer, or at least for homebrewers.

I listened to a podcast with someone in this space (maybe from Omega). He'd done a GMO US-05 that could free thiols. He'd found that there are enough of the right thiols in barley that you only needed to use hops for bittering and you'd still get a juice bomb. It sounded like that one was still a way off, as he didn't really think US-05 was the right yeast to use, but it was well known for his process and great for the proof of concept. He was off to develop the same genetic change with an English yeast. And he was also working on brewers yeast with highly reduced expression of the diacetyl precursor. Seemed like that was also achievable.

edit: yep, they're the CRISPR edited yeast. The other one is Sundew - https://omegayeast.com/yeast/ales/sundew-ale

Or look here - https://www.brewersfriend.com/2021/05/13/ingredient-series-gene-edited-yeast/
 
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So the question then becomes "is there any reason for concern?".

The only answer we know is that we do not know. Years of careful research may lead us in one direction or the other, but right now we simply don't know. Anything different is speculation and guessing.

That being said, I guess it's ok.
 
Donoroto said:
So the question then becomes "is there any reason for concern?".

The only answer we know is that we do not know. Years of careful research may lead us in one direction or the other, but right now we simply don't know. Anything different is speculation and guessing.

That being said, I guess it's ok.
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I'm not really concerned about whether it's going to be "ok". I was more curious about whether it actually worked to produce the banana aroma and flavor. It'll probably be a drinkable beer either way and I doubt it'll make me grow another ear or something like that. I was just going for a banana bomb.

I was even thinking about putting it into my first attempt at a pastry stout (all the young whipper snappers say it's all the rage now-a-days). Something along the lines of a Banana Pudding / Banana Bread pastry stout like the link below.

https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/1157689/banana-dessert-001
 
Brewer's Friend Blog said:
Hi AG Brewer, take a look at the blog article, a couple of Omega staff who are homebrewers gave their experiences. One, Keith, said that underpitching Bananza had a bigger impact on ramping up the banana than temps.
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That's the article that I originally read and found out about the bananza! Just couldn't remember where it was from, funny that it came from this website.
 
Donoroto said:
So the question then becomes "is there any reason for concern?".

The only answer we know is that we do not know. Years of careful research may lead us in one direction or the other, but right now we simply don't know. Anything different is speculation and guessing.

That being said, I guess it's ok.
Click to expand...

I'm just someone who enjoys listening to a few genetics podcasts, so this is all personal opinion and probably relatively uninformed, but I see the turning on or off of genes in yeast as pretty low risk. Generally because there's nearly always a strain out there that has the change they're proposing, just without some of the other functionality that's in the yeast they're looking to change. So if they're thorough it should be pretty low risk.

And it's also been around for quite a while via less effective methods than CRISPR. The winemakers have had yeast that have been modified to make them more capable of freeing bound thiols in grapes, like Sauvignon Blanc, for quite a while.

The approach where they add genes that don't exist in any naturally occurring yeast is where things get very interesting. There's people making additions to yeast to allow them to do wonderful things. Early experiments I've heard of do things like filtering various rare metals out of solutions, allowing you to recycle electronics cost effectively. And there's probably little risk if they did make their way out into the wild. But what if it's a variant that can use the newly discovered genes that can dissolve PET that get out into the wild? Interesting times.

Beyond yeast and into multi-cellular it gets even harder, but it looks like it's giving us things like this approach to curing blindness for people who've lost their vision - https://www.npr.org/sections/health...-editing-experiment-will-restore-their-vision.
 
AGbrewer said:
I'm not really concerned about whether it's going to be "ok". I was more curious about whether it actually worked to produce the banana aroma and flavor. It'll probably be a drinkable beer either way and I doubt it'll make me grow another ear or something like that. I was just going for a banana bomb.

I was even thinking about putting it into my first attempt at a pastry stout (all the young whipper snappers say it's all the rage now-a-days). Something along the lines of a Banana Pudding / Banana Bread pastry stout like the link below.

https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/1157689/banana-dessert-001
Click to expand...
The author of the original article posted a link on another forum. There were a couple of people on that thread impressed about the Bananza. Banana bomb was used a few times.
 
Mark Farrall said:
And it's also been around for quite a while via less effective methods than CRISPR
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Agreed. Whether it's a 'natural' mutation (over sometimes many years or even generations) or hurried along by science, this process has been around for millennia. I'm not very concerned, but if the yeast turns sentient, get out the iodophor. :rolleyes:
 
I believe the CRISPR/Cas9 editing removes a part of the gene that is then filled back in naturally with junk code. IDK but removing something sounds more benign than adding genes / code.

@AGbrewer It's my understanding that it's all how you treat it in terms of the profile / fruitiness. Stress it out and you get a banana bomb. treat it well and you get less esters. I'm currently fermenting with the Sundew (Bonanza's fruity / strawberry twin) now and brewing another batch with it again tomorrow. I started fermenting at 77deg and it took off so I let it drop naturally down to 67deg and it stalled. Now I'm raising it up to 80deg to push the esters. the next batch I will pitch in the 70s and let it ride out at 80. As for under pitching, I hear it can work great with these yeasts and the Kveiks but that it's hard to reproduce the same thing. So if you want to replicate the flavor, I'd personally start with higher temps rather than under pitching.
 
Dornbox said:
I believe the CRISPR/Cas9 editing removes a part of the gene that is then filled back in naturally with junk code. IDK but removing something sounds more benign than adding genes / code.

@AGbrewer It's my understanding that it's all how you treat it in terms of the profile / fruitiness. Stress it out and you get a banana bomb. treat it well and you get less esters. I'm currently fermenting with the Sundew (Bonanza's fruity / strawberry twin) now and brewing another batch with it again tomorrow. I started fermenting at 77deg and it took off so I let it drop naturally down to 67deg and it stalled. Now I'm raising it up to 80deg to push the esters. the next batch I will pitch in the 70s and let it ride out at 80. As for under pitching, I hear it can work great with these yeasts and the Kveiks but that it's hard to reproduce the same thing. So if you want to replicate the flavor, I'd personally start with higher temps rather than under pitching.
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Yeah, was thinking about under pitching and starting pretty close to 70 with a free rise to around 80. I'll probably do at least 3 batches with that yeast before I make a decision on whether it is worthy of a spot in my brew house for hefeweizens.

I was also thinking about blending it with some belgian yeast the next time I do a saison or tripel just to see how it does in a belgian beer.
 
AGbrewer said:
Yeah, was thinking about under pitching and starting pretty close to 70 with a free rise to around 80. I'll probably do at least 3 batches with that yeast before I make a decision on whether it is worthy of a spot in my brew house for hefeweizens.

I was also thinking about blending it with some belgian yeast the next time I do a saison or tripel just to see how it does in a belgian beer.
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I think it would make a specialty version of hefe, in that it shouldn't be throwing off the spice, pepper or cloves that you normally associate with that style. All banana, none of the spice. But that's not from experience, I haven't brewed with it yet. Let us know who it goes.
 
AGbrewer said:
Yeah, was thinking about under pitching and starting pretty close to 70 with a free rise to around 80. I'll probably do at least 3 batches with that yeast before I make a decision on whether it is worthy of a spot in my brew house for hefeweizens.

I was also thinking about blending it with some belgian yeast the next time I do a saison or tripel just to see how it does in a belgian beer.
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I read somewhere that people were experimenting with blended batches; 1 batch being fermented with the Bananza and the other the traditional Weihenstephaner yeast. That way they could control the flavor profile of the phenols of the Weihenstephaner when they blend the two rather than omit the phenols all together by just using the Bananza.
 
Dornbox said:
I read somewhere that people were experimenting with blended batches; 1 batch being fermented with the Bananza and the other the traditional Weihenstephaner yeast. That way they could control the flavor profile of the phenols of the Weihenstephaner when they blend the two rather than omit the phenols all together by just using the Bananza.
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Well, I'm going to see how well it works when you pitch them both into the wort!
 
I'd wager the Bonanza will be the more dominant of the two. Probably be really nice co pitched with Belgian yeast like you mentioned too! Now I'm getting hungry just thinking about the flavors. Lol
 
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