Giga yeast?

[Beer-lord]

Got an email from Farmhouse bragging about Giga yeast at $12.99 forc ">200 Billion cell count packs".
http://www.farmhousebrewingsupply.com/g ... dium=email
I see there's a website too http://www.gigayeast.com/

Anyone ever try these? That's twice the amount but I'd rather save money and make a starter than either over pitch for a small beer. But, I'd pay that and make a huge starter and keep 10 vials for later use.

[philm00x]

I reckon Gigayeast is the company that makes the Conan yeast that swen got from Yazoo.

[mashani]

I guess it would be useful if you wanted to use 3 month old liquid yeast and not bother with a starter.

[Beer-lord]

Of course they're out of the Conan yeast! But, I'm going to give them a try on the NorCal yeast. I've only bought liquid yeast locally so I'm hoping the $12.99 plus $1 for a cool pack works out ok. I plan to brew up a 2L starter and save this. I can easily get 4 or 5 beers out of this so I'm rationalizing getting it. I've read a number of reviews and can't find many that don't like it so time will tell.

[Beer-lord]

My GigaYeast pack came into...it was shipped Monday and I paid the extra buck or two for an ice pack but I wasn't too impressed with Farmhouse's packing. It wasn't hot but it wasn't cold. More like cool.
I've got it in the fridge and I'll make a huge starter Sunday so that any possible loss of viability is lessened. I had planned to make a starter and get 3 or 4 tubes out of it that I can step up when I want to brew.

It wasn't even the one I wanted and while it is fine for IPA's, I really wanted the Conan version but hey, my yeast kick will soon be over and I'll be OCD'ing over another aspect of brewing like maybe the color of the flame coming out of my burner or something super important like that.

[Beer-lord]

Made a 2 liter starter and 3 1/2 hours later, it's pretty busy.

gigayeast.JPG (258.26 KiB) Viewed 942 times

[ScrewyBrewer]

Seems like it's alive and kicking. Let's see how it works out in the fermentor and how well it attenuates. Keep us posted!

[Beer-lord]

Its done and is cold crashing now. I kept it cool since it was bit warm the last 2 days.
I'll put 1/3 in a jar for future use and the other 2/3's I'll use in this weekend's brew. I'm thinking based on more reading, that its very close to WLP001 and expect it to let the hops shine.