Danielle Sommer

One especially sweet, thick IPA style and one extremely dry, thin one may have something good together when they combine signature elements.

You might be someone who avoids a bloated pack, but once it’s discounted, maybe it starts to look pretty good. Should you go for it? Why are some of us even suspicious of a swollen pack in the first place?

Incisive new strains can deliver something novel, or they can make something that already exists even better. In this series of articles, we look at modern strains through the lens of ​‘new’ or ​‘improved,’ deliver helpful takes on some yeast fundamentals (like esters, attenuation, and more), and finish with some juicy research: a new technology giving greater command of clarity and haze. Top Crop’s annual newsprint edition is available online or in print.

In a recent writeup for the Colorado Brewers Guild, Laura discusses how the R&D team began researching haze and how this research identified successful approaches to building long-lasting, stable haze.

Yeast-derived haze can be substantial. How much has a lot to do with interaction with dry hopping. Here, see the surprising clarifying effect of an early-fermentation dry hop in a double dry hop scenario.

Omega Yeast can remove yeast-determined haze potential from a haze-positive strain at the gene level. Check out how Cincinnati’s Rhinegeist Brewery and Omega Yeast partnered to present experimental info on this topic for the 2024 Ohio Guild Craft Brewers Conference.

Can you guess which words are connected and what they have in common? Make four groups of four and name their relationship.

If you’re interested in brightness, it’s useful to know how a very low-haze-producing yeast strain can be made to produce even less.

Hop compounds are involved in yeast-determined haze, but they also contribute to haze independently. This graph shows evidence that hops have their own haze-determining factor.

Check out results in haze and clarity with two new categories of yeast strains (and how dry hop timing affects things). It may give you some great ideas on how to manage haze outcomes better in your brews.

There’s so much space for activities.

Don’t use a hammer if what you really need is a spoon…

Malt, yeast and hops all have important roles to play in different, cumulative sources of haze. Leaning on haze that forms in one way rather than another could make your beercraft significantly easier. It matters where the haze is coming from if you want to control it.

Releasing multiple beers a week is exciting, rewarding (and awarding), but breakneck. Trialing new yeast strains, even when they help enable vision, or perfect finish or process, can also mean more changes downstream. That’s why Ian and Harmony of Blackbird tend to wait for their moment; but they’re used to patience, too.

Three fermentations, two types of ALDC integration, like the Thunderdome but for lager.

Omega Yeast’s R&D director, Laura Burns, decodes some of the science behind this new discovery and what it could all mean for brewers.

After nearly two years of ongoing collaboration on thiol research, Phantasm’s founder, Jos, talks curiosity, experimentation, discovery and new Liquid Phantasm.

A brewing-themed crossword puzzle. Scroll past the image to find the fillable grid below.

A brewing-themed crossword puzzle

Bianca uses yeast strains’ morphologies and phenotypes to create detailed portraits