Lallemand’s NovaLager might be the ultimate lager yeast. Let’s learn about it

Lallemand Brewing has developed a lager yeast strain, NovaLager, that has both home and pro brewers talking. So, let’s learn about it real quick.

Lallemand Brewing is a business unit of Lallemand Inc., a privately held Canadian company specializing in the research, development, production, marketing and distribution of yeast and bacteria. This LalBrew NovaLager is the result of the research and development work of Renaissance Bioscience Corp., a company specializing in the selective breeding of high-performing yeast.

The strain was selected using classical and non-GMO breeding methods to obtain a novel Saccharomyces cerevisiae x Saccharomyces eubayanus hybrid strain that defines a novel Group III (Renaissance) lager lineage, different from any other traditional Saccharomyces pastorianus strains.

NovaLager is a true bottom fermenting Saccharomyces pastorianus hybrid from a novel lineage selected to produce clean lager beers with distinct flavor characteristics and superior fermentation performance.

It has ideal brewing properties for lagers:

• It produces lager styles at higher fermentation temperatures, lower pitch rates, and faster fermentation times than traditional lagers.
• This strain is a low VDK/diacetyl producer and utilizes patented technology from the University of California Davis (USA) to ensure no hydrogen sulfide (H2S – skunky or off heavy or light aromas) is produced, therefore reducing the maturation time associated with lager beer production.
• Through expression of a β-glucosidase enzyme, LalBrew NovaLager can promote hop biotransformation and accentuate hop flavor and aroma.

These features lead to reduced maturation time and faster tank turnover, both of which increase brewing capacity and make lager beer more cost-efficient, especially for craft brewers who do not have the capacity for lagering beer for extended periods of time. And the resulting reduced costs is a big help as as barley and other brewing costs have been going up.

The beer produced by this new lager yeast is fresher and cleaner and is ready to drink sooner, whereas lager beer produced with traditional lager strains need long maturation times to reduce off aromas.

LalBrew NovaLager is available in 500g packs, with 11g sachets coming soon, according to the press release, with a recommended pitch rate of 50-100g per hL of wort.