At Escarpment Labs, we're proud of the performance and flavour profile of our Isar Lager yeast, a strain selected for its ability to deliver clean, balanced lagers with reliable fermentation characteristics.

Isar is our “house lager” strain of choice, because it consistently delivers neutral flavours (lower acetaldehyde and ester formation than 34/70 variants, at the expense of slightly slower fermentations).

But like all things in brewing, the lager fermentation process isn't one-size-fits-all. Last year, some brewers reached out to our team with feedback: while Isar Lager generally performed well, certain brews showed longer-than-expected lag times and slow fermentations.

As a lab committed to data-driven support and continuous improvement, we took this as a valuable opportunity to learn. Specifically, we wanted to investigate:

• Are there patterns among brewers reporting longer fermentations?
• Could malt type, fermentation temperature, or nutrient strategy be driving the variability?
• Are there actionable best practices we can recommend to improve Isar Lager fermentation outcomes?

To answer these questions, we surveyed brewers who had recently used Isar Lager. We collected and cleaned responses from 28 breweries, covering a range of beer styles, process setups, and fermentation timelines.

From understanding the importance of yeast nutrition to practical tips for achieving optimal fermentation conditions, this guide equips brewers with the knowledge and tools needed for consistent and flavourful brews.

A comprehensive guide to easy, high-impact fermentation, Yeast Flavour and Biotransformation, we want to help you with science, not guesswork, when it comes to honing in on your ideal brew. We'll take you through up-to-date research, aroma compounds, terpene & thiol biotransformation, impacts of temperature and pitch rate, and beer ideas to pull everything you've learned together.

Non-alcoholic beers (NABs) are currently one of the biggest trends in the brewing world. For a brewer, entering this market represents a unique opportunity. However, crafting a NAB can be challenging: it requires not only adapting the brewing process, but also allocating the time and resources needed for product development.

The dark malts used in production have a major impact on the ethanol fermentation process, phenol content, antioxidant capacity, as well as yeast cell physiology. Research has shown that their use alters the final color and flavor of the beer depending on the yeast strain used. Therefore, selecting the right strain for the style of beer you're brewing is essential.