Reference · 29 strains
Yeast strains rated for thiol release (β-lyase activity)
The same hop bill fermented with two different strains can smell like two different beers, because the enzyme that frees bound hop thiols, β-lyase, varies enormously between strains. This table rates every strain in Hoparoma's library on a three-step scale and links to the evidence.
The three levels
- High Thiol-forward strains: engineered or bred for β-lyase activity, or conventional strains that screened high. Expect free thiols above threshold when precursor-rich hops are used.
- Medium London III and Conan lineage hazy strains and hybrid IPA strains. Moderate release; the classic NEIPA workhorses.
- Low Chico-type clean strains, cool-fermented lager strains, kveik fermented hot, saison and Kölsch strains. Most bound precursors stay bound.
Screening studies find native β-lyase activity low in most brewing strains and clearly higher in a few English ale lineages; the engineered and bred thiol strains sit above all of them Michel et al. 2019 Svedlund et al. 2022 Lallemand 2023. Lager yeast can release thiols too, from malt as well as hop precursors Chenot et al. 2022. Levels are the labels Hoparoma shows in its yeast picker; the underlying coefficients are not published.
All strains
| Strain | Lab | Type | Temp °C (min · opt · max) | Attenuation | β-lyase level | Availability | Character tags |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Berkeley Yeast Tropics | Berkeley Yeast | ale | 17 · 20 · 22 | 72 % | High | Pro pitch only | clean, thiol |
| Escarpment Labs Thiol Libre | Escarpment Laboratories | ale | 17 · 20 · 22 | 74 % | High | Mainstream · liquid | clean, thiol |
| LalBrew Diamond Lager | Lallemand Brewing | lager | 10 · 13 · 15 | 80 % | High provisional | Mainstream · dry | clean_lager |
| Omega OYL-402 Cosmic Punch | Omega Yeast | ale | 17 · 20 · 22 | 74 % | High | Limited (pro pitch) | clean, thiol |
| Omega OYL-404 Star Party | Omega Yeast | ale | 17 · 20 · 22 | 78 % | High | Limited (pro pitch) | clean, thiol |
| Omega OYL-405 Helio Gazer | Omega Yeast | ale | 17 · 20 · 22 | 74 % | High | Pro pitch only | clean, thiol, gmo |
| SafLager SH-45 | Fermentis | lager | 12 · 15 · 18 | 82 % | High | Mainstream · dry | thiol_lager |
| WLP077 Tropicale Yeast Blend | White Labs | ale | 18 · 20 · 22 | 78 % | High | Mainstream · liquid | clean, thiol |
| WLP830 German Lager | White Labs | lager | 10 · 12 · 13 | 77 % | High | Mainstream · liquid | thiol_lager |
| Imperial Yeast A04 Barbarian | Imperial Yeast | ale | 17 · 19 · 21 | 74 % | Medium | Mainstream · liquid | hazy |
| Imperial Yeast A38 Juice | Imperial Yeast | ale | 18 · 21 · 24 | 74 % | Medium | Mainstream · liquid | hazy |
| LalBrew New England | Lallemand Brewing | ale | 18 · 21 · 24 | 80 % | Medium | Mainstream · dry | hazy |
| LalBrew Pomona | Lallemand Brewing | ale | 15 · 19 · 22 | 80 % | Medium | Mainstream · dry | clean, bioT |
| LalBrew Verdant IPA | Lallemand Brewing | ale | 18 · 21 · 24 | 77 % | Medium | Mainstream · dry | hazy |
| Wyeast 1318 London Ale III | Wyeast | ale | 18 · 20 · 23 | 74 % | Medium | Mainstream · liquid | hazy |
| Hornindal Kveik | Omega Yeast (OYL-091) and others | kveik | 22 · 32 · 42 | 78 % | Low | Mainstream · liquid | fast, tropical |
| LalBrew Belle Saison | Lallemand Brewing | ale | 17 · 22 · 29 | 92 % | Low | Mainstream · dry | saison |
| LalBrew BRY-97 American West Coast Ale | Lallemand Brewing | ale | 17 · 20 · 22 | 80 % | Low | Mainstream · dry | clean |
| LalBrew NovaLager | Lallemand Brewing | lager | 12 · 16 · 20 | 75 % | Low | Mainstream · dry | clean_lager |
| Mangrove Jack's M84 Bohemian Lager | Mangrove Jack's | lager | 10 · 13 · 15 | 74 % | Low | Mainstream · dry | clean_lager |
| Omega OYL-071 Lutra Kveik | Omega Yeast | kveik | 20 · 30 · 40 | 78 % | Low | Mainstream · dry + liquid | fast |
| SafAle US-05 | Fermentis | ale | 17 · 20 · 22 | 80 % | Low | Mainstream · dry | clean |
| SafLager S-23 | Fermentis | lager | 12 · 15 · 18 | 80 % | Low | Mainstream · dry | fruity_lager |
| SafLager W-34/70 | Fermentis | lager | 9 · 12 · 18 | 82 % | Low | Mainstream · dry | clean_lager |
| Voss Kveik | Lallemand Brewing (LalBrew Voss) and others | kveik | 25 · 35 · 40 | 78 % | Low | Mainstream · dry | fast |
| WLP001 California Ale | White Labs | ale | 17 · 20 · 22 | 80 % | Low | Mainstream · liquid | clean |
| WLP029 German Ale / Kölsch | White Labs | ale | 16 · 19 · 21 | 75 % | Low | Mainstream · liquid | clean_ale |
| Wyeast 1056 American Ale | Wyeast | ale | 16 · 20 · 22 | 75 % | Low | Mainstream · liquid | clean |
| Wyeast 1272 American Ale II | Wyeast | ale | 16 · 20 · 22 | 74 % | Low | Mainstream · liquid | clean, soft |
Strains with a link have an evidence page. A level marked provisional comes from supplier characterisation that has not yet been written up here; treat it as a working rating.
Pairing with hops
High-level strains pay off with hops rated high for bound thiols: Citra, Cryo Citra, Cryo Mosaic, Cryo Simcoe, Ekuanot, Galaxy, Hallertau Blanc, Kohatu, Mosaic, Nelson Sauvin, Riwaka, Sabro, Simcoe, Strata, Superdelic, Talus, Vista, Waimea. With low-thiol hops the strain choice matters less for thiols and more for esters and oil handling.
In Hoparoma
Hoparoma models the yeast's release step together with hop precursors, malt precursors, and Phantasm dose, and warns when a low-activity strain is paired with a thiol-dependent recipe.
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Machine-readable copy: yeast.json. Published under CC BY 4.0: reuse freely with credit to Hoparoma and a link to hoparoma.com.