Omega OYL-402 Cosmic Punch

What the manufacturer says

A Thiolized version of British Ale V (OYL-011), Cosmic Punch generates thiols through biotransformation, releasing tropical aromas like those in Southern Hemisphere hops and New Zealand Sauvignon blanc; the current page describes 'bound thiols unlocked at a complementary level, not a dominant one'.

Product page

What the evidence says

• Omega's thiol guide puts Cosmic Punch at its benchmark expression level, about 600 ppt of 3SH in finished beer, against a sensory threshold of about 60 ppt. It reaches that by keeping the strain's own IRC7 β-lyase gene switched on. Omega Yeast, thiol guide
• Omega quotes 6,000+ ppt of 3SH for Helio Gazer, about ten times Cosmic Punch or more in Omega's published figures. Both are rated High on this site's three-step scale, which cannot show that gap: read High as releasing bound thiols well above threshold, not as equal output. Omega Yeast, Top Crop experiment

Rating context: manufacturers usually quote free-thiol concentration relative to the sensory threshold, not conversion yield. Peer-reviewed work finds that only a small fraction of bound precursors is converted in beer fermentation, so the ordering between strains is more reliable than any absolute number Chenot et al. 2021 Michel et al. 2019.

In practice

Ferments like a soft British ale strain. Feed it precursors: mash or whirlpool hops rich in bound 3MH, and Phantasm if you use it. Keep oxygen away after fermentation, because the thiols it releases oxidise quickly.

Engineered (IRC7 promoter change). Check local labelling rules before selling beer made with it.

Hops that reward this strain

Citra, Cryo Citra, Cryo Mosaic, Cryo Simcoe, Ekuanot, Galaxy, Hallertau Blanc, Kohatu, Mosaic, Nelson Sauvin, Riwaka, Sabro, Simcoe, Strata, Superdelic, Talus, Vista, Waimea. Each carries a high rating for bound 3MH-family or 4MMP precursors. Mash and whirlpool additions supply precursors during fermentation; a cold dry hop mostly adds the free fraction.