Best Practices

Best Practices: Dry Tropics™ London

Best Practices: Dry Tropics™ London

About Tropics™

Dry Tropics London delivers the soft, pillowy mouthfeel and juicy character you'd expect from a top-tier London Ale strain, but with a serious upgrade: a burst of thiols that unleash vibrant, layered notes of grapefruit and passionfruit.

Upon Arrival

  • Open the shipping box to verify that all yeast packages are present, undamaged, and vacuum-sealed.
  • While rare, punctures can occur during transit. Do not use damaged or unsealed packs.
  • Store yeast in a cool, dry location until use. Refrigeration is ideal but not required for short-term storage.

Preparing to Pitch

  1. When ready to use, sanitize the exterior of the package by spraying or dunking in sanitizer.
  2. Use a clean, sanitized blade to open the package.
  3. Wear sanitized gloves during handling.
  4. Use the full package whenever possible.

If partial use is necessary:

  • Reseal immediately after opening.
  • Transfer the remainder into a clean, sanitized, airtight container.
  • Store cool and use as soon as possible.

Rehydration

  • Rehydration is not recommended.
  • Pitch the dry yeast directly into the fermentor.
  • Any potential benefit from rehydration is negligible compared to the risk of contamination.

Pitch Rate Guidelines

Recommended pitch rate: 59–176 g/BBL (50–150 g/hL). See formula and table below. For first-time use, target the higher end of the range; adjust downward in future brews if performance allows.

°Plato Approx. SG Pitch Rate (g/hL) Pitch Rate (g/BBL)
10 1.040 50 59
15 1.061 67 79
18 1.074 78 91
24 1.101 99 116


Nutrients

  • No specific nutrient additions are required.
  • Follow standard brewery nutrition practices based on wort composition and fermentation goals.

Fermentation Guidelines

  • Temperature: 66–70 °F
  • Aeration: Aeration is not required for standard-gravity fermentations and may cause haze or excessive yeast growth.
  • If brewing at very high gravity (>1.085 / 21 °P), use compressed air, not pure oxygen, and add it 12–24 hours after pitching.
  • Lag time: Typically 12–18 hours. Expect visible fermentation activity within the first day.
  • If no activity after 24 hours, gently rouse the fermentor to resuspend yeast.
  • If still inactive after 36 hours, check temperature, pitch rate, and oxygen exposure.
  • After 48 hours with no signs of fermentation, add an additional brick of yeast.

Co-Pitching

Tropics™ London can be co-pitched with your house yeast to dial down its tropical impact.

  • Adjust ratios based on desired flavor intensity: lower Tropics™ proportion for subtle fruit notes, higher for more thiol expression.

Hops & Additives

Tropics™ strains enhance tropical fruit aromas by enzymatically converting thiol precursors from malt and hops into active flavor compounds.

Hop Selection

Choose hops that complement tropical fruit character.

Recommended:

  • Krush
  • Mosaic
  • Peacharine
  • Citra
  • Galaxy
  • Motueka
  • Nelson Sauvin (can push diesel/boxwood notes at high levels)
  • Idaho 7
  • Other fruit-forward hops

Avoid:

  • Noble hops (Saaz, Tettnang, Spalt, Hallertauer Mittelfrüh)
  • Hops not typical in hop-forward IPAs
  • Grape-skin products (introduce woody flavors)
  • Copper finings (bind thiols and mute flavor; use only if needed to fix sulfur)

Hop Timing

  • No mash hopping required—Tropics™ produces the necessary enzymes to unlock thiol precursors.
  • To boost tropical character while still repitching, use Tropics Boost™.

Tropics Boost™

  • For maximum tropical expression, add Tropics Boost, an all-natural thiol precursor supplement.
  • Add to chilled wort within 24 hours of pitching.
  • Recommended dosage: 50–100 mL/BBL
  • High intensity: 200+ mL/BBL (may produce overly thiol-forward results)

Grain Bill Guidelines

Use base malts high in thiol precursors:

  • Pilsner
  • Pale malt

Avoid darker kilned malts, which reduce tropical character. No special mash profile or mash hopping is needed.

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