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.
• Ensure the package is completely dry.
• Transfer the sealed package 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 the calculator on the Dry Tropics product page and the table below. For first-time use, target the higher end of the range; adjust downward in future brews if performance allows.

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, off-flavors, 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.
  
• After 36 hours with no signs of fermentation, add additional bricks of yeast (25% of starting pitch).

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.

Harvesting and Repitching

Dry Tropics™ London can be harvested and repitched. Please see our Yeast Harvest Best Practices Guide. Note that wort should be aerated when repitching. 

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.