Yeast Propagation - Update

The less flocculant F1C4 once again mislabeled as FC34

F1C4 bubbling away

As part of my search to nail a fruity and full IPA, I have been trying out many yeast strains. My documentation of the results started with the NEIPA #1 which was brewed with WLP 644 to decent results, but I have now moved on to two hybrid strains produced by homebrewtalk.com member Suregork. As previously noted, the strain propagation is going well. The 1000 ml or so step resulted in mostly spicy Belgian flavors, but the 1500 ml step produced more stone fruit flavors that I have been hoping for. Particularly, F1C4 came out as producing the most fruit forward profile. In addition to this, F1 continues to exhibit more complete and rapid flocculation, as seen in this recent picture (which is the start of the 2000 ml step). For some fun, I took two or so pellets out of the EXP 5256 packet that has been sitting in my freezer for years and dropped them into the F1C4 starter beer. Surprisingly, the flavor profile was very pleasant. Lemon and lime popped up, with a hint of orange. I think that I will use this as the primary hop in my next NEIPA recipe, as it is pretty old at this point. Unfortunately, the bag got water logged at one point and it is a solid block of hop ice (the origin of my surprise).