diff --git a/pom.xml b/pom.xml
index 92ed3cc..517a4da 100644
--- a/pom.xml
+++ b/pom.xml
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@
 	<modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
 	<groupId>io.github.jervenbolleman</groupId>
 	<artifactId>handlegraph4j</artifactId>
-	<version>1.1-SNAPSHOT</version>
+	<version>1.1</version>
 	<packaging>jar</packaging>
 	<licenses>
 		<license>
diff --git a/src/main/java/io/github/jervenbolleman/handlegraph4j/sequences/LongSequence.java b/src/main/java/io/github/jervenbolleman/handlegraph4j/sequences/LongSequence.java
index 0f4e0f9..37e36f9 100644
--- a/src/main/java/io/github/jervenbolleman/handlegraph4j/sequences/LongSequence.java
+++ b/src/main/java/io/github/jervenbolleman/handlegraph4j/sequences/LongSequence.java
@@ -165,10 +165,11 @@ private static long binaryReverseComplement(long value) {
 
     @Override
     public String toString() {
-        return new String(asByteArray(), US_ASCII);
+        return new String(asAsciiBytes(), US_ASCII);
     }
 
-    private byte[] asByteArray() {
+    @Override
+    public byte[] asAsciiBytes() {
         byte[] val = new byte[length()];
         for (int i = 0; i < length(); i++) {
             val[i] = byteAt(i);
diff --git a/src/main/java/io/github/jervenbolleman/handlegraph4j/sequences/Sequence.java b/src/main/java/io/github/jervenbolleman/handlegraph4j/sequences/Sequence.java
index 363716a..5ff829f 100644
--- a/src/main/java/io/github/jervenbolleman/handlegraph4j/sequences/Sequence.java
+++ b/src/main/java/io/github/jervenbolleman/handlegraph4j/sequences/Sequence.java
@@ -211,13 +211,21 @@ static byte complement(byte nucleotide) {
      * @return the IUPAC DNA coded sequence.
      */
     default String asString() {
+        return new String(asAsciiBytes(), US_ASCII);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Convert the Sequence object into a java byte array of ascii
+     *
+     * @return the IUPAC DNA coded sequence.
+     */
+    default byte[] asAsciiBytes() {
         byte[] val = new byte[length()];
         for (int i = 0; i < length(); i++) {
             val[i] = byteAt(i);
         }
-        return new String(val, US_ASCII);
+        return val;
     }
-
     /**
      * Test if a String contains only known IUPAC codes
      *