I’ve got an ale fermenting right now with US05. The krausen has been steady for 11 days now, usually it starts dropping at day 4-5 for me. Another buddy in my brew club experienced this as well with a recent brew. Anyone else seeing this and/or thoughts on why the krausen would be so thick for an unusual amount of time?
Similar experience for my last beer with us05. Also took forever to drop out of suspension.
Long lasting krausen is typical when I use US-05. Will have clear beer with three weeks in the primary.
Same. I’ll use it occasionally in a pinch, but I’m not fond of how long it takes to clear vs 1056.
IME, 1st generation US-05 can be slow to finish when I ferment very cool (under ~62F). Second generation US-05 is faster, more reliable, and more flocculant, IME - even when it is a month-old unwashed pitch stored in a sanitized mason jar in the fridge.
BRY-97 takes FOREVER to start and to finish, FWIW, even later generations of it. And it practically doesn’t work at all when I try to ferment cooler than 62º F, IME. When I am in a hurry, I go with an English yeast and ferment in the low 60’s, then ramp up to ambient when it hits high krausen.
Do people get similar results using WLP001 and WY1056?
I have no issues with 1056 or 001. Big foamy krausen and some blow-off but krausen falls in about a week.
BTW, I just had a very slow fermentation from a pack of US-05. For one thing, I did underpitch somewhat - this was a 1.064 beer (6% dextrose) and I used a single pack. Fermentation was very slow at 58º F (ambient was 52º F), then I brought it up to 72º F (ambient was 66º F) after three days of slow chugging. It took 3 more days at 72º F to finish. In my experience, this beer would have typically been a powerhouse at 58º and would have finished in a day at 72º after 3 days at that temp. I noticed the “use by” date was January 2017. So maybe the stuff just isn’t great when it nears its expiration date.
58°f is a very low fermentation temperature for US-05. US-05 and WY 1056 also seem to produce a noticeable peach flavor in some beer styles below 65°F.
Can’t say that I’ve noticed that with 1056.
I haven’t noticed that either. I do not like 05, only a last resort for me.
Whenever I’ve used US-05, I always find big yeast mats lingering right up until packaging. That and it’s lack of character mean I tend to view it as a yeast of last resort.
Same here. It’s definitely more powdery/slower to clear than 1056. Last resort for me, too .
This has not been the case, in my experience. In the 20+ times I have used first generation US-05, I almost always ferment (or at least begin fermentation) in the high 50’s and have never had a problem or gotten any peachy aroma from this process. I know this is not typical, but I like the character this yeast gives at that temperature more than what I get at 64º F and it usually ferments quite quickly at that temp, too.
In fact, I have only gotten peach from US-05 when fermenting over 72º F. Once I fermented at ambient during a heat wave - ambient was 78º F and the beer tasted like hoppy peach pie - ever since then it has been my experience that beers with that unpleasant cooked-peach ester have been fermented at ambient in 72º+ rooms by new brewers who haven’t learned that “fermentation temperature” isn’t the same as the temperature you see on your thermostat. I have tasted it from US-05, WLP001, and WY1056 and usually from Californians who brewed in the summer.
I get the best results for the styles I brew when the fermenting beer is 66° to 68°F.
I agree on it having a low temp threshold… 1056/05/001 has done just fine for me at 58F. Mark aka S.Cerv posted that it likely has roots as a lager yeast.
I have fermented US-05 at lager temls just as an experiment. I fermented a small batch at 50* with a huge pitch and it dod just fine. It was actually quite lager like too, but still not quite a lager. I dont know if I would donit again, just theiwing it out there after reading the last post.
It has always been reliable for me as a go to Ale yeast but floculation and clarity does seem to vary.
I have heard of others using it at 50F with no issues as well other than it takes a bit longer which is no surprise…
Not a big fan of US-05. My brews never seem to be what I expect.
BV