I brewed up a pale ale recipe about 10 days ago. Fermented with WLP060 for 5 gal and cry havoc strain for the other 5 gal. The WLP 060 was kept at 66F for 24hrs then 68 for 5 days and raised to 72 to finish out. It attenuated well, going from 1.055 to 1.013 over ten days. I took the gravity reading yesterday and it tastes strongly of sulfur, muddled hop flavor, and all around a little dull. The yeast was a second generation, originally harvested and washed after a Kolsch recipe. I harvested it about 2 weeks after brewing the Kolsch and used it within 5 days for the pale ale, using a small starter to get it going. The WLP060 I understand is a blend that may contain a lager strain. I assume that’s where the sulfur comes from. Is this expected? Is it possible the ratios of the yeast blend significantly tipped to the lager strain for the second generation pitch? How can I get rid of the sulfur flavor/aroma? Should I leave it on the yeast longer? What about temp? Never had this problem before and I’m hoping it’ll clean up. I haven’t tried the cry havoc batch yet so hopefully that’ll be different. It’s been fermenting at 62F and seems about done. Haven’t tried the Kolsch either as it is cold conditioning. Thanks
I have no experience with WLP060 (or Cry Havoc for that matter) but do have a lot of experience with tons of other yeasts. Sulfur is extremely common and rarely a problem because it just needs time to dissipate out. If you have sulfur at 10 days, it means nothing. I doubt you will have any after 30 or 40 days. Just leave it alone until the sulfur disappears on its own. Don’t rack it, don’t fiddle with it, don’t cool it down. Just let the sulfur exit on its own while the yeast eat it or absorb it or finish fermenting on their own too. Patience is all you need.
Cry Havoc is a lager yeast, it could also be a sulfur bomb.
I agree with dmtaylor, let it do its thing, without help or adjustments. It will clean itself up.