So a brew buddy of mine has used this yeast a few times and I’ve liked the beers he’s brewed with it. I use S05 quite a bit and I’ve decided to ditch the dry and give this liquid yeast a shot in an IPA.
Other than the temp requirements and pitching, anybody have feedback for me on this yeast? Like it not like it and why? Seemed pretty clean and neutral to me when I tasted it.
My friend says it ferments like crazy and blows out the solution in the airlock on his bigger beers. I’ve not used much from White Labs other than the usual 001, and some Belgian strains in the past. I’m talking 5 years ago.
Be careful when you open it. I used it a few months ago and it exploded all over me and I barely got any into the wort. This was before I did yeast starters.
Personally, I am not a fan of it. But, I know other people that are. To each their own. I generally use WLP001, Wyeast 1272, or WLP007 for my American ales (WLP007 is probably my house yeast).
This is the only yeast I have had stall on me in over 6 years of brewing and it happened twice with 2 different vials in 2 different beers only a couple of weeks apart in beers I have brewed before with great success with WLP001 and WLP007. Even though I made a starter, oxygenated, yeast nutrient, etc., like I always do.
But, it is homebrewing and their is nothing wrong with trying something new and learning. Like I said, others have use it and like the results. But, I will stick with WLP001/007 from now on. Just my $0.02.
OK so many of the White Labs vials have been a hassle to open without spraying everywhere and it’s always a challenge to do it without making a mess. I am familiar with that procedure. My experience has been if it doesn’t want to spray, the yeast is probably not at it’s optimum. Every batch I ever made with their yeast where the vial didn’t give me a nice blast of CO2 while opening it was a slow ferment or was so bad it didn’t fully ferment. Checking dates is a good idea I guess.
Starters…thought about making one. Was trying to decide what to do since I have S05 packets and two vials of this White Labs and I’m brewing ten gallons.
I either need to make two starters using the white labs, or use both vials in one batch and use rehydrated S05 in the other as a comparison for flavor etc. That might be interesting.
Or make a starter with one vial, pitch it with the other vial straight away into one batch, and use S05 in the other batch again for comparison.
Or mix the two yeasts! Put a vial and a rehydrated packet of S05 in each batch.
Just checked and the vials are both dated for Jul 11th 2012…definitely need to make starters with them.
Looking to brew a mid 60’s OG IPA which warrants a bit more pitch than one packet or vial per batch particularly if this stuff is getting a bit old, which has tripped me up in the past.
[quote]Be careful when you open it. I used it a few months ago and it exploded all over me and I barely got any into the wort. This was before I did yeast starters.
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[quote]OK so many of the White Labs vials have been a hassle to open without spraying everywhere and it’s always a challenge to do it without making a mess. I am familiar with that procedure.
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You may already do this, if so apologies.
If you crack the seal and let the air escape before you let it warm up and shake it, no more geysers. Worked like a charm for me.
I’d pitch both batches with different yeasts and see what you think on a side by side comparison. I’ve done this recently with a couple different strains and it has helped me to rule out certain yeast for certain styles and some yeast altogether.
The differences between two batches of the same recipe pitched with different strains can be eye-opening, even if your pitching two similar strains.
Funny how that goes, isn’t it? I used a Wyeast pack once, had a bad experience with it that likely had nothing to do with the quality of the product, yet now I never use anything that doesn’t start with WLP.
[quote]OK so many of the White Labs vials have been a hassle to open without spraying everywhere and it’s always a challenge to do it without making a mess. I am familiar with that procedure.
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You may already do this, if so apologies.
If you crack the seal and let the air escape before you let it warm up and shake it, no more geysers. Worked like a charm for me.
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Just did that five minutes ago. The liquid is fully carbonated like a beer. I let them rest with the caps barely loosened for a minute and they started ejecting the liquid and foaming! They were fresh from the refrigerator and under 40 degrees. I’ve sealed them again and I’m waiting for them to hit room temp before making the starter.
Thanks for the tip. I believe this will help tremendously.
Ok…it did help a LOT. I had to repeatedly vent them. Probably did it every 20 minutes until the starter was done, chilled, and ready to go. Then took a few more vents after shaking and finally no mess!
The San Diego yeast peaked and appears to have already begun a decline after only three days of fermentation. It reached full krausen and was very active for a couple days.
Meanwhile the S05 went crazy and blew out the airlock. I guess I need to check gravities and see where we’re at but I’ll be out of town for almost four days and won’t have a chance to do so until after that.
[quote]Ok…it did help a LOT. I had to repeatedly vent them. Probably did it every 20 minutes until the starter was done, chilled, and ready to go. Then took a few more vents after shaking and finally no mess!
Such a simple stupid practice but helps so much.
Thanks again
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I should have clarified cracking the seal, vent for a few seconds, and repeat but you figured that out anyway. Glad it helped.
A few months ago I had a vial of WLP090 that was just out of date. I made a starter with it. The starter never seemed to take off like other yeast. After it sat for a week in the refrigerator I decanted and pitched an underwhelming (at least to my eye) amount of yeast into a half batch destined for a small corny keg. Then I left town.
When I returned a few days later it didn’t appear that the yeast had every taken off. But it had. The gravity was 1.012. OG had been 1.062. I’ve never seen a yeast ferment that quickly. I pitched some of the cake from that batch into a fairly high gravity IPA. That fermented down to 1.012 as well. The fermentation didn’t appear any more robust than I normally see with WLP001. It did, however, seem to finish more quickly.
Both batches made with WLP090 turned out quite well. I don’t see any real advantage over WLP001. For me fermentation time isn’t a big issue. Hard to know a yeast really well after only using it twice, though. I’ll probably try it again, soon. I just built a chamber that will allow me to control fermentation temps. Most of the beers I made over the two last summers have had issues. It wasn’t the strain of yeast. It was because I wasn’t able to keep fermentation temps down low enough.
I recently brewed 10 gallons of a low gravity red ale (1.043) as an experiment and pitched WLP090 in one bucket and US05 in the other. I made a 2 liter starter for the 090 and used recently harvested US05 slurry. The recipe was very simple with 3 malts and 25 IBU so there wasn’t much place for flaws to hide. Both yeast strains were pitched at 65 degrees and held there for 4 days. The 090 had a vigorous start and was already dropping by day 4 so I let it free rise to finish up after that. I ended up kegging the WLP090 batch after 7 days and carbed and crashed. By day 10 it was clean and drinkable with no esters or off flavors. The US05 batch was lagging quite a bit and even by day 12 it still wasn’t even close to the 090 in clarity or flavor. I believe San Diego Super Yeast does work as advertised. I plan on brewing a pilsner recipe with it next and if the results are the same, I’ll probably make this my house yeast strain. The turnaround is outstanding with, in my opinion, no downside. It’s similar to WLP007 in that respect but I believe it is cleaner, quicker.
If you brew a Pils style with it, please let us know how it turned out!
I’ve considered doing a Pils with ale yeast numerous times but never tried it. I’m sitting on three Oz of Czech Saaz right now too.
I really appreciate the feedback everyone.
Thanks
Steve
Funny how that goes, isn’t it? I used a Wyeast pack once, had a bad experience with it that likely had nothing to do with the quality of the product, yet now I never use anything that doesn’t start with WLP.
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I had a bad experience with some WL830 and have used only Wyeast since. I do however think the smack pack is easier to handle.
