White Labs WLP002 (Bottle Conditioning)

I’m in a situation and getting nervous.  I brewed a Vanilla Porter on Monday the 14th.  The yeast I used was White Labs #WLP002.  This yeast is identified as “High” Flocculation.  In the starter on my stir plate there were small clumps of yeast swirling around as opposed to the milky color we normally see with other yeast.  I pitched the yeast and had a good fermentation.  I reached my target FG Thursday the 17th.  So I racked to the secondary on Sunday the 20th and added my vanilla beans.  So far, all is good.  Yesterday (9 days after pitching) I added the priming sugar and bottled.  The beer tasted amazing and I’m feeling great.

Then I got to the bottom of the secondary fermenter (big mouth bubbler) and there was absolutely NO yeast fallout on the bottom.  I have never used this strain of yeast and I have never seen no yeast on the bottom of the secondary.

My question: will my beer still condition in the bottle?  Has all the yeast dropped out in primary?  I’m getting a little nervous.

I am sure you will be OK.  WLP-002 definitely clumps when you make a starter.  When I first started using the yeast, I was alarmed that something was wrong but soon realized that it was normal for that strain.  I have never had any fermentation problems with this yeast.

Regarding residual yeast in the beer, I would think that there will still be plenty in suspension to bottle condition the beer.  My reasoning for that is that I use this yeast for my ESB.  I cold crash and force carbonate the beer in the keg.  My first glass or two out of the keg is cloudy from the residual yeast that fell out when the beer was crashed which says that there were still some yeasties floating around in the beer when I kegged it.

Unless you sterile filter the beer, even perfectly clear looking beer has yeast in suspension.  It should be plenty to carbonate the beer with the added advantage of less sediment.  (The only possible issue in clear beer would be questionable viability of this yeast if the beer had been lagered for a long time.) Just keep it on the warm side to get it started.

Well okay then!  It sounds like I was freakin out for no reason.  Thanks for your help!

002 is notorious for its “Cottage Cheese” appearance.
Don’t worry about it in the slightest.  I’d be more curious if the OPPOSITE was happening with this strain.