In another topic thread, Denny mentioned that Wyeast 1007 (Alt yeast) might be a good strain for IPAs. I was wondering why he - and others - might believe this. I’m all about making my favorite beers better.
I don’t know if I’d say it was really better than anything else, but it works great…it’s “as good as”! It’s a nice clean yeast, which is what I look for in an APA/AIPA recipe.
Denny… thanks for your input. I ordered the Wyeast 1007 - on it’s way from Williams as we write. My recent IPA’s have been somewhat solvent-like. I don’t know if the temps were too high (my belief as the ambient temps were around 70), or if I took the beer off the yeast too soon (although the final gravities were hit)… or some other reason. I figured the lower temperature yeast would make a cleaner IPA taste. I’ll just have to adjust my outside porch to maintain a 55 - 60 temperature range to accommodate the Wyeast 1007.
Yeow! 70 ambient is too high for any ale, AFAIAC! If you can get it down into the low 60s it would be much better, and it works great down to 52F.
Denny… that’s what they tell me :-. I’m going to make sure the temperature of the fermenting beers rises no more than the low 60’s. My outside porch stays right around 60.
On a side note, the subscription to AHA has been well worth it given all the great advice I’ve been getting on this forum. I live in Seoul, South Korea and there’s not much brewing “expertise” here. When I have the time, I read my small library of beer books and talk to our little group of homebrewers here (Homebrewkorea.com). I (very) occassionally miss some of the big brewing points though… like the ambient room temperature one. But having the passion is motivation enough to strive to do better and this site is very enlightening.
Wow, brewing in Korea has got to be challenging! I’m glad we’ve been able to provide help and some chat with other brewers.
It’s much more challenging to brew in Korea for those who have no base access. I can receive mail from the US through the military mail system. Those who live on the local economy are subject to international shipping rates. The Korean government taxes imported barley by 270% by the way. So I avoid that tax also. The South Korean beer market is insanely putrid. I keep hoping they figure it out… like the Japanese have done over the last 10 years or so. I met a masterbrewer from the OB Brewing Company a few weeks ago - he’s been retired for a while though. We got to talking about India Pale Ales. I could see he hadn’t a clue about the hopping rates that go into making an IPA. Further, I know a Korean guy who owns a small 7-bbl brewery. I tried to help him make an IPA. Unfortunately I was sick the day they brewed that recipe and they ended up short-changing the beer of almost all the hops. They had no concept of how we use hops in our IPA’s. The beer is now called a Golden Ale for the local American-style brewpub that just opened here. The locals think this beer is exotic… haha. The brewer (Ka-Brew) is planning on making a real IPA soon… with pounds of hops this time! I hope I can help him make it… along with some of us other homebrewers here. I really want to help Korea develop a beer culture before I leave!!! ;D
Good on ya, man, and good luck!
Grow your own hops? You’re around the 37 th parallel, right? In a few years, then y’all can brew all the IPA’s you want.
The thing about WY1007 is that it tends to take longer to ferment and clear than, say, WY1056 (or WLP001). Makes a decent IPA, but I wouldn’t say it makes a “better” IPA than an American Strain. I’m in the opposite position. I would love to use WY1007 for my alt in my brewery but I’m hesitant to switch from WLP001 for my IPA because of the turn around time on WY1007. I can get WLP001 to clear up much faster and it makes a pretty darn good Alt, so thats what I use for now (and I don’t want to have to deal with another “similar” strain.)
In your position, Keith, that makes perfect sense.
I’m with majorvices! It makes a decent IPA, but is waaaaay slow in dropping out. I’d certainly use it in a pinch, but if time’s available then I’d prop-up another strain. My strain of choice for American IPA’s is WY1272-American II or WY1028-London Ale for an English version… 
Just wondering if the slow flocculation of the 1007 is part of the reason that it does a good job of cleaning up after itself when used in the traditional altbier lagering method. tanstaafl.
That is pretty much what they say in “Yeast” for highly flocculant yeast vs. powdery yeast and the amount of diacetyl.