3068 Weihenstephan Weizen Yeast

[delboy]

Was wonderin if anyone on the forum had any experience of this strain from wyeast.
I was going to do one of jim's starters with 2L on a stir plate and then split it into three (I can't imagine doing 6 batches of this in several months, unless its seriously good and i become an alcoholic ).

Couple of questions using jim's starter method can i brew straight away with 1/3 of the starter or do i need to put it into a fresh 1L of wort to get the cell count up even more before pitching (like you would with ones that have gone to sleep in the fridge).

Also i've read that the aeration and pitching rate of this yeast makes a big difference to the flavour profile.
Whats a typical amount to pitch with this yeast ie will a third of a 2L starter leave it very estery because of underpitching or leave it too clean because of overpitching.

Any thoughts?

[oblivious]

I have an order for white labs wl300, which is supposed to be good

[delboy]

Yeah i was talking to mysterio about this, apparently wlp300 and wyeast 3068 are the same strain. Having said that im sure there will be subtle changes as the two cultures will have picked up a few different mutations along the way, i'd be interested to hear from you as well as from mysterio what you thought of the yeast.

[deadlydes]

i have used WLP300 a few times and thought it was great.
at the higher end of the ferment range you get really good bannana at the lower end you get clove. good stuff

[UserDeleted]

Use a very large fermenter or hire a rug Doctor:) , Don't try to put a 5 gallon brew in a 5 gallon bucket, the amount of yeast that escapes is quite unbelieveable, and it takes forever to get out of the carpet. Don't ask, you really don't want to know.

If you are going to the truouble of using the genuine yeast pitch the way the Germans do and use the 30 Rule, that is Pitching temperature + final Temperature = 30, eg Pitch at 12C and allow the ferment to rise to 18C over the week or so. You get a very balanced ester profile that way.

Of course pitching so cool requires lots of O2 and a big starter. A third of a 2L starter is nowhere near overpitching! I would say that a 2L starter is the minimum . . . Of course then you have to clean it out of the carpet

[delboy]

Interesting stuff UD, i have a 10 gallon fermentor so i'll probably put it to use when my golden ale is finished, I like the thing about the 12C start rising to normal temp over a week.

In reality though while i could probably get the wort down to 12C with the IC for pitching there is no way i could control the slow increase to 18C over the course of a week, it'd probably hit that temp in my 'cold room' (under the stairs ) in a day.
If i was just going for the standard pitch at 18C and ferment at 18C do you think a 1/3 of a 2L starter would be really underpitching.

If needs be i can take that third and top it up to 2L again with fresh wort and stick it back on the stir plate (which is great for get the cell count up, the yeast look like they are doing nothing but when you turn it off and let them settle they multiply better than the winner of a fields medal )

[mysterio]

If you are going to the truouble of using the genuine yeast pitch the way the Germans do and use the 30 Rule, that is Pitching temperature + final Temperature = 30, eg Pitch at 12C and allow the ferment to rise to 18C over the week or so. You get a very balanced ester profile that way.

This technique works very well. If you pitch a litre or two of stir-plated starter and follow this temperature scheme you'll end up with a great beer. Where did you get your stir plate by the way?

[oblivious]

Of course pitching so cool requires lots of O2 and a big starter. A third of a 2L starter is nowhere near overpitching! I would say that a 2L starter is the minimum . . . Of course then you have to clean it out of the carpet

mr malty recommend a 2.1L starter

[mysterio]

Delboy is using a stirred starter though which increases the yeast cell count significantly, you can change the starter type on the pitching rate calculator.

[oblivious]

I did not see the plate, which will knock it down a bit. I must see if there is one that getting old in the lab and need an up grade!

[delboy]

I have borrowed one from the lab, its an old one that was never used so i thought i'd put it to some use, one of the advantages of being a scientist, of course the down sides are short term contracts , im going to have to return it to its rightful place in a few months time.

Mysteio or UD would it be worth chilling the wort to 12C and pitching with a large amount of yeast considering i won't be able to control the temperature increase beyond sticking a sleep bag over it to insulate and that it will equilerbrate with the ambient air temp (18C in a relatively short time, certainly much less than a week).

In other words is it worth the effort??

[oblivious]

Just got my hop and grape order, stored the white labs WLP300, WLP530 in the lab fridge and got some strange looks!

[UserDeleted]

In other words is it worth the effort??

Probably not to be honest, its the slow increase in temperature which keeps the yeast in the 'lag' (*) phase, and thereby producing more of the lovely esters ect. It probably is worth pitching cold though.

As you are pitching a stirred starter, then I would go with 1.5L and use the other 1/2 litre to 'stretch' the yeast over a couple more batches.


(*) Thats not strictly true but close enough

[delboy]

what about 'adaptive' phase .
Thanks for the advice