Yeast Trial

[barney]

Planning on doing a yeast trial tomorrow. I am going to hold back 16ltr of wort from my brew day and test four different ALE yeasts.

WLP002
WLP007
WLP022
WLP041

These were all old out of date vials sold on at reduced rates, will hopefully enable me to get decent sized starters from them. The main 40ltr batch of the beer will be fermented with WLP515.

Pics to follow.

[barney]

Mash target 65, set the rollers on the mill to .61mm and got a fine crush. I expected problems when I saw the mash and was not disappointed.

Roast Wheat gave a glorious colour on the first recirculation.

Pushed the kit to the limit, trying for my usual 40ltr plus samples.

Cleaning and sanitising the Demi johns, been in the loft for 12 years.

Yeasts ready to go.

Done and dusted.


T+1 hr, no signs of activity yet.

[barney]

Not much activity from the airlocks, the odd bubble from WLP007, only to be expected as this was a fresh yeast sample, albeit a lesser quantity, only one week old.

[barney]

T+16hrs

WLP002/April 2012 = Not started yet
WLP007/1 week old rinse = Took a good hold, Krausen beginning to form
WLP022/June 2012 = Odd bubble apparent
WLP041/May 2012 = Odd bubble apparent

[orlando]

Following this with great interest, would like to do this myself one day. Please keep up regular updates, particularly with pics, temperatures, gravity readings, even smells if you can be bothered.

[Wolfy]

The last picture in the OP.
Is that break material settled to the bottom of the flasks, or is it significantly large portion of yeast added to small containers?

[barney]

Cold break Wolfy, from the plate chiller.

[seymour]

Following this with great interest, would like to do this myself one day. Please keep up regular updates, particularly with pics, temperatures, gravity readings, even smells if you can be bothered.

Me too, especially the WLP022 and WLP041, neither of which I've yet used. Bear in mind, too, that Chris White of White Labs says their labratory-propogated yeasts don't typically hit their full potential as brewery yeasts until the third generation/reuse. So don't despair if your early results are underwhelming, you may want to step-up this experiment a couple times...

A main question I think this experiment will answer is to compare and contrast WLP007 (the Whitbread-dry strain from East London) and WLP022 (the now-defunct Ridley's strain from Chelmsford.) Both are classic English ale strains, drier than most, but I'd love to learn which characteristics might differentiate them from each other.

Nice work, keep it up!

[barney]

T+24

Ambient temperature as shown.

WLP002/April 2012 = Sporadic bubble, no aroma apart from lovely wort

WLP007/1 week old rinse = Took a good hold. Loose foamy Krausen. Aroma I would describe as understated - malt based, bready.

WLP022/June 2012 = Ferment well underway. Tight creamy Krausen. Aroma very pronounced - fruity esters apple and plum.

WLP041/May 2012 = Ferment well underway. Tight creamy Krausen. Aroma very pronounced - fruity esters strawberry and plum.

At this stage I would have 022 and 041 as related. both very nice aroma, moreish, the kind that you keep going back too for another sniff. Glad you mentioned aroma Orlando.

[barney]

Quick Update T=60. WLP002 has just got going.

Full update later @T=72 hrs

[seymour]

Just curious, did you happen to record your OG?
I know denser worts place extra stress on yeast, particularly unhealthy populations or low cell counts, which could help explain the long lag times. If I recall correctly, yeast starter best-practice is 1.020-1.030, right? That would produce a really weak drinking beer, though.

[barney]

Hello Seymour, wort OG was 1051, mostly the yeasts have done better than I expected the wlp002 is the oldest of the lot and is months out of date.

WLP022 and WLP041 are both fantastic top croppers the yeast head on those two are very thick the WLP041 is particularly thick.

[barney]

WLP007 & WLP022 have more or less dropped out, I will check the gravity of those two tonight see where they are at.

Its turned out very Interesting doing a side by side comparison, In future I will be trying to maximise ester production in the first 24hrs of fermentation by elevating the temperature before cooling to fermentation temperature, providing its the esters I am looking for of course.

[barney]

T=96 hrs

WLP 022 SG1.004, cant believe the attenuation on this. No crystals in the grain bill so that may have something to do with it. Super bready/malt aroma (stillnot clear mind), fruity and dry on the palate, picked out the bitterness gently and touches the minerals nicely.
It coped with the ambient temperature very well, with NO discernible off aroma or flavours. I could easily get used to this one, LOVE IT.

WLP 007 SG 1.008, Still bubbling this through the tube although the krausen has dropped, giving me concerns about the refractometer readings. The aroma is bready (still cloudy), flavour is dry and and slightly spicy , seems to have picked out the Saaz a bit better but could just be tasting the yeast.

WLP002 nice creamy barm, elastic with large bubbles smells a bit rubbery.

WLP041 Fantastic thick krausen, would love to be getting the spoon stuck into that lot, super quantity of yeast there.

[seymour]

WLP 022...I could easily get used to this one, LOVE IT.

White Labs WLP022 "Essex Ale" is the Ridley's Ale strain, now defunct but still used by Crouch Vale and Wibblers. Have you tasted any of those beers, and if so, how would you say yours compares?