wyeast 1187 ringwood

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peteturbo
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wyeast 1187 ringwood

Post by peteturbo » Fri Feb 08, 2019 11:42 pm

So,
brewing an AG 49er with wyeast smackpack 1187. saw some posts saying it was a bit of a pain on start up, but many people rave about it.
Got it out of fridge 2 hours before pitching since didnt realise the probs. kept it down my trousers for 30 mins to body temp. smacked. 1.5hrs at 22 degrees. pitched. says can pitch from smack, some posts say 48hrs for yeast to start multiplying.
aerated wort for 40 mins.
So, , 36 hours to start of decent kreusen. wtf?
Not impressed, it had better have some amazing virtues to justify this. and i am expecting to rest it a long time and expect problematical ferments.

Rhodesy
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Re: wyeast 1187 ringwood

Post by Rhodesy » Sat Feb 09, 2019 12:09 am

How old was it? The pack will claim 100bn cells but that is from day 1. How did you aerate? I follow the o2 process here
I always use a starter with liquid yeast, an exception would maybe be with a very fresh Imperial Yeast pack if it is less than 2 weeks old and an Ale I am brewing but otherwise a starter is a must

Kudos for warming it up down your lower region though :)

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HTH1975
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Re: wyeast 1187 ringwood

Post by HTH1975 » Sat Feb 09, 2019 8:43 am

I’ve used Ringwood a number of times and really like it. It does occasionally stall at 1.020, but if you ramp up the temperature to the top end of the fermentation range you can easily avoid this. If you read fermentation processes from old brewery records, its not uncommon for yeast to require rousing towards the end of fermentation. This is also worth doing with Ringwood imo. It’s a great yeast though - you just need to be aware of its characteristics.

peteturbo
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Re: wyeast 1187 ringwood

Post by peteturbo » Sat Feb 09, 2019 10:45 am

Hi,
It was no more than three months old and kept in fridge as specified.
splashed and simple air stone aeration for 40 minutes, so not brimming with o2 but better than normal.
Thanks HTH for saying you really like it, but my question all the way through is WHY????
its a pig to start, it stalls and it needs rousing.
it must taste fantastic?????? so much better than any other yeast?
P

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HTH1975
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Re: wyeast 1187 ringwood

Post by HTH1975 » Sun Feb 10, 2019 8:01 am

peteturbo wrote:
Sat Feb 09, 2019 10:45 am
Hi,
It was no more than three months old and kept in fridge as specified.
splashed and simple air stone aeration for 40 minutes, so not brimming with o2 but better than normal.
Thanks HTH for saying you really like it, but my question all the way through is WHY????
its a pig to start, it stalls and it needs rousing.
it must taste fantastic?????? so much better than any other yeast?
P
Three months is quite old. Even fresh, there isn’t really quite the number of cells required for anything but a weak beer (imo). Always make a starter with liquid yeast, or buy two packs.

peteturbo
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Re: wyeast 1187 ringwood

Post by peteturbo » Sun Feb 10, 2019 11:04 am

Well, day 2- good krausen finally (normally i achieve good krausen on day 1), day 3 good krausen. Day 4 (today), Krausen a bit thin; roused; very lumpy.
sg around 1.020 maybe 1.025 a bit higher than expected, maybe i am being impatient.

what am i expecting? 3-5 day main ferment, 3-5 day to fully attenuated, 2 to 4 day rest, 2 to 3 day cold crash, then keg. so within tolerance so far, just worried about the over-flocculation and rousing.

Rousing etc just seems an extra path to infection and oxidation.
Temp constant 20 degrees.

HTH - two packs at £7 each?
High temp ferment always worries me - what temp do you mean is high?

peteturbo
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Re: wyeast 1187 ringwood

Post by peteturbo » Tue Feb 12, 2019 12:53 pm

Turned temp up yesterday to 24 degs but control doesnt seem to respond - still at 20. Today sg is at 1.012 and small bubbles / krausen on top. i used shed loads of silicon anti foam during oxygenation, dont know if that does anything.
Rousing each day - big lumps.
Bought a bottle of 49er yesterday for tatse coparison.

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Re: wyeast 1187 ringwood

Post by peteturbo » Thu Feb 21, 2019 8:26 pm

Sooooooooooooo
Fermentation worked ok. 14 Feb it had a good fg of less than 1.01. Left to have clear itself and late 16th cold crashed it.
18/02 evening, looked clear enough so dropped into corney with a few tbs of sugar to prime.
Now tasting 21/2, and just not impressed. Tastes more like a Boddingtons can than anything else. Good, clean, decent taste with proper afternotes, but nothign special. not remotely crystal clear, like most of my beers. nothing to indicate the brewer screwed up (thats my story and i'm sticking to it)
I mean, like ok, but Boddingtons? Not clear? Difficult start?
What is there to recommend about this yeast?
Presently playing with cake and may repitch cake.
P

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charliemartin
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Re: wyeast 1187 ringwood

Post by charliemartin » Sat Feb 23, 2019 9:11 am

Can I ask why you are priming in a corny keg? If you are relying on the priming sugar to carb the beer 3 days is not very long. I usually bottle and although I start drinking them after a week they don't taste anywhere near as good as they do after 3 to 4 weeks. Patience is the key.

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peteturbo
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Re: wyeast 1187 ringwood

Post by peteturbo » Sun Feb 24, 2019 11:29 pm

Charlie,
You are absolutely right. I dont have the patience for real ale priming in kegs. Aaargh.
But this reflects on me being impatient, not the yeast.
Now, I am drinking a pint. It is clean, good, tasty, but cloudy as hell (not clear). Its fruity and nice.
Oh, i put a part of the cake under a microscope with my biomed student boy - very interesting - massive lumps (flocculation) and little in between. the lumps had HUGE populations of healthy yeast.
P

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john luc
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Re: wyeast 1187 ringwood

Post by john luc » Thu May 16, 2019 8:36 am

I recall this yeast from it's use in a brewery in Dublin back in the 80's. It was a bitch to work with. 1039 SG beer where you pitched then connected a pump to continue spraying wort back on the top to rouse for 24 hours. Then after that the beer needed a daily rouse with a paddle. Lazy yeast it was. It should just be let die out and go to that yeast retirement home for fooking crappy yeasts :roll:
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Kev888
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Re: wyeast 1187 ringwood

Post by Kev888 » Thu May 16, 2019 9:21 am

Yes, it can certainly be slow to start and under-pitching will only make that worse, which IMO is likely the key to the 'why' asked above - with a single 3-month old pack and no starter, then evidenced by the long lag time. A starter that was already quite active at pitching would be preferable.

From what I recall the character of this one is in the method as much as in the yeast; temperature profile and rousing and so on, rater than pitch and forget. Though TBH it hasn't exactly been one of my favourites so I can't really help with specifics. I don't remember it being greatly cloudy though, so maybe it wasn't too happy here, unless something else caused that.
Kev

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Re: wyeast 1187 ringwood

Post by McMullan » Fri Mar 20, 2020 11:21 pm

john luc wrote:
Thu May 16, 2019 8:36 am
I recall this yeast from it's use in a brewery in Dublin back in the 80's. It was a bitch to work with. 1039 SG beer where you pitched then connected a pump to continue spraying wort back on the top to rouse for 24 hours. Then after that the beer needed a daily rouse with a paddle. Lazy yeast it was. It should just be let die out and go to that yeast retirement home for fooking crappy yeasts :roll:
Sounds like a classic case of under pitching to me. In my experience, 1187 is a great strain, especially for home brewers. I'd guess a lot of the criticism stems from it being under pitched, perhaps without making a starter. Or one not big enough. Top crop and repitch directly into a fresh batch of sweet wort and it'll work like a charm. And it's indistinguishable from what was Ringwood Brewery several years back. I'd recommend recirculating the fermenting wort during fermentation or pitching over generously and leaving the FV open. There's a very good reason why it's (or at least was) one of the most widely used ale strains in the world.

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mozza
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Re: wyeast 1187 ringwood

Post by mozza » Sat Mar 21, 2020 8:37 pm

My favourite strain for anything English. Such a complex yeast.
Cheers and gone,

Mozza

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Re: wyeast 1187 ringwood

Post by McMullan » Sun Mar 22, 2020 4:16 pm

mozza wrote:
Sat Mar 21, 2020 8:37 pm
My favourite strain for anything English. Such a complex yeast.
It's definitely one of my favourites. Always seem to go back to it after not using it for a while.

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