WLP026 is ugly.
 

Picked up a vial as a replacement for something I cant remember, and I've got it on the stir-plate for this weekend's batch. Man is this stuff ugly.

Such a strong distinct flocculation, it looks more like break material than yeast..

Ah, the distinctive look of the English strains!\

I've not used that yeast, but look forward to your impressions. My two favorite English strains are 1469: West Yorkshire and 1275: Thames Valley.

Yeah, IIRC I was looking for a special english (maybe a Wyeast?) and Ed was out so we swapped for the WLP026..
It was one big clump in the bottle of the vial, and I had to shake that thing for a good 5 minutes to break it into something "pourable".

Here's a shot of the clumpy-clumps in semi-suspensionish stirring.



...and a surprise guest star.

Here's how White Labs describes it:

From Staffordshire, England. Fermentation gives a mild, but complex, estery character. Ferments strong and dry. Good for high gravity beers. Best for all English style ales, including bitters, milds, ESBs, porters, stouts, and barley wines.

I have a house ESB that I've gotten great comments about, and it's typically pitched with S-04. This time I want to see if this strain would add a little more Special to the extra special..

I'll let you know how it turns out.

Even clumpier today. If I didn't know better I would be scared to pour this into a batch..

I have Used White Labs Alot 98% of my Brews i use White Labs.. Some are ok and Some Look like you dont wanna put them in your Beer..

Well I'm glad I put this one in. Had a hell of a time "suspending" it to pitch. It was just a big clumpy mess, but it went in regardless..

4 hour lag-time, and she's goin crazy this morning.

Any news on this one? Would like to hear about this yeast strain...

Well, when White Labs says "Ferments strong and dry" they really mean it. 89.1% Attenuation! :rockin:

This thing took off like a rocket. I left it in primary a week longer than I intended (pipeline issues), but this thing finished in about 6 days. It went from 1.058 to 1.006!
Typically, my ESB is around 1.016, so I was surprised how dry it turned out.
Also, I have never seen a more compact, clumped up cake. I'm going to try and wash some to make this a regular addition, but I may try and boost my next batch with some MD just to keep a little body..

I've got an english pub ale that I pitched the WLP026 into about a week and a half ago, going to keg in another week or so and I'll post the gravities.