Wyeast Fat Tire Ale Yeast

**SenorWanderer** · 10-28-2007, 07:10 AM

has anyone used this yet? i made a 1000ml starter with this yeast a few days ago, and just bumped it up to 2000ml because i plan on freezing this strain given it's limited availability. the beer i decanted off the yeast cake had a strange flavor. not really bad, just weird. it smelled ok. the wort for the starter was made from rahr 2-row. i went ahead and pitched it, so we'll see. if anyone has relevant experience let me know what you think.

thanks

**Dude** · 10-28-2007, 07:42 AM

I bought one of these from NB and haven't used it yet--but will. Let us know what you find out regarding your finished product.

**SenorWanderer** · 10-28-2007, 12:12 PM

i will certainly let you know, the fat tire is next on my list. if you're a fan of NBB beers, i'll be posting my Sunshine Wheat clone recipe soon, just need to taste this latest batch.

any suggestions for the fat tire recipe? i'm going to follow the BYO recipe here, but that recipe calls for .5 lb of chocolate in the grain bill!? entering the recipe in beersmith without the chocolate makes it look right color-wise, but it's short the gravity by about 5 points. i'm wondering if the chocolate is a typo. i've also peaked at a few other recipes in a couple of those clone books, and you'd be surprised at how different they are. i suppose being as geeky as i am i'll eventually get around to brewing all of them to compare.

FlyGuy · 10-28-2007, 03:07 PM

I haven't used it yet, but I wouldn't worry about the smell. Yeast starters can often smell a bit odd, yet be perfectly fine to use. Have you tried tasting some of the fermented beer yet? I find that is a better test (if there is something wrong with the starter, you are likely to pick it up when you taste it).

Another question, has anyone see the specs on this yeast yet, like its preferred fermentation temperature range, or its expected level of attenuation? It doesn't appear to be on the label or the Wyeast website????

**SenorWanderer** · 10-28-2007, 08:53 PM

it was the taste that i was concerned about, not the smell. now that i've been thinking about it the taste resembles a unique odor in the smack pack when i opened it. the 2000ml starter is raging right now, so who knows.

as for the data, i emailed wyeast about a month ago for that info and never got a reply. i think i'll take the initiative and email new belgium, they're really good at replying to emails.

given that the brewery is an hour away, shouldn't i just take my starter up there and make pete bouckaert taste it!!!

FlyGuy · 10-29-2007, 03:53 AM

Sorry -- I could have sworn you said smell. My bad.

If you do get a response, I would sure appreciate it if you post it here. I was going to do up a batch soon, but have no idea how to treat this yeast! I'll try emailing Wyeast again, too.

Cheers!

mrkristofo · 10-29-2007, 04:06 AM

I have a batch of Yooper's Fat Tire clone with that yeast in the primary right now. Fermentation was down right violent. A 5.5gal batch in a 6.5gal fermenter almost reached blowoff. I did notice that the smell was quite sour during fermentation though. Maybe that's what you're referring to? The taste of the beer was nearly spot on to fat tire though: no off flavors there.

Kubed · 10-29-2007, 04:30 AM

Question: does Wyeast put out a line of yeast strains from commercial breweries for home brewers? I was looking on their website and I didn't see anything about fat tire yeast. I'd love to use some genuine magic hat yeast in my next #9 clone.

Cheesefood · 10-29-2007, 12:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kubed

Question: does Wyeast put out a line of yeast strains from commercial breweries for home brewers? I was looking on their website and I didn't see anything about fat tire yeast. I'd love to use some genuine magic hat yeast in my next #9 clone.

You need to look at the VSS - Very Special Strains. Since they've started these, they sometimes do a commercial brewer (Rogue, Flying Dog, NBB) or style (Belgians, Gluten Free). They release a few VSS's every few months and it's been only one commercial at a time.

camiller · 10-29-2007, 03:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cheesefood

You need to look at the VSS - Very Special Strains. Since they've started these, they sometimes do a commercial brewer (Rogue, Flying Dog, NBB) or style (Belgians, Gluten Free). They release a few VSS's every few months and it's been only one commercial at a time.

Here is a direct link. http://www.wyeastlab.com/vssprogram.cfm?website=2

Quote:

Originally Posted by http://www.wyeastlab.com/vssprogram.cfm?website=2

Therefore, we present the VSS Program- Very Special StrainsTM- featuring strains from our archives, new strains as we obtain them, and even occasionally Proprietary Strains from our craft brewery partners such as Rogue Ales PacmanTM Ale yeast and Flying Dog Ale yeast. We feature 3 strains in each VSS promotion and each promotion runs for 3 months.