Wlp006 Bedford British review
 

I have used this for 3 beers now and just wanted to give some observations, other please post yours.

Ferments fast, krausen drops within 3 days usually. I warm it up and give it some more time to clean up. Drops pretty clear, takes some time to mature, a couple weeks.

Does not attenuate very low.
1.052 beer went to 1.020 mashed at 154
1.068 beer went to 1.017 mashed at 148 for hour and a half

Distinctive ester profile is pleasant, haven't tried to label it. Would be good for traditional english styles. I used it a brown ale and 2 ipas and want something else for these styles.

I use this yeast A LOT and I've been pretty vocal about why I like it so much. In my opinion, it is *the* best yeast out there for English bitters and it does well with both malty and hoppy styles. I mostly agree with your overall assessment, except that I get consistent 75-85% attenuation with this yeast. Regardless of where my starting gravity is, it will almost always end up at 1.008-1.012. Only exception has been with successive re-pitcing without a starter. One thing this yeast does need, is a large pitch rate and plenty of oxygen. I ferment it right around 65F.

As for the flavor, I like to think this yeast is somewhat of a mix of wy1968 with the rich esters and wy1098, where it ferments out clean and lets the hops/malt shine. Or like a more characterful wy1768 (youngs).

If I have one complaint about this yeast, it is that it hasn't made the best dark beers for me. Other than that, I'd say it is among the best yeasts out there. Oh, and I'll actually be brewing a special bitter with this yeast tomorrow. :)

Do you use o2 or just shake your fermenter? I have been thinking of getting a stone and regulator to oxygenate but haven't done it yet.

I have a vile of 006 that I was going to use tomorrow night. Can I ferment it in a carboy or do you recommend an open ferment with it? What kind of krausen does it throw up? You recommend a large pitch, if the wort is in the 1.040 range, can I get away without a starter?

yeah with that low of a gravity a vile should be good if it is not real old. Mr malty says 1.5 vials, if u have time do a starter if not I would just pitch it.

I use pure o2 and a stone, although you can get away with a vigorous shake if the gravity is low. As for a yeast starter, I would recommend making one even for low gravity to ensure a quick start and fast flocculation. Only problems I've had with this yeast is when I didn't make a starter... the beer took forever to get going and it was slow to flocculate. Not worth the risk.

This yeast doesn't throw much of a krausen and is not the best top cropper, fermenting in a carboy should be completely fine. I haven't done a proper open ferment with this yeast yet and I probably wont. Works great in tight spaces. Good luck with the beer, hope the yeast works out for ya.

Cool, ill try pitching a little more and using o2. If that brings the FG down I will like this yeast even more.

what problems have you had with dark beers? One of the beers I plan on repitching to is historic pale/brown/black porter.

Not really problems, I just wasn't that impressed with the flavor profile compared to a few other yeasts I typically use in my porters. It will make a rather clean and neutral dark beer... if that's what you want, it does a good job. Also, one batch that I pitched the yeast from slurry, under attenuated (1.060-1.016). Looking around the web, it seems this has been a problem for some other people when repitching.

I'm using this yeast now, re pitching from a yeast cake harvested from an Ordinary Bitter - OG 1.040 FG 1.012 ABV 3.7% I oxygenated with a stone and used a starter I had pitched the morning of the brew. It had a nice krausen but nothing crazy, but at 65 degrees finished up and dropped clear in 6 days or less. I still leave it in there for 10 days for the little bit of yeast that is left to clean up. When the bitter came out of the fermenter it had a really funky smell from the yeast. My wife said it smelled like feet or dirty socks, along with "that's all you", lol, but I could tell it was going to be nice. We bottled it at around 1.5 volumes, conditioned for 2 weeks and now they have been in the refrigerator for a few days. The last of the yeast has almost completely dropped out, the funky smell is all but gone, and the beer is amazing. Very fruity, nice dry finish, and my wife was blown away when I had her try it and then told her what it was. She absolutely loves it and so do I. The flavors this yeast puts off are so outstanding and unique, so different from WLP002.
I re pitched into a Newcastle type Northern English Brown Ale, and I will keg that next week. Hopefully it will turn out just as good! :mug: