WLP090 San Diego Super Yeast

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m00se said:
I'm at the 5 day mark on a 1.072 DIPA using WLP090 and down to 1.028. I stepped up a small vial that I saved from a previous starter I made. Fermented between 62-65F. There's still krausen on top. I shook to aerate and was under the impression I used the appropriate amount of cells of 090. I'm scratching my head. Wait it out? Pitch more yeast?
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My experience with that yeast (dozens of batches) is that at 65-68 (recommended range) it ferments fast and clean. At 64 the pace drops off considerably, and at 63 it just about goes to sleep. Try heating it up and swirling the carboy/bucket a bit. I've had krausen linger at the top of the beer for weeks on end with that strain, though not every time, so I wouldn't read into that so much. But at this point, don't be afraid to ratchet up the temp to 69-70 and swirl the carboy/bucket. You didn't say what temp you mashed at or if there's any simple sugars/how much crystal...but all those things play into it as well. This yeast strain is a beast in it's range, but it's S.L.O.W. if you go below 65 degrees.

Edit: reading back I can't help but notice how many people say they're fermenting this yeast below 65. This is just one brewers experience (this post) but I can confidently say I've used it in at least 30 batches, so my experience is considerable even if it doesn't seem to match that of others for some reason.
 
Thanks. Mashed at 148F. 5% Sucrose, 5% Carapils, rest was 2-row, german pils, and munich. Hopefully I can heat carboy up. Maybe heating pad until I get the heating element squared away in the ferm chamber.
 
m00se said:
Thanks. Mashed at 148F. 5% Sucrose, 5% Carapils, rest was 2-row, german pils, and munich. Hopefully I can heat carboy up. Maybe heating pad until I get the heating element squared away in the ferm chamber.
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Just be sure not to over do it. If you mashed at 148 you still have a lot of sugars to ferment out. You can heat it safely to 70 I'd say, but you don't want to add another problem (fusels) to the one you've got. I'm pretty confident that you can get it finished out by increasing the temp, just don't get too crazy. GL.
 
m00se said:
I'm at the 5 day mark on a 1.072 DIPA using WLP090 and down to 1.028. I stepped up a small vial that I saved from a previous starter I made. Fermented between 62-65F. There's still krausen on top. I shook to aerate and was under the impression I used the appropriate amount of cells of 090. I'm scratching my head. Wait it out? Pitch more yeast?
Click to expand...

I ferment this yeast at 66
 
jbaysurfer said:
Just be sure not to over do it. If you mashed at 148 you still have a lot of sugars to ferment out. You can heat it safely to 70 I'd say, but you don't want to add another problem (fusels) to the one you've got. I'm pretty confident that you can get it finished out by increasing the temp, just don't get too crazy. GL.
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He's well beyond the point of fusel development and could actually raise the beer to 70F+ without concern.
 
Brulosopher said:
He's well beyond the point of fusel development and could actually raise the beer to 70F+ without concern.
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In general I agree, and that's basically what I told him. Maybe rather then say "fusels", I should say "unwanted esters".

Either way, I gave my best advice. I ruined a Belgian Dark by trying to unstick a fermentation and ramping temps up into the mid-high 80s. It wasn't "fusels" so much as "hot esters" but that's a subtle difference and if you're fermenting with SD Super, you don't want either.
 
jbaysurfer said:
In general I agree, and that's basically what I told him. Maybe rather then say "fusels", I should say "unwanted esters". Either way, I gave my best advice. I ruined a Belgian Dark by trying to unstick a fermentation and ramping temps up into the mid-high 80s. It wasn't "fusels" so much as "hot esters" but that's a subtle difference and if you're fermenting with SD Super, you don't want either.
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Fusel alcohols, esters, and other off-flavors are produced during the growth phase of yeast. After 3 days or so, up to 75F won't change anything and will usually help with attenuation, hence I think he should bring temps up. I even do this with lager beers.
 
It's down to 1.015 since Wed. I've shook the carboy a few times to bring the yeast back into suspension but it seems to settle out rather quickly.
 
Brulosopher said:
Fusel alcohols, esters, and other off-flavors are produced during the growth phase of yeast. After 3 days or so, up to 75F won't change anything and will usually help with attenuation, hence I think he should bring temps up. I even do this with lager beers.
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I'm not trying to overstate the concern. I just said "don't overdo it".

I think your advice is worthy as well and not so different then mine. You just would've gone to 75 instead of 70. He got it fixed (see post above).
 
m00se said:
It's down to 1.015 since Wed. I've shook the carboy a few times to bring the yeast back into suspension but it seems to settle out rather quickly.
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You got quite a bit more fermentation out of it as I suspected, nice work. 1.072 to 1.015 is about 80% attenuation, it's settling out because it's done.

I'd stop rousting it at this point. Let it floc out and rack it when clear. Also, it's too late for this, but when I "roust" yeast I just gently swirl the carboy, not shake it. There's not much 02 inside the carboy, but there IS a nice layer of C02 over the beer that I try not to disturb more then necessary.
 
I direct pitched a vial into a 1.046 pale ale. It acts a lot like WLP001. It does finish a lot faster though, got down to 1.008 in 6 days at 65f. It drops very clear even before cold crashing. Works well with the pale ale. I will say that the hops didn't quite come through as much as with WLP001, but it's very close. Would work very well to make a nice clean cream ale.
 
So just to be clear: ferment at about 66* ambient… or shoot for 66* in the beer itself, making the ambient tem around 60*
 
ejf063 said:
So just to be clear: ferment at about 66* ambient… or shoot for 66* in the beer itself, making the ambient tem around 60*
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Whatever ambient temp you need to get to 66 beer temp. I generally start it at 64 measured by a probe insulated from the ambient air and taped against the side of a carboy. Probably 66 internal temp at the peak...maybe 67. You start that yeast at 68 though and you'd better have a wide blowoff tube.
 
Wish I would have read this thread before pitching.

Just made a Russian Imperial Stout, and it came in at 1.100. Pitched a huge starter of WLP090 and was thinking it would take off. Started fermentation at about 62 degrees, but it didnt move too quickly. It eventually took off, but did not go that crazy. After 2 days, I uped it to 66 degrees, and its still bubbling away. It chewed it down to 1.030 so far, and seems to still be going a bit. Hope to get it to about 1.020, but that may be impossible.
 
SFGiantsFan925 said:
Wish I would have read this thread before pitching.

Just made a Russian Imperial Stout, and it came in at 1.100. Pitched a huge starter of WLP090 and was thinking it would take off. Started fermentation at about 62 degrees, but it didnt move too quickly. It eventually took off, but did not go that crazy. After 2 days, I uped it to 66 degrees, and its still bubbling away. It chewed it down to 1.030 so far, and seems to still be going a bit. Hope to get it to about 1.020, but that may be impossible.
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That would be 79% attenuation. Ive gotten 83% on a Pliny clone with this yeast. Its def possible for you to get to 1.020 FG.
 
SFGiantsFan925 said:
Wish I would have read this thread before pitching.

Just made a Russian Imperial Stout, and it came in at 1.100. Pitched a huge starter of WLP090 and was thinking it would take off. Started fermentation at about 62 degrees, but it didnt move too quickly. It eventually took off, but did not go that crazy. After 2 days, I uped it to 66 degrees, and its still bubbling away. It chewed it down to 1.030 so far, and seems to still be going a bit. Hope to get it to about 1.020, but that may be impossible.
Click to expand...

I'd go all the way up to 68F asap if I were you. I noticed that this yeast will totally go to sleep at temps below 64. 62 is pretty low, but since you did basically a free rise in a high gravity beer that might turn out to be a good way to handle it. Don't be afraid of the high end of the range late in fermentation though, it's your best shot at fermenting that beer out to 1.020
 
jbaysurfer said:
I'd go all the way up to 68F asap if I were you. I noticed that this yeast will totally go to sleep at temps below 64. 62 is pretty low, but since you did basically a free rise in a high gravity beer that might turn out to be a good way to handle it. Don't be afraid of the high end of the range late in fermentation though, it's your best shot at fermenting that beer out to 1.020
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Thanks! I just set the ferm chamber to free rise to 68 to see if I can squeeze a little more action out of the yeast. I was afraid if I started at 66 or higher, I would get a "hot" beer and have it too boozy, with a crazy fermentation. I wasnt home either for the first two days of fermentation so it was hard for me to really see and control what was going on.
 
I think you did well. It's better cool then warm in that scenario This yeast doesn't put off a lot of esters, but on a beer that big, it probably would've gotten a bit too "hot" if you'd started it that high.
 
I made a kind of Maharaja clone recently. Made a starter with the San Diego Super, OG was 1.10. After eight days it was 1.05. Hoping to get down to 1.02. Took a sample, it was clean and super bitter!
 
Has anyone had problems with over carbonation with bottle conditioned beers fermented with WLP090. I have had two 10+ABV RISs where ~10 oz. DME was added and both were super-carbonated. Neither tasted infected at all...in fact, both beers are still tasting great, so I firmly believe that the problem is overcarbing. Thanks.
 
MNishCT77 said:
Has anyone had problems with over carbonation with bottle conditioned beers fermented with WLP090. I have had two 10+ABV RISs where ~10 oz. DME was added and both were super-carbonated. Neither tasted infected at all...in fact, both beers are still tasting great, so I firmly believe that the problem is overcarbing. Thanks.
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Without asking more questions (like was the FG stable over several days, and how much priming sugar did you use), here's my shot in the dark: I've noticed that while this yeast is wicked fast initially, it also attenuates pretty high, and it's easy to bottle before it's actually done, because it seems to be finished. That would add extra carbonation that you were not expecting.
 
brewed a 1.073 dipa
13 lb 4 oz 2 row
9.6 oz cara
9.6 oz crystal 40
1 lb dextrose
put in ferm 6-12 and it was at 70 deg for 2 or 3 days before I got a chance to drop it
dropped down to 67 beer temp and on the 16th it was at 1.020
just checked again tonight and it was still at 1.020

Roused the pail and bumped back to 70 ish...hoping this finishes down.
BS says 1.010 should be the finish
 
Swirl it vigorously! Re-suspending the yeast should help lower the gravity further. Also bringing the temp up May help.
 
I did that last night and it seems to be building pressure again.
I have it in a white bucket ferm so I can't see if its getting a krausen again
bumped up the temp a few deg
will check it in a few days....
Fingers Crossed
 
reading on the 24th came out to a 1.014
so I am at 80% Attenuation.
I roused again and am hoping for another point or two.
supposed to finish at 1.010

going to bring it down to 60 slowly and let it chill for a few days then rack to keg for dry hop rounds
 
Still stuck at 1.014 crashing and racking to secondary for dry hopping.
I give up...
Still not bad attenuation just wish I could have gotten another point or 2
 
jbaysurfer said:
I'd go all the way up to 68F asap if I were you. I noticed that this yeast will totally go to sleep at temps below 64. 62 is pretty low, but since you did basically a free rise in a high gravity beer that might turn out to be a good way to handle it. Don't be afraid of the high end of the range late in fermentation though, it's your best shot at fermenting that beer out to 1.020
Click to expand...

under 64? I have an IPA that is going to get kegged this weekend, primary was anywhere from 60-65 (it got warmer on the days it was fermenting vigorously); it didn't have any issues fermenting at 60. im assuming it was a touch hotter in the fermenter..?

with that said, I have a weird fermentation chamber setup (small fridge) and I had to take the carboy out when I dry hopped last week, it roused the yeast and started fermenting again. I hope I didn't drive off too much aroma. Hoping when it gets dry hopped in the keg, it will bring some of that aroma back!

this yeast really is amazing. I believe this is the first beer ive made with white labs and it was ridiculously fun to watch ferment. ive never had beer ferment this active before. its not going to be fun cleaning this carboy! ;)
 
To all the 090 users out there.
I did a 1g starter, decanted, another 1 g starter, decanted and then a 2l vitality starter. That was split into 20g. 10 in my 60l Speidel, 10 in my buddies buckets.
It was an IPA, 1.065og, 77% 2row, 20% white wheat, 3% c15.

Anyway, I started fermentation on the cool side Monday afternoon at 63. It started warmer as I kept my buddies buckets in there for the first few hours to bring his temp down under 75. I had a half inch krausen when I put it in the fridge and a solid 6 inches the next day.
The krausen fell on day 4.
Now, I imploded my first Speidel lid on my last brew, see: Don't do that thread. I used my new replacement lid from more beer for the first time with this brew. It isn't sealing. No airlock activity at all. No big deal, aside from the couple dozen fruit flies that appeared in the fridge on day 3 that apparently were breeding under the fridge. The have been mostly eradicated now but I'm not 100% sure that they didn't find a way in.

Anyway, to the point, I peaked in the fermenter tonight as it looked like another krausen had developed today after letting it free rise (up to 70) starting yesterday.
I saw what looked like hop debris floating on a few inches of foam. Nor yeasty foam, but dish soap starsan foam.
Is this normal? Maybe just foam from off gassing and all the wheat?
Just scared that one of those little fuqers got in and something else is taking hold. I'll take a gravity sample tomorrow and a photo as well.

Thanks in advance. Cheers
 
Jwin said:
To all the 090 users out there.
I did a 1g starter, decanted, another 1 g starter, decanted and then a 2l vitality starter. That was split into 20g. 10 in my 60l Speidel, 10 in my buddies buckets.
It was an IPA, 1.065og, 77% 2row, 20% white wheat, 3% c15.

Anyway, I started fermentation on the cool side Monday afternoon at 63. It started warmer as I kept my buddies buckets in there for the first few hours to bring his temp down under 75. I had a half inch krausen when I put it in the fridge and a solid 6 inches the next day.
The krausen fell on day 4.
Now, I imploded my first Speidel lid on my last brew, see: Don't do that thread. I used my new replacement lid from more beer for the first time with this brew. It isn't sealing. No airlock activity at all. No big deal, aside from the couple dozen fruit flies that appeared in the fridge on day 3 that apparently were breeding under the fridge. The have been mostly eradicated now but I'm not 100% sure that they didn't find a way in.

Anyway, to the point, I peaked in the fermenter tonight as it looked like another krausen had developed today after letting it free rise (up to 70) starting yesterday.
I saw what looked like hop debris floating on a few inches of foam. Nor yeasty foam, but dish soap starsan foam.
Is this normal? Maybe just foam from off gassing and all the wheat?
Just scared that one of those little fuqers got in and something else is taking hold. I'll take a gravity sample tomorrow and a photo as well.

Thanks in advance. Cheers
Click to expand...

I suspect I stalled fermentation somehow, probably got to cold. I didn't get the thermowell installed in the new lid so I taped the probe to the outside and insulated. Looking like it's sitting at 1.02 now.ill give it a few more days before DH.
Seems untypical of the strain. Only thing I can figure is I got it to cold...
 
My ferm chamber suffered a loose relay wire. I had pitched at 68 but it dropped to 57. I got it going again and up to 68 for a few hours then sometime at night power went out and she dropped back to 60. I'm back up again but how's my poor yeast going to be and should I ramp to 70 to encourage some action.

View attachment 1477500230690.jpg
 

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