Pitching Yeast Slurry - New House Yeast?

hoppysailor · 10-13-2009, 09:38 PM

I found a local brewery that's willing to provide me with as much of their house yeast as I can use. I don't know the exact strain but it's at least similar to WLP002. I'll be able to get sufficient quantities so that I won't need to make a starter. Is there anything that I should do before I pitch it?

Also, since it's free yeast, I'm planning on making their house yeast my house yeast. We'll be making APA's, IPA's, porters, and stouts primarily. Any drawbacks to using WLP002 for these types of beers? It obviously works good for the brewery.

Catt22 · 10-13-2009, 09:45 PM

From the White Labs web site:

WLP002 English Ale Yeast
A classic ESB strain from one of England's largest independent breweries. This yeast is best suited for English style ales including milds, bitters, porters, and English style stouts. This yeast will leave a beer very clear, and will leave some residual sweetness.
Attenuation: 63-70%
Flocculation: Very High
Optimum Fermentation Temperature: 65-68 °F
(18-20 °C)
Alcohol Tolerance: Medium

This yeast should work well for you. Personally, I prefer to play with a variety of yeast strains, but as the description states, this one is fairly versatile and covers most of the styles you mentioned. Getting it free will save you some bucks. Unfortunately, yeast has become increasingly expensive these days. I was cool with spending $3-4 for a vial or smack pack years ago, but now it's approaching $8 and that puts a dent in my wallet that I notice.

WVbrewer · 10-14-2009, 12:59 AM

Enjoy the hookup...With all that free goodness you don't need to worry about purchasing or making starters....or worrying about viability. English ale yeast is my standard yeast. Pale ales, stouts, porters, and brown ales....They all work nice with that strain.

hoppysailor · 10-14-2009, 02:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by WVbrewer

Enjoy the hookup...With all that free goodness you don't need to worry about purchasing or making starters....or worrying about viability. English ale yeast is my standard yeast. Pale ales, stouts, porters, and brown ales....They all work nice with that strain.

Are there any hints that you can share to help us get the most out of this yeast? What should I do with my refrigerated jar of yeast prior to pitching? I assume that I'll want to let it warm to about 70 degrees before pitching but am wondering if I should add some water and agitate to get the yeast into suspension before pitching. I'm picking up the first of my yeast today so I'll have a better idea of what I'm working with.

BuzzCraft · 10-14-2009, 04:25 PM

if it's really 002, it's really flocculent and turns into a brick at the bottom of jars. hopefully, there's a little liquid with the yeast you can use just to get it back into suspension...it'll still look pretty chunky and will clump up again very quickly. if you have to add some liquid (water or cooled wort), just use common sense and be sanitary about it.

as others have said, it's a great yeast strain for the styles you're interested in brewing. i get better attenuation with it than stated on the White Labs site.