Safale Products (WB-06 - S-33)

Ok I've read a few threads on WB-06, but noticed that most of them are from 2007-2009. I have come to love Safale dry yeasts. I use US-05 on almost every "safe" brew that I do. I also like to change it up a little bit and use the 04.

But I wanted to experiment more with the Safale line up.

I currently have in stock

WB-06
T-58
S-33

A little later today I'd like to do a American Wheat.

The grail bill is pretty simple.

4lbs 2 row
4lbs White wheat.
.5 Cara-pils
.5 Vienna

From what I understand (T-58) is more for christmas holiday brews. It has a little spicyness to it. (S-33) is an "all purpose ale", but aren't they all. What difference would I find between the (US-05) and the (S-33)? And lastly, any new experiences on the (WB-06)? My origional intentions were to throw some of the 06 in my wheat I'm doing today, but everyone says that it produces banana/clove flavors. The banana I wouldn't mind. I think that would add to my summer brew intentions, but I HATE the clove taste in beers. My example would be the popular (hacker pschorr). If by clove taste do they mean hacker pschorr? I'm not a fan of that beer.

bump

I believe folks use T-58 for belgians as well. I notice the selection of dry yeast seems to be improving and I'd like to give some others a try as well, particularly with 10 gallon batches.

Yes that's my biggest problem. I'm holding onto 4 different types I can pitch today.

US-05, S-33, T-58, or WB-06.

I guess what I'm shooting for is a mild wheat.

I'm going to split a ten gallon batch today between 05 and 04 (or T-58, haven't decided yet).

Ok so I decided on the S-33. I just couldn't bare a brew with too much of that clove taste. Let me know how your split batch turns out. This will be my first time with the 33 so I'll report back in a few weeks.

I like all the Fermentis line, with the exception of WB-06 - and that's because I haven't yet used it.

T-58 is about as close as you're going to get to a Belgian dry yeast. It's performed well for me.

S-04 is my "house" British strain. I find it throws more fruity esters than S-05. S-05 is my "house" Yank strain, because S-05 is a clean-fermenting workhorse.

Please do let us know how S-33 ends up for you.

Cheers,

Bob

S-33 is probably my least favorite ale yeast so far. Terrible flocculator, and didn't care for the flavor profile.

I've used WB-06 twice, in different hefe recipes. The beers didn't quite knock my socks off, but they were very nice.

I like S-04. Great British yeast, just have to be careful, because it conks out if the temperature drops below the low-to-mid 60s. I actually like to blend it with Nottingham.

T-58 is a great yeast. It's a Belgian strain, but it produces peppery/spicy esters, not fruity esters.

9:00am the morning after. S-04 is rockin' like a champ, US-05 is still sleeping. I pitched about 12 hours ago. I decided against the warm slurry and pitched dry after aerating.

FWIW, I realize the S-04 will not be to style with all that PNW late addition hops and a fruity yeast.

I brewed a pretty good Wit with T-58.

S-33 is the old EDME strian. It's a low attenuator and can get fruity with warmer temps. I use it a sweet stout with excellent results.

I use T-58 as my bottling strain. I used it in some schwarzbier wort once and it was pretty good. I fermented it at about 59F. It had some pepper notes.

how warm can S-33 get before the ester gets crazy? 72 would be ideal for my current situation but i can get my fermenter down to 64 or so if needs be. Im using it to ferment a belgian pale so a little ester is desirable but I don't want a fruit bomb when I drink it.

I fermented my S-33 at 69. It was active in about 3 hours. And no airlock activity after less than 24 hours. Yesterday I checked the FG and it was right in my target zone.

The auroma from the airlock did have note of banana. I'll post in a few weeks with the final result.

joety said:

9:00am the morning after. S-04 is rockin' like a champ, US-05 is still sleeping. I pitched about 12 hours ago. I decided against the warm slurry and pitched dry after aerating.

FWIW, I realize the S-04 will not be to style with all that PNW late addition hops and a fruity yeast.

Click to expand...

funny you mentioned that - i did two batches this weekend and the US-05 had a lag time of about 12 hours or so - the S-33 had a lag time of less than an hour.

I used the T-58 in a Bells best Brown clone, and I loved it, I have also made some pale ales with it and it worked well.

US-05 great dry yeast, all around winner.

WB-06 I thought this was an alright yeast, I used it in a Dunkle and there was a good amount of Bananas and clove. I fermented at 63 for 3 days then moved the temp up to 66 for the rest of the fermentation. I did this after reading a few post where people said the Banana got out of control at higher temp.

I've not used S-33 yet.

s-04 can become way too fruity if the temp get too high, other than that it's a nice yeast.

jtakacs said:

funny you mentioned that - i did two batches this weekend and the US-05 had a lag time of about 12 hours or so - the S-33 had a lag time of less than an hour.

Click to expand...

Day Four - S-04 has finished the heavy lifting and is floculating nicely. The beer is starting to look positively delicious.

The US-05 is still chugging away, although it never really peaked in energy like the S-04.

Steelers77 said:

s-04 can become way too fruity if the temp get too high, other than that it's a nice yeast.

Click to expand...

The temps peaked at around 69 (ambient was 64/65), hopefully I'm safe. I don't need a ton of fruit in an APA, obviously.

May be more than you like. I've noticed around 70 it starts to be a little more than I like.

So an unrelated question. I brewed this wheat beer up last friday. And then I noticed our local club is having a Wit beer cometition later in the month.

My grain bill is listed in the first post. But just to clarify. What would qualify this as a Wit? I googled 16a style guidelines, and they mention bitter orange and Coriander a lot. But they don't say they are mandatory. I origionally brewed this wheat, just to have a simple summer beer for the people who don't appreciate complex styles and primarally stick to Miller Lite.

Are the spices nessessary to quilify?

I've come to rely on US-05 for almost everything.

It makes a very good American Wheat.

I'm currently using it on a Guinness clone and a MO Perle SMaSH.

I'm even contemplating a US-05 hybrid Doppelbock next fall.

I'm convinced I could be happy brewing with nothing but Fermentis products, unless I get tempted by some really weird style. I've never had a single problem with these yeasts...every fermentation works like clockwork.

I pitch dry directly into primary, then aerate/blend with a giant whisk.

Franc103: I couldn't agree more. I know that another go-to yeast is Danstar Nottingham. It shares many characteristics as US-05.

Since I've been so happy with US-04 and 05 I figured I'd start this thread to see what people thought of their other products. I always have a harvested yeast of 05 on hand. It hasn't failed me yet.

Tuggy said:

So an unrelated question. I brewed this wheat beer up last friday. And then I noticed our local club is having a Wit beer cometition later in the month.

My grain bill is listed in the first post. But just to clarify. What would qualify this as a Wit? I googled 16a style guidelines, and they mention bitter orange and Coriander a lot. But they don't say they are mandatory. I origionally brewed this wheat, just to have a simple summer beer for the people who don't appreciate complex styles and primarally stick to Miller Lite.

Are the spices nessessary to quilify?

Click to expand...

I've haven't read the guidlines but I would bet you would be dinged for not having them in there. I say this simply because that is what people expect in a Wit (at least I do). So if you stray from that profile I think it wil be frowned upon. Just my $.02

Egghead said:

T-58 is a great yeast. It's a Belgian strain, but it produces peppery/spicy esters, not fruity esters.

Click to expand...

I just used T-58 in a honey belgian golden ale and got a ton of pineapple/tropical fruityness at bottling. Can't wait to taste it again in a few weeks. This was only my 2nd batch of beer, so I'm no expert, but that's how it turned out for me.

Tuggy said:

Franc103: I couldn't agree more. I know that another go-to yeast is Danstar Nottingham. It shares many characteristics as US-05.

Since I've been so happy with US-04 and 05 I figured I'd start this thread to see what people thought of their other products. I always have a harvested yeast of 05 on hand. It hasn't failed me yet.

Click to expand...

From the Saflager side of the product family, you can make a kick-ass California Common with S-23.

I also have been reading the older posts for WB-06. I brewed a hefe last week using it instead of Danstar Munich which came with the kit. My LHBS recommended the WB-06 and I was suprised to find so many bad reviews on here. This seems like a good thread to post the results when the beer finished conditioning.

The WB-06 was not bad, but I could see how the Banana could get out of hand (keep the temps down) This was also the first time I brewed a Dunkle, I have some tweeking to do on the recipe so the yeast may not be the culprit when it comes to the issues I had with the beer. I was going to brew my Hefe using the 06 to see how it compares to Wyeast 3068 (weihenstephan yeast).

mrk00k said:

I just used T-58 in a honey belgian golden ale and got a ton of pineapple/tropical fruityness at bottling. Can't wait to taste it again in a few weeks. This was only my 2nd batch of beer, so I'm no expert, but that's how it turned out for me.

Click to expand...

Really? Hm. What was your pitching/fermentation temperature?

I should have mentioned that. It was high. I'll have to check my notes to get it exactly, but definitely in the 70's. Maybe 75.

I once used S - 33 by mistake when trying to brew a pale belgian. I was experementing with my brew belt and it got far too hot, up around 85f. The beer turned out with hardly any yeast character. Not fruit as far as i could tell. Very bland.

Tuggy said:

So an unrelated question. I brewed this wheat beer up last friday. And then I noticed our local club is having a Wit beer cometition later in the month.

My grain bill is listed in the first post. But just to clarify. What would qualify this as a Wit? I googled 16a style guidelines, and they mention bitter orange and Coriander a lot. But they don't say they are mandatory. I origionally brewed this wheat, just to have a simple summer beer for the people who don't appreciate complex styles and primarally stick to Miller Lite.

Are the spices nessessary to quilify?

Click to expand...

Yes, the style guidelines and judges specifically look for spice and citrus.

Ok so my report on S-33. I now have my finished product.

The yeast fermented fast and pretty clean. Cleaner than US-05. There was a banana smell from the airlock. I cold crashed for 2 weeks and bottled. The final taste is "just ok". You can really get the white wheat taste. Which I like.. But that's about it. I tried to harvest the yeast to reuse and noticed that the yeast had a very strong smell.

Many times I roll my bottles before opening to mix the yeast up and usually it adds to the taste. With this batch the taste from the yeast is aweful. If I don't roll the bottle the brew is drinkable. If I roll it, it is down right nasty.

I think I can pin-point the off flavor directly to the yeast. I have never really noticed a yeast carry that many flavors before.

I also noticed that many flavors that I added seem to be "stuck" in the yeast cake. I can smell the sweet orange peel that I boiled in the yeast cake. And if I roll the beer I can taste it a little. But it seems like the taste of the yeast was fighting the orange taste.

It may sound crazy but it's like the yeast sucked all the flavors (minus the wheat) out of the brew.

So my final outcome is that it made a OK beer. I'll drink it when I'm all out of my good beers. This one will not be entering any competitions.

Tuggy said:

Ok so my report on S-33. I now have my finished product.
With this batch the taste from the yeast is aweful. If I don't roll the bottle the brew is drinkable. If I roll it, it is down right nasty.

Click to expand...

I really don't know what this yeast would be good for. Would it work as an english ale yeast? I also found a very odd off flavour in the beer i brewed with it, I thought it might have been my brewing proccess but i'm starting to think it was the yeast.

I had a bunch of friends over and each of them tried a few of the wheat made with the S-33. They all actually liked the brew, but they said it wasn't my best. I'm brewing the same grain bill over again but this time I used 50/50 of US-04 and US-05. I'll see what difference a dependable strain makes.

Like I said if you don't roll the bottle it's pretty good. But once that yeast mixes it has a definate off flavor.

The S-33 bottles have been sitting for about 6 weeks now.. 4 weeks at room temp and the 2 weeks in the fridge. This beer is now drinkable. The off-flavor is gone, and it tastes like a unbalanced wheat.

I think that I may try this exact recipe again. But I'm going to up the bitter a little to balance. and I'm going to try to ferment lower (60 ambient).


Also, I found my new go-to strain(s). I love US-05. I use it religously, but sometimes I want a little more yeast finish in the beer. I just mixed 04 & 05 and it made a great sweet orange wheat. I liked the outcome much better than if I would have used 04 or 05 alone.

Im finding that with most of my beers i never judge them fully until 8 weeks bottled.From my short experience with a few dozen brews,it seems that a lot of "ok" or as folks like to say "meh" beers taste at 3-5 weeks bottled can go to "holy crap this is really good" by around 8 weeks bottled. I had many brews do this that is why i only drink a few before a few months then cellar them to clear more and pull them to the fridge once Fully conditioned. I just think many drink them when they are not yet fully conditioned. And critique them when they are at a minimum potential.

I know this is an old post, but not many people have good experience with S-33 for some reason. It's actually my house yeast I use to ferment most of my recipes. My Copperhead Ale I (American Amber Ale) has had the best results with using S-33, I also made a Cream Ale using S-33 with amazing results as well.

It is a low attenuator unfortunately so you have to plan according to with the recipe. It's a very violent fermenter as well, I sustain and propagate my yeasts so I've only needed one slat so far of S-33. It has mutated, but I really like where it's mutated to. It has attenuated better since the first couple of generations.

Here's a list of beers I've made with great results using S-33

Stout
Cream Ale
American Amber Ale
American Wheat
Pumpkin Wheat Ale
English Pale Ale
American Brown Ale

As you can see it is very versatile, but then again everyone may not have the same results. I also recommend blending this yeast with 1056 in a APA. I'm still working on the fermentation schedule of blending for great results. However this yeast is such a violent and quick fermenter it kinda makes the 1056 short on food. I'm hoping my next batch I got the schedule right!

I'm planning a 'sperimint with this one...10 gallon (extract) batch split into two 5-gallon primaries, one with S-33 and one with T-58 - both fermenting at the same temp (around 68). Will post the results soon - I have to wait until I can empty some carboys before I get to do this, however. Terrible problem to have - full carboys, full kegs...