Safale WB 06

I used this yeast recently for a batch of hefeweizen and thought I would share my experience. When I went to my LHBS to get my ingredients, they were out of the liquid yeast, so I thought I would give it a try. After I got home, I read some of the reviews which were not too encouraging. I decided to give it a try anyway in the interests of science.

Firstly, it started off very fast, with fermentation beginning in about 90 minutes. I had read that there were not many esters, so I started the ferment at a higher temperature, probably about 72 degrees. By the second day, it smelled like the Chiquita truck had turned over in my family room. I like the banana flavor, but the smell was so strong, I decided to cool it down.

I took it down to the basement where it stays between 62 and 65 degrees. It still gave off banana esters, but toned down. After bottling and carbing, it has a nice light banana flavor, but great clove taste. Very cloudy and yeasty.

Overall, I thonk it worked out just fine. It may have alot to do with the temperature used, but I would have no problem using it again.

Anyone else with any experience with this yeast?

I have used it in a Weissenbock. It turned out very good.

Don't know if I would use it for a Hefe, though. A Dunkelweiss, maybe.

I use liquids or Danstar Munich for hefes.

How do you guys think it would work in a rye? Not necessarily a strict roggenbier according to guidelines, just a simple ale with about 40 percent of the bill being rye.

I've never made a rye. In fact, I have never even used rye in a brew.

I did a side by side between this and Munich. I split a ten gallon batch, rehydrated them both and pitched/fermented at 63F (my prefered weizen temp). I got absoluely no banana from the WB06 with some clove, it had a sort of tartness that seemed out of place. I much prefered the Munich as it had a subdued clove and noticable banana. Neither one are replacements for the liquid strains, but the Munich made a nice drinking beer...I would not use WB06 again though.

I think it is temperature dependent. When it was running in the low 70s, the banana smell was quite strong. I think it has potential but we probably need to learn the right way to use it.

I am about to use it for an American Wheat because they were out of the liquid I wanted to use. It sounds like this needs to ferment cool. I don't want all those banana and clove flavors.

I just used it in a dunkelweizen and it barely produced any phenols at all. I felt it was quite disappointing.

Teacher said:

How do you guys think it would work in a rye? Not necessarily a strict roggenbier according to guidelines, just a simple ale with about 40 percent of the bill being rye.

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I just made a roggenbier light on rye with this strain, so I'll let you know how it turns out after I bottle it.

Thanks! I look forward to it.

neuron555 said:

Anyone else with any experience with this yeast?

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I did once a double batch of Paulaner Hefe clone from BYO, half with WB-6, and 1/2 WLP300. My efficiency turned up much higher then I anticipated, so the beer land up with way too high OG. To be honest, both versions sucked for the first few months, although WLP300 was a little better. It had more banana to it and less esters, while WB-06 was all esters.

Now, after about 10 moths, I was surprised to discover that both beers are pretty good and virtually identical. They both have a very nice, well balanced banana, clove and ester flavours in them.

If I was brewing a hefe again, first of all I would make sure it has a lower OG, but also I would probably use the WB-06, since you get the same resolts as with the liquid yeast.

I like it.
Pitch, and ferment at 64 I get very nice balance in my Hefeweizens. Clove and banana.


EDIT: I do either a triple infusion or a decoction on all my Hefe's though.
Was never happy with the single infusions on this style.


Dunkelweizen......... not so much, something about it and darker malts made it a bit tart.

Its a really nice Dampfbier yeast too.

I got all clove and no banana in my Weizenbock with it, but I did ferment on the cool side.

I dunno, I think the jury is still out on this yeast. My one batch with it just tastes sort of weird and "tart" as is mentioned.