1338 European Ale Yeast

I had a vial of White Labs Yeast that I was going to use for my kolsch, but the yeast was a little old and the starter didn't take off so fast. I went with plan B and am using Wyeast 1338 European Ale instead. Wyeast lists it as a possible kolsch yeast, but I have never used it before. What is everyone's thoughts on this yeast if you have used it before. What can I expect?

I've use it for my Can't Lager Oktoberfest, and it produces a great beer.

From my experiences it was a bit slower taking off than most yeasts (18-24 hours instead of 6-18 hours). The fermentation lasted longer than most yeasts. I usually can rack day 6-8, I had to wait until day 11-12 to rack with it. My fermentation temperature was ~68F, so that wasn't an issue. The krausen was the most stubborn I've had as well (there was always at least a thin layer of krausen on top, even after most airlock activity had subsided.)

It might sound like this wasn't a good yeast, but that's not the case at all. I really enjoyed the final product, it just worked a little slower. I'll be using it again this summer, it will be interesting if I have similar behavior.

Was the White Labs the WLP029?

Mine was in date, made a starter, saw little activity, pitched, saw airlock activity in <12hrs, finished fermenting in 2 days.

I believe this strain is notorious for being a slow starter, it may still be viable and useful for you.

The White Labs was WLP-011. It was old and had been in the fridge for a while. The starter eventually took off, but I'm going to step it up and then bottle it. After brewing it's only been about 8 hours and I'm starting to see signs of fermentation. It should probably be going strong when I get home from work.