Wyeast 1028

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BrewDey

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I started a blond Tuesday night with Wyeast 1028 and it is the most movement I'd ever seen in the carboy...huge chunks of yeast rising and falling, very violent.-mesmerizing

It's been warm-the strain calls for 60-72 degrees, but it's been closer to 78-79 (this is includes the heat from the fermentation itself too as). It's putting out some gas that smells very banana-y...other beers have had that, and then it's died down in the following weeks.

Does anyone have any experience with this strain? Any ideas what kind of off-flavors I might expect with the higher temp? I can live with bananas.
 
Yes, if you ferment this yeast warm, you will get lots of esters - banana being prominent, also some almost licorice like flavours in the background. The good news is that if you let this beer age, the esters will fade with time.

At that temp, you will probably get some fusel alcohols developing, too -- especially if you under-pitched and/or didn't aerate fully. They produce some nasty off-flavours that are harder to get rid of. They yield a hot, solvent-like flavour that is very unpleasant.

I use this yeast a lot, and have had problems with it at high temps. It definitely requires a consistent, moderate temperature. If you give it that it is a fabulous least (my favourite English ale yeast).

I don't know how far into the ferment you are, but I would DEFINITELY cool that fermenter if you can. A wet t-shirt is the minimum.
 
Yeah, I brew with 1028 a lot. I actually have a beer fermenting right now using 1028 @ about 74 degrees F.
That sounds about normal to see large (maybe the diameter of my pinky finger) chunks movng around and lots of movement. This is very normal for most brittish yeast strains....at least from what I've seen. Fermenting up at higher temps will tend to give you fruity type esters (ex. bananas, apples etc. ) , but fruity esters are quite common for that strain of yeast in general. It should probably taste fine assuming you were sterile in your process. You'll definately be able to taste the yeast all through this beer (IMO, a good thing). Fermenting at lower temps also tends to reduce the flavor impact of the yeast on the finished beer. Most brewers trying to minimize the flavor of the yeast make lagers or use 1056 (which leaves very little yeast flavor). Lagers are fermented at lower temperatures .... also the yeast has less impact on the flavor of the beer.

Well, at least thats my experience with 1028 and higher temps for fermentation.

It should be fine! At least drinkable.

Good luck.

Bob
 
BrewDey said:
I started a blond Tuesday night with Wyeast 1028 and it is the most movement I'd ever seen in the carboy...huge chunks of yeast rising and falling, very violent.-mesmerizing

It's been warm-the strain calls for 60-72 degrees, but it's been closer to 78-79 (this is includes the heat from the fermentation itself too as). It's putting out some gas that smells very banana-y...other beers have had that, and then it's died down in the following weeks.

Does anyone have any experience with this strain? Any ideas what kind of off-flavors I might expect with the higher temp? I can live with bananas.


Used this in a Porter, very active indeed. It had a very nice malty finish, i think it finished about 1.014, very smooth, slightly fruity but not real obvious unless you're looking for it (kind of like raisens), i like this yeast a lot and will definitely use it again.
 
Thanks guys-I'll try to cool it down. Esters are fine with me, but I don't want any REALLY bad stuff. It hasn't been 48 hours yet, pretty early on. I love to see it take off-but I suppose there can be a downside (off flavors, bi-products)

This was wild though, I pitched it and by the time I got the carboy downstairs (~5 minutes), there was almost an inch of yeast collected at the bottom-and more on the way. When I got home yesterday (~30 hours after pitching) it was like a whirlpool in there. One of the greatest shows on earth.
 
BrewDey said:
Thanks guys-I'll try to cool it down. Esters are fine with me, but I don't want any REALLY bad stuff. It hasn't been 48 hours yet, pretty early on. I love to see it take off-but I suppose there can be a downside (off flavors, bi-products)

This was wild though, I pitched it and by the time I got the carboy downstairs (~5 minutes), there was almost an inch of yeast collected at the bottom-and more on the way. When I got home yesterday (~30 hours after pitching) it was like a whirlpool in there. One of the greatest shows on earth.


I have a picture somewhere of about 2-3 inches of sediment in a beer and the picture was snapped right as a HUGE chunk seperated... pretty wild pictures...
 
In regards to this strain-is it especially good for any certain styles?
I'm thinking of pitching onto the yeast cake, but haven't decided what to make yet
 
Wyeast has a styles guide for their yeasts, so you can look up 1028 and see what they say.

I think 1028 is a great yeast for English browns, porters and stouts. In fact, I have 5 gallons of oatmeal stout fermenting with it right now.

If you want to re-pitch, just make sure you do it in successively bigger and darker beers so that the flavour profile of the previous brew doesn't influence the next batch. But you don't really want to do this more than once or twice with this yeast (see my comments in this recent thread).
 
BrewDey said:
In regards to this strain-is it especially good for any certain styles?
I'm thinking of pitching onto the yeast cake, but haven't decided what to make yet

i recommend a porter, try this one...

PorterII

A ProMash Recipe Report

Recipe Specifics
----------------

Batch Size (Gal): 5.00 Wort Size (Gal): 5.00
Total Grain (Lbs): 15.00
Anticipated OG: 1.079 Plato: 19.20
Anticipated SRM: 30.9
Anticipated IBU: 34.0
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75 %
Wort Boil Time: 60 Minutes


Grain/Extract/Sugar

% Amount Name Origin Potential SRM
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
66.7 10.00 lbs. Pale Malt(2-row) America 1.036 2
10.0 1.50 lbs. Munich Malt Germany 1.037 8
5.0 0.75 lbs. Cara-Pils Dextrine Malt 1.033 2
5.0 0.75 lbs. Chocolate Malt America 1.029 350
3.3 0.50 lbs. Aromatic Malt Belgium 1.036 25
3.3 0.50 lbs. Biscuit Malt Great Britain 1.035 35
3.3 0.50 lbs. Crystal 60L America 1.034 60
3.3 0.50 lbs. Special B Malt Belgian 1.030 120

Potential represented as SG per pound per gallon.


Hops

Amount Name Form Alpha IBU Boil Time
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.25 oz. Fuggle Whole 5.00 24.4 60 min.
1.25 oz. Fuggle Whole 5.00 6.5 15 min.
1.00 oz. Goldings - E.K. Whole 4.75 3.1 5 min.



It's one of our best beers... everyone loves our porters.
 
I use this yeast a lot, and have had problems with it at high temps. It definitely requires a consistent, moderate temperature. If you give it that it is a fabulous least (my favourite English ale yeast).
Really old thread here, but came across it while looking for information on Wyeast 1028. Had an issue using it on Sundays brew. Pitched at 10:30PM @ 67 degrees wort temperature. By the time I cleaned up it was late, so stuck it in the basement fermenator set at 64 degrees and went to bed. The basement is in the low 50’s, but I thought that the confined space in the mini-fridge would keep it warm until it took off. Got up in the morning and found that it had dropped to 58 and there was no activity. Stuck a heating pad in the back of the fridge and slowly got the carboy temp up to 61 with an ambient temperature of 68 in the fridge. This morning (after about 30 hours) there’s good airlock activity.


The question is for anyone with 1028 experience. What can I expect from this yeast at the lower end of its range? Should I keep it in the 60 to 62 area for the remainder of the fermentation or slowly raise it (to what)? (The beer is a Robust Porter with an OG of 1.064)
 
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