Is there a good alternative to WLP080

Good day to all you fellow homebrewers. I am planning on brewing a Cream Ale this weekend and would like to know if there is a good alternative the WLP080 for Cream Ales.

The recipe looks like this:
8 lb two-row
1 lb vienna
1 lb honey malt
0.5 lb CaraPils
0.5 lb flaked barley
1 lb flaked corn

0.75 oz saaz @ 60 min
0.5 oz saaz @ 5 min

WLP080 yeast (or variant)

Feel free to critique.

WLP 001 or WLP 029 will work very well. I wouldn't be surprised if those strains are part of the WLP 080 blend.

I've used WLP028 (Edinburgh) to good affect with cream ales, its a good everyday strain. Fermented cool, it has a pretty clean flavor profile.

And US-05 would be my choice in dry yeasts.

Thanks for the fast replies. I was going to ferment this right around 60-65 degree range. I have used kolsch before but don"t have the means of cold crashing it; lager yeast would be a no go. I was hoping for either a dry variant or something from Wyeast. My homebrew store doesn't carry WLP on a regular basis. which is the main concern as I want to (have limited time) brew this weekend.
Thanks again

bniesen said:

Thanks for the fast replies. I was going to ferment this right around 60-65 degree range. I have used kolsch before but don"t have the means of cold crashing it; lager yeast would be a no go. I was hoping for either a dry variant or something from Wyeast. My homebrew store doesn't carry WLP on a regular basis. which is the main concern as I want to (have limited time) brew this weekend.
Thanks again

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1056 (Wyeast) and US-05 (Fermentis, dry) are derived from the same strain as WLP 001.

Lots of great options. Thanks a lot people! Now I can really RDWHAHB!!

I would probably go with us-05 or 1056. I'm using wlp080 right now on a seudo lager, and it throws off some sulfer. Apparently it is a blend of a few of their neutral ale yeast along with the california common lager yeast.

I am leaning towards the 1056 and see how that goes. It looks like I wanted to stay away from the wlp080 if it throws off some sulfer. I tried using the 2565 Kolsch and didn't like the way it came out, I would have liked it better if I had the means on cold crashing it. I'll have to work on getting a tub to hold water and ice so I can crash it if I use yeast that is like an ale/lager mix. I have 2 jars of washed kolsch yeast from about 7 months ago, it might still be good.

WY 1056 will work fine for a cream ale, but I REALLY like WLP080. My last couple cream ales I have used WLP001 because I have a lot of washed jars of it from previous batches, and although the beer is alright, I really prefer the 080. It makes for a more crisp, lager-like beer. Several people have sworn that the cream ale I made with it was a lager. It does give off some sulfur smells during the first few days of fermentation, but it goes away fast. After doing a side-by-side comparison of the same cream ale recipe with 001 in one and 080 in the other, I think I will be using 080 from now on.

What temp should you ferment WLP080 at? I was planning around 66 to 68.

it is alright to ferment at that temp range but you will want to cold crash it for a few days to get the yeast to clean up and fall out. If I had the means I would ferment within your temp range for one week, then drop the temp to about 55 for another week, then cold crash to about 40-45 for a few days if it hasn't cleared up.

Alright, appreciate the response. I have a ferm chamber, but it's one you swap ice so I haven't got the science down and know for sure if I put, for example, 2 bottles of ice instead of 4 I get this temp. I put three in there the other day and within 20 minutes I had it to 51.4 degrees so I know I can get it in the 40's or 30's very easily.

BIGREDIOWAN said:

What temp should you ferment WLP080 at? I was planning around 66 to 68.

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I have fermented 080 at 68 degrees with good results

BIGREDIOWAN said:

What temp should you ferment WLP080 at? I was planning around 66 to 68.

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I've had good luck fermenting the WLP080 @ 65F and even dropping it down closer to 62F. The lower temps seems to produce a cleaner beer.

The few times I've let the fermentation temp raise naturally (65F start) to the low 70s the beers produced more fruity esters.

Overall WLP080 is a great yeast strain.

Brew on!

I really like this yeast as well. I started my fermentation at 60 which was probably a bit cold as they worked fairly slowly. Had a full krausen for about 12 days. I then let it work its way up to 65ish and it finished right up and dropped out really well.

Finished beer was very clean. Its my new go-to "lagery" yeast since I don't have true lagering capabilities. Hell, I'll even try it in my upcoming PA recipes.