WLP090 San Diego not so Super?

Since November I've been using Whitelabs new San Diego Superyeast and have had excellent results. Mind you it's not the rocket that was claimed originally, but does a similar clean job to Wyeast 1056 and is just the job for American Wheats, Summer Ales etc. It reminds me of that old Pacman strain from a couple of years ago.

I find it ferments out nicely in a week and clears beautifully. I just made an APA for a comp at the end of February As usual it went berserk for about 4 days with krausen right up to the lid, then settled down and after about 4 more days (18°C) I kegged it off as there was no further activity. On kegging it tasted rather sweet and syrupy so I did a hydro reading.... 1020

I hadn't done anything different, full malt bill, around 1050, mashed around 65°C, same old same old.
Anyway it was in the Cornie keg so I gave it a good shaking and next morning on lifting the PRV I got a good hiss. Aha, still fermenting. On arriving home I raised the valve again and got a beer shower - so I very gently let the gas pressure off, with a bit more foaming happening, and loosened off a post on the keg to allow the gas to leak out and stood the keg in a pail.

It literally hissed at me like an angry cat and the foam suddenly started oozing out and runnning down the side of the keg. This morning it's settled down, I tightened up the post and just give the PRV a tug every few hours and get a bit of a hiss. I'll try a gravity reading tomorrow. Then clean up all the bits and put in the kegerator.

Edit: grammar

Anyone had a stucky with San Diego? I'm putting it down to poor oxygenation initially, have another batch on the go and I gave it a good thrashing with a slotted spoon on the second day, still going vigorously in the FV.

I should point out it's the first stuck ferm I've ever had, after around 200 brews over 4 years.

I brewed another IIPA with SSY a couple of weeks back (washed, 2nd generation). The first time I used the SSY the batch turned out great. The 2nd batch cleared nicely and I assumed that in another week or so I would be at a FG below 1.010 and ready to roll. Your experience has me thinking - I am going to take a gravity reading and if it is high I will rouse the yeast and see if it kicks back into action. Hopefully all is well but thanks for the heads up. I did not find it to be as aggressive as PacMan in terms of attenuation and more like 1056 or even 1272.

I'm bottling my 1st batch of SDS beer tonight. It was OG 1.050, finished a little high, 1.019, but it's a brown ale with a healthy amount of caramel and toasted malt. I made a slurry from the cake and pitched it into an oversized (7 gallons) batch. Maybe the problem is the flocculance, which is medium to high, I think. Might be the price for a clearer beer than 1056.
I was thinking of using it in a couple of high-gravity long-aged beers for next winter because of the alcohol tolerance, but maybe I should reconsider.

This is a great parable on always taking a gravity reading before kegging/bottling. At least you didn't bottle the thing and make some nice bottle grenades . On one batch I used it on I fermented it a little colder around 60 degrees celcius and it was taking a really long time to attenuate. Raising it to 68 solved that though but if I remember right the krausen has fallen about midway through it completely attenuating.

ive used wlp090 primarily since it came out. clean, fast, and flocs out great.i made a barleywine 1.109 mashed @ 149. finished at 1.011 and flocc'd out in about 10 days. also made a X/IPA 1.060 @ 149 that finished out at 1.008. all i can think of is not enough yeast and/or oxygen, thermometer is wrong(mash), or ferment temp (to low?)

nmber0nestunna said:

ive used wlp090 primarily since it came out. clean, fast, and flocs out great.i made a barleywine 1.109 mashed @ 149. finished at 1.011 and flocc'd out in about 10 days. also made a X/IPA 1.060 @ 149 that finished out at 1.008. all i can think of is not enough yeast and/or oxygen, thermometer is wrong(mash), or ferment temp (to low?)

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Did you take any measures to keep it active - roll it stir it, etc.? What temp was it at?

controlled ferment at 67. once krausen starts to drop i usually ramp up the temp for a diacetyl rest.(+1 F everyday for 5 days then let it sit for a few til it tastes right.) no sloshing it around here, you dont want to oxygenate the beer once its fermenting in most cases.

nmber0nestunna said:

controlled ferment at 67. once krausen starts to drop i usually ramp up the temp for a diacetyl rest.(+1 F everyday for 5 days then let it sit for a few til it tastes right.) no sloshing it around here, you dont want to oxygenate the beer once its fermenting in most cases.

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A gentle swirl to get the yeast back into suspension won't oxygenate the wort. I do it all the time with yeasts that are notorious for being sticky (Belgian Saison, some of the British ale yeasts. Never has caused a problem in 100's of batches.

Not certain why you would need to do a D rest with this yeast. It is pretty much like the other Cali ale yeasts and tears through the sugars in the mid 60's just fine without any temp adjustment.

I've been giving batch #2 a swirl and it's finishing off nicely. Here in Australia we almost universally use barrel shaped FVs with screw on lids and these lend themselves to using cling wrap instead of the lid (the rubber sealing ring from the original lid comes in handy) so the beer always has a layer of pure CO2 over it.



Of course with no airlock you have to depend on experience and the appearance of the brew to judge when fermentation is finished, the trap that I fell into with my brew in my OP.

nmber0nestunna said:

ive used wlp090 primarily since it came out. clean, fast, and flocs out great.i made a barleywine 1.109 mashed @ 149. finished at 1.011 and flocc'd out in about 10 days. also made a X/IPA 1.060 @ 149 that finished out at 1.008. all i can think of is not enough yeast and/or oxygen, thermometer is wrong(mash), or ferment temp (to low?)

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Hey,
How did your BW turn out? That's impressive attenuation on a first generation. What batch size? Yeast starter size?

cbraun77s said:

Hey,
How did your BW turn out? That's impressive attenuation on a first generation. What batch size? Yeast starter size?

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brewed 1/1/12. keg'd on the 1/15 and is now aging. i was surprised by the attenuation. was shooting for mid 1.020's. i might have to make another batch and mash higher to blend. just sampled and it tastes bitter, dry, astringent, sweet alcohols and a bit hot but not harsh (slightly carbonated 8psi @ 50 F). ended up with 5.25 gal. made 2 1300ml starters with 1 vial each(decant/pitch). i use disposable oxygen tanks and i ran it low for 2 min(1 min usually).

Montanaandy said:

A gentle swirl to get the yeast back into suspension won't oxygenate the wort. I do it all the time with yeasts that are notorious for being sticky (Belgian Saison, some of the British ale yeasts. Never has caused a problem in 100's of batches.

Not certain why you would need to do a D rest with this yeast. It is pretty much like the other Cali ale yeasts and tears through the sugars in the mid 60's just fine without any temp adjustment.

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just a habit i do at the end of all my fermentation's. the higher temp gives the yeast a little extra umph to help attenuate and clean up.