Wyeast 1098 British Ale

You know, I'm starting to think that 1098 and I don't work together very well. I'm on my 2nd batch of BM's ESB - the first batch with 1098 went from ..57 to .21. Warmed it up, stirrred it up, but no avail - stayed at .21.

So, I bottled it. I takes good, but cloyingly sweet. On its own, its great, but when comparing to other beers I've made, its like drinking full bodied sugar beer. I also realize the sweetness hides alot of complexity. Another thing is, the beer remains VERY cloudy -even after refridgeration. And I thought this was supposed to be a strain that flocculates well.. So this had me thinking:

Maybe I screwed up the the 1st batch? I tried again. I'm only 8 days into fermentation, but it seems its doing the same thing. As much as I can with my low-tech Ferm chamber (swamp cooler) I've kept the temp at 64-66 on the fermometer - but the ferm seems sluggish.. On day 4 I took it out of the water bath to warm it up and give it a swirl.

I won't know for another week for sure, so we'll see. Anyone else have a similar experience with 1098? I've had no problems with S-05, Irish Ale, Notty or Thames before.

That's strange. My experience with the 1098 is completely opposite. I made two batches with it and it attenuated so much that both beers turned out extremely dry and a bit tart. I also hate the 1098 except for different reasons than you.

Somehow, if we could make our beers join forces - we'd have the ultimate beer!

Works great for me. Made a ton of beers with it too. Just made another one that went from 1.046 to 1.009 in a few days then dropped out bright. Tasty and clean. Fermented at 68. This one doesn't need to be fermented at 65 to be clean in my experience.

My Wyeast pack was pretty old, from February, so I made a large starter in 3 steps up to 3.5 liters. I chilled it for 2 days, then dumped the liquid and pitched just the slurry and it took off in about 5 hours.

Maybe try 1968. I do all my beers with it. All British bitters, they come out great fermenting at 68 Deg F.

racin_ny said:

Maybe try 1968. I do all my beers with it. All British bitters, they come out great fermenting at 68 Deg F.

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I still haven't used 1968 myself, but gotta say if you're going for a lot of British character, then 1098 isn't really the right yeast. It's pretty neutral generally, leaning towards the bready flavors a little but not a lot of character. 1968 has a lot more character (as evidenced by all the Fuller's I've drank in my life). I like WLP, I think, 023, their Burton Ale yeast. I have Wyeast 1968, 1028 and WLP023(I think that's the number) in the fridge, with that Burton Ale yeast up next. I've used 1098 a lot for American styles in the past including in competition and it's neutral enough to pass as American yeast...IMHO...

I used it twice. The second time I made a sizeable starter and scaled back the grain bill and went from 1.048 to 1.014 and it was MUCH better than the 1.060 to 1.020 one I made.

Current basement temps got me into wyeast's 1028 though and I can tell immediately it's going to lack the fruity flavor the 1098 imparted.

i made an extract/steep 1.034 bitter with 1098. pitched directly from the smack pack. went down to 1.005. 85% AA

Based on the info from you all, maybe I'm fermenting too cool for the 1098. I'll do another batch, but leave it at basement temp ~67-69, without attempting a ferm temp control.

I figured if the fermometer read 64, then the ferment inside must be a few degrees warmer - but perhaps I cooled it down too much.

my brewmometer read 63-64F.

67-69 with this yeast will work well in my experience. Didn't see you mention a starter. Did you make a starter? If not, I'd consider it.

As for clarity, this one drops bright for me, drops out better than Wyeast 1056 for instance. It's not high floccing, but it drops out decently....

I hate whitbread yeast and all its variations. No matter how I ferment it, I always get a slight tangy flavor in the beer that somewhat reminds me of plain yogurt.

Even other peoples beer that use it has that same taste. Blech. Though it sure clears nice.

Jknapp said:

You know, I'm starting to think that 1098 and I don't work together very well. I'm on my 2nd batch of BM's ESB - the first batch with 1098 went from ..57 to .21. Warmed it up, stirrred it up, but no avail - stayed at .21.

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Was this an extract or AG batch? If AG, what was your mash temp?

I've had good luck with this yeast. I especially like it in English IPAs and I really like how my English Barleywine came out. Depending on mash temps I usually get 70-76% attenuation and I usually ferment between 64-68F with this strain.

Any yeast which has a tendency toward high flocculation also has a tendency to drop out before their job is done. 1098, 1099, 1187 - they've all got problems with attenuation if you don't keep after them. It's the nature of the beast; in order to assure attenuation, you need lots of cells in suspension. If the cells floc early, there won't be enough to properly attenuate. These yeasts were developed to produce star-bright beer in cask-conditioned ale. That means no filtering, no other forms of yeast removal. Just a little bit of Isinglass, if necessary to fine (clear) the cask after transport. That means high flocculation, which means possibly premature flocculation and resultant poor levels of attenuation.

Before we start talking about esters, let me point out that these are English strains. English strains produce esters. That's what makes them English strains. If you don't want the esters English strains produce, don't use English strains. Trying to ferment English strains cold enough that ester production is suppressed means something very, very important: You're screwing with the optimum metabolism of the organism. When you ferment cool, it has other effects than just suppressing ester production, because no metabolic effect exists in a vacuum unrelated to other metabolic effects; one of those effects is attenuation.

As others have said, pitch the appropriate amount of yeast for your OG - which will, in all instances with Wyeast, require a starter/slurry - aerate fully, and keep the ferment temperature relatively high. All the yeasts I listed above don't really like much less than 70F, in my experience. Certainly, not below 68F.

In short, these are not "fire and forget" yeasts. They're extremely good tools for a desired end - star-bright, estery, package-conditoned ale - but, like all specialized tools, they require a certain amount of thoughtful skill to use properly. If you're not willing to deal with these characteristics, or lack the skill set to deal with them, your best bet is to choose another yeast strain.

Bob

Dunno, I've had really good experiences with 1098 at 64F. Not too fruity, leaves maltiness, yet dry.

The yeast probably didn't get a good start, and the lower temperature may have prevented it from being agressive. Also your mash temperature has alot to do with how dry or sweet your beer will end up. The lower the mash temp. the dryer the beer will be, and opposite for higher temps. Lower temperatures make a sugar that's easier for the yeast to consume.