Quick Ferment w/ London Ale Wyeast 1028

I pitched a 3 liter starter of Wyeast 1028 into 11 gallons 1.064 wort on Saturday morning. The wort was 64 degrees. By Sunday it was blowing off and was about 70 degrees. The krausen had fallen completely by Tuesday and was back down to 64 degrees. There does not appear to be any activity on the surface of the beer. The temperature of the ferment was controlled. Basically it just rose freely up to the 70's then back down as fermentation slowed.

The gravity is at 1.018 which is about 71% attenuation. I'm going to leave it for a bit longer to see if it goes down anymore. I hope that my yeast didn't crap out to early and not attenuate all the way. Has anyone else had a similarly quick ferment with this yeast?

I presume me saying RDWHAHB is going to be greeted by a rolling of the eyes, so I'll say this. With a 3 L start into 11 gallons you're pitching almost 8% total volume. With the nature of fermentation being an exothermic reaction, a spike in temperature during high krausen is to be expected. If your gravity is at 1.018 after that high of an original gravity one can be sure of two things: A.) It'll get you drunk B.) It's already attenuated enough to be considered in the "safe range" for a finished beer, and it's still oh so young. I'd expect it to finish just a little bit lower than that, and it'll be money. Your yeast didn't crap out, all is well my friend. Enjoy your new beer!

It will be OK. London Ale is one of the three strains I ranch. Just like other ale yeasts, the lower the better for active ferment, but if you kept it under 75°F it will be good and if you kept in under 72 it will be excellent.

If you can keep it under 68F you're getting laid, soon.

1018 is real close to done if you mashed high. Watch for 1012 to 1014 if you mashed inthe low 140s.

With a big starter London Ale is pretty fast, but post primary clean up is still measured in weeks.


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OK thanks. Just to clarify. The 3L starter had been decanted prior to pitching...

Ok well, I guess everything else still applies =)

I'm resurrecting this old thread because It made me laugh when I was recently searching for info on 1028.

Tonight, 45 hours after pitching a 2.5 liter starter of 1028 to my winter warmer, it looked like fermentation was beginning to slow down so I opened my carboy and added some easily fermentable sugars (Lyle's Golden Syrup). I took a gravity sample, and I can report that this beast attenuated from 1078 down to 1019 in less than two days. That's 75% attenuation only 45 hours after pitching!

I expected the gravity sample to be pretty noxious, but you know what? I ended up drinking the whole thing, and it didn't even taste very green.

tonyolympia said:

I'm resurrecting this old thread because It made me laugh when I was recently searching for info on 1028.

Tonight, 45 hours after pitching a 2.5 liter starter of 1028 to my winter warmer, it looked like fermentation was beginning to slow down so I opened my carboy and added some easily fermentable sugars (Lyle's Golden Syrup). I took a gravity sample, and I can report that this beast attenuated from 1078 down to 1019 in less than two days. That's 75% attenuation only 45 hours after pitching!

I expected the gravity sample to be pretty noxious, but you know what? I ended up drinking the whole thing, and it didn't even taste very green.

Click to expand...

Good to know that I wasn't crazy...

I only had a 1.062 OG beer at 65 degrees and it blew the air lock between 24 to 30 hours in a 65 degree room. That was with only a 700ml starter for 2.5gal! Came home to a yeast smelling downstairs with a re-decorated wall and ceiling. The WLP-028 in the same beer, different carboy was chugging along at 68 deg. no problem. Guess my Father's day stir plate(s) make better starters than an o2 infusion at the start.

I've yet to try a British Ale strain that has not had a quick violent and thorough ferment. Wyeast 1968, Windsor, s04, wlp007, and Nottingham all have been vigorous ferments that would normally make you think they didn't attenuate fully. Great yeasts though.