American Pale Ale with WLP029

I've become a huge fan of White Labs' German Ale/Kolsch yeast, WLP029. While the majority of my US Pale Ales have used WLP001 or their San Diego Super Yeast WLP090, I'm excited to try making one with this German-style yeast. I'm currently in the middle of my boil on the recipe below, which I'm calling Badonkadonk Pale Ale... it's the same grain bill as my Tiny Bottom Pale Ale with American-inspired hop additions. What do you think?

GRAIN BILL
8.5 lbs NW Pale Malt (2.0 SRM) 78.1 %
12.0 oz Crystal Malt - 15L (15.0 SRM) 6.9 %
12.0 oz Vienna Malt (3.5 SRM) 6.9 %
9.0 oz Victory Malt (25.0 SRM) 5.2 %
5.0 oz Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) 2.9 %

HOP ADDITIONS
14.00 g Magnum [11.60 %] - Boil 60.0 min 23.5 IBUs
14.00 g Simcoe [13.00 %] - Boil 20.0 min 8.9 IBUs
20.00 g Cascade [6.40 %] - Boil 5.0 min 3.1 IBUs
15.00 g Simcoe [13.00 %] - Boil 0.0 min 0.0 IBUs
1.0 pkg German Ale/Kolsch Yeast (WLP029)

The names from these are inspired by my 2 kids- my son, the one who likes beer... err... has the tiniest ass ever, while my daughter, who hates beer, has, well, a badonkadonk... like her daddy

Wort is chilling down to pitching temp and I'm all cleaned up... time for a beer.

Ballast Point uses that yeast in their APA. Was thinking of trying it on my next APA also. Report back how it goes!

itsbeeryo said:

Ballast Point uses that yeast in their APA. Was thinking of trying it on my next APA also. Report back how it goes!

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Will do! I actually repitched some from my Blonde that I kegged on Friday... holy deliciousness! It's bubbling away at 63F as I type.2 weeks to kegging, 3 to chugging!!

Definitely follow up on this. I plan on repitching wlp029 into a pale ale shortly. The yeast is waiting in my fridge.

Pie_Man said:

Definitely follow up on this. I plan on repitching wlp029 into a pale ale shortly. The yeast is waiting in my fridge.

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I plan to start "lagering" at 52F next weekend, kegging the following weekend, and finally drinking it the weekend after that. I'll be sure to let you know.

Did you like 029 or 090 better? What differences did you notice?\

thanks Kevin

haeffnkr said:

Did you like 029 or 090 better? What differences did you notice?\

thanks Kevin

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I actually preferred the 090 to the 029 for this Pale. While it was good, that yeast seems best for Blonde, Cream, and Koelsch, in my opinion. The beer dried out a tad more than I wanted and left that very distinct 029 flavor, which I really like in the aforementioned styles. Hope that helps!

For my Kolsch I did a step starter (2 - 2L) and the WLP029 happily fermented away at 60F.

helibrewer said:

For my Kolsch I did a step starter (2 - 2L) and the WLP029 happily fermented away at 60F.

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029 is hands down my favorite yeast for Koelsch and Blonde Ale, fermented at 63F.

You are saying for a very clean cream ale (Faux Lager) you would use 029 over 090? (Yes for Kolsch 029 is awesome)

thanks Kevin

haeffnkr said:

You are saying for a very clean cream ale (Faux Lager) you would use 029 over 090? (Yes for Kolsch 029 is awesome)

thanks Kevin

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Not necessarily, I just think these hybrid yeasts work vey well for Cream Ale. Strong ale yeasts (e.g., WLP001) can work well if fermented cool enough (60F)... and I've heard 090 stalls when fermented too cool.

WLP029 used to be my favorite strain for everything from blonde ales to amber ales. It's a great strain and I've made some of my best beers with it but it REALLY needs a good amount of time.

I've been on a fast grain to glass kick lately and have moved away from 029 for this very reason.

d_striker said:

WLP029 used to be my favorite strain for everything from blonde ales to amber ales. It's a great strain and I've made some of my best beers with it but it REALLY needs a good amount of time.

I've been on a fast grain to glass kick lately and have moved away from 029 for this very reason.

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What are you using now?

Thanks Kevin

haeffnkr said:

What are you using now?

Thanks Kevin

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Nothing out of the ordinary. Been playing with WLP001 and WY1272 at different temperature cycles and pitching rates.

I've been playing around with deliberately over-pitching and fermenting at 60-62 with these. My goal is to have it in primary for a maximum of two weeks or less if I can get away with it. 1272 takes a bit longer than the 001. Rack to keg and start tasting from there. I'm liking my results so far.

My experience with 029, fermented anywhere from 60-64, has been that it needs at least three weeks (the longer the better) in primary and benefits from lagering if you have the capability. My experience also shows that the sulfer from 029 takes at least a couple months to fully dissipate. But if you do give it care and time, 029 will yield beers that definitely suit my palate. I really like that 029 will give you beers that have that clean, crisp, champagne-like flavor while still allowing hop flavor and aroma to come through and stay awhile. What I don't like is that it takes at least 2 months to get there.

d_striker said:

Nothing out of the ordinary. Been playing with WLP001 and WY1272 at different temperature cycles and pitching rates.

I've been playing around with deliberately over-pitching and fermenting at 60-62 with these. My goal is to have it in primary for a maximum of two weeks or less if I can get away with it. 1272 takes a bit longer than the 001. Rack to keg and start tasting from there. I'm liking my results so far.

My experience with 029, fermented anywhere from 60-64, has been that it needs at least three weeks (the longer the better) in primary and benefits from lagering if you have the capability. My experience also shows that the sulfer from 029 takes at least a couple months to fully dissipate. But if you do give it care and time, 029 will yield beers that definitely suit my palate. I really like that 029 will give you beers that have that clean, crisp, champagne-like flavor while still allowing hop flavor and aroma to come through and stay awhile. What I don't like is that it takes at least 2 months to get there.

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I agree with much of this- WLP029 needs more time, though I ferment it around 62F and the sulfur dissipates quickly. For really fast turnaround, you should try WLP090 San Diego Super Yeast. Ferments out in 4 or so days, keg and carb for 4-5 days, then start drinking! It's much more flocculant than WLP001 with similar characteristics.

Brulosopher said:

I agree with much of this- WLP029 needs more time, though I ferment it around 62F and the sulfur dissipates quickly. For really fast turnaround, you should try WLP090 San Diego Super Yeast. Ferments out in 4 or so days, keg and carb for 4-5 days, then start drinking! It's much more flocculant than WLP001 with similar characteristics.

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Are you all using a secondary or Primary only?

I have been using wlp029 lately in my young brewing career
I get it from a local micro that uses wlp029 as their house yeast.
They seem to really like it cause it is clean/fast.
They ferment some beers at 63 but several at 65.

I have been using their (free ) yeast for a few Kolsh, Cream Ale and Munich Helles style beers with what I feel are good results, but always looking for better results...

I usually chill the wort to 61, pitch a big starter and ramp to about 62 the first day or 2 and work up to 70 over a total of 5 days.
After a week at in the primary I rack on to gellatin in a secondary, leave that set for a few days, cold crash for a 24-48 hours, rack to keg, force carb that at 30# for 30 hours and start drinking.
It gets a little better after a week in the keg.
I am not getting any off flavors though.

So... all that said.
With a cream ale/light style beer, after whatever ferment plan used, is the taste cleaner with wlp090 or wlp029 ? or is it basically oranges and apples?

To note have used s-05 and Notty and did not care for the results.
Pacman is awesome but I have not used it yet on lighter beers.
WLP029 is good... but is wlp090 better? (and better than free wlp029 yeast?)

thanks Kevin

haeffnkr said:

Are you all using a secondary or Primary only?

I have been using wlp029 lately in my young brewing career
I get it from a local micro that uses wlp029 as their house yeast.
They seem to really like it cause it is clean/fast.
They ferment some beers at 63 but several at 65.

I have been using their (free ) yeast for a few Kolsh, Cream Ale and Munich Helles style beers with what I feel are good results, but always looking for better results...

I usually chill the wort to 61, pitch a big starter and ramp to about 62 the first day or 2 and work up to 70 over a total of 5 days.
After a week at in the primary I rack on to gellatin in a secondary, leave that set for a few days, cold crash for a 24-48 hours, rack to keg, force carb that at 30# for 30 hours and start drinking.
It gets a little better after a week in the keg.
I am not getting any off flavors though.

So... all that said.
With a cream ale/light style beer, after whatever ferment plan used, is the taste cleaner with wlp090 or wlp029 ? or is it basically oranges and apples?

To note have used s-05 and Notty and did not care for the results.
Pacman is awesome but I have not used it yet on lighter beers.
WLP029 is good... but is wlp090 better? (and better than free wlp029 yeast?)

thanks Kevin

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Primary and keg