My Faith In Wyeast Restored

I was very disappointed the first time I used Wyeast. It was pretty expensive compared to the dry yeast and did not appear to work as it should have. There was very little swelling and it did not mix properly when shaken.

It had me pretty irate with the cost of it and all.

I had picked up two packs at the recommendation of the home brew suppliers that day.

I broke out the second today. I smacked it, it swelled nicely, mixed nicely, and started working quickly.

I will guess that I might have gotten an off pack the first time around.

Anyway, the 3068 Weihenstephan appears to be working nicely and I'm looking forward to tasting the stout I used it with in the near future.

Oh it's nothing to worry about. Not all of the packs swell.

However, it shouldn't really matter since you should be making starters with those things anyway

ronclark said:

Anyway, the 3068 Weihenstephan appears to be working nicely and I'm looking forward to tasting the stout I used it with in the near future.

Click to expand...

Hmmmm Banana Stout has a nice ring to it.

SwampassJ said:

Hmmmm Banana Stout has a nice ring to it.

Click to expand...

Yes. I'm planning on adding some cocoa nibs to it in the secondary as well. Do you think the yeast will provide enough banana flavor or I should toss in some banana extract or essence in the bottling stage?

ronclark said:

Yes. I'm planning on adding some cocoa nibs to it in the secondary as well. Do you think the yeast will provide enough banana flavor or I should toss in some banana extract or essence in the bottling stage?

Click to expand...

Tastes are relevant, I used it in my first hefeweizen at a little over 70 degrees. Nasty banana bomb to me, but some people liked it. Closer to 62 it puts out more clove. I would try it in the middle of the spectrum, if at bottling time you want some more banana flavor try dosing a small portion of it instead of all of it to see if you like it more.

To me bananas and beer should be kept separate. I do not like bananas.

Reno_eNVy said:

Oh it's nothing to worry about. Not all of the packs swell.

However, it shouldn't really matter since you should be making starters with those things anyway

Click to expand...

No starter this time. I need to get into that in the future from what I'm reading. This one worked great without it and had a huge display of fermentation this morning.

It was about 13 hours from the time I pitched the yeast until I saw it this morning. Much better than the 36 hours I was sadly prepared to wait.