Best Yeast for a Wee Heavy

I would like to brew a wee heavy but am having a hard time choosing a yeast. From what I can tell a medium attenuating yeast is optimal (65-70% Range), but the strands specifically for a scotch ale are usually higher. So I guess the question is this: do you have experience on these strands and which would you suggest? Is there a strand you would suggest other than these?

Wyeast
1968
1728

White Labs
WLP002
WLP028

I brewed up a monster of a wee heavy a while back and the 1728 did a fantastic job. It was a washed cake from a heather ale I had done a few weeks prior. I was amazed at the results.

You can read my post on it here if you like. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/16-56-possible-258963/

High attenuation is ok. You don't want the yeast to crap out too early. Just mash high for body. 1728 is a beast! 1968 is a very low attenuating yeast with a lower alcohol tolerance that will give you more fruity esters. I wouldn't like a fruity scotch ale.

FYI, 1968 and wlp002 (Fullers) are the same strains.
1728 and wlp028 (McEwans) are the same strains as well. So this narrows it down a little.

I would use the 1728/wlp028 (McEwans) yeast as it usually does a great job simply due to the fact that there are typically more unfermentable sugars in a wee heavy than a normal ale, also the McEwans yeast was raised on scotch ale (wee heavy). The yeast tends to add a slight smokey flavor so if you don't like that you can use any cleaner english strain.

It sort of depends on your recipe though, I like to keep all my scotch/scottish ales with a simple grain bill, 2row and roasted barley.

Cool. Thank you for your input.

mine wasnt a true Wee Heavey, but it was a high grav Scotch Ale. I ended up using good ol' WPL001 California, because I needed the yeast cake for my real big imperial. I was pleasantly surprised how well it worked out. Great flavor, but not sweet.

I think I used the 002 for mine...turned out great! Careful though...very sensitive to temperatures.

jdlev said:

I think I used the 002 for mine...turned out great! Careful though...very sensitive to temperatures.

Click to expand...

What's your experience with the temperature and 002?

I used 1728 in mine and it turned out really well. I recommend that one.