WLP002 Yeast

This is the first time I've used this yeast and I've never used one like it before. I set it at room temp for about seven hours before pitching. The yeast in the bottom of the vile was like silly putty. I had th shake it very hard to break it up and even then it was in chunks. The expiration date is in July so I don't think that is a problem. Is this normal?

I use that yeast often. Yea, it's a clumpy strain. I switched from the British ale yeast (WLP005) to the wlp002 and it does create a nice clear beer as advertised.

I've been using WLP002 a lot lately. 007 used to be my favorite because it's drier, but I think I like 002 better now. It's extremely flocculant - you'll have big chunks floating on top of the krausen and bobbing around in the beer. It's even chunky after it settles out - I've reused the same yeast about 4 times now.

It has started bubbling after 4 hours so I think it is OK. Does this yeast being so flocculant ever cause the fermentation to get stuck? I'm learning something new with this one.

When I brewed this batch I let some yeast from the vile drip into the hydrometer flask. It fermented on the kitchen counter for 4 days. I poured it into another flask and I about fell over. 4 days and it was down to 1.014 (from 1.062) and it is clear as a bell! 4 days!

I've noticed that WLP 002 is very clumpy. Chunks of yeast in the vial. I was contemplating asking the same thing before but never got around to it. I figured it was a characteristic of the yeast since I've used it a few times and noticed it every time.

RichBrewer said:

It has started bubbling after 4 hours so I think it is OK. Does this yeast being so flocculant ever cause the fermentation to get stuck? I'm learning something new with this one.

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Sometimes, yes. You might have to rouse them a bit.

will this yeast take a while to take off, I pitched mine 1.5 days ago and still nothing, i just posted this in the gen ? area...

I think the giant chunks flying around are just a characteristic of highly flocculent yeast. I did a scottish 80/- a month or two ago and used some wyeast 1728 which is highly flocculent. I had chunks the size of quarters boiling around it the carboy when it was really active. It really looked wild. It was like cottage cheese swirling around in there. Up to that point, I had only used low-medium flocculent yeast and I was a little concerned till I did some reading on it. I shoulda just relaxed and had a homebrew.

I'm giving up.
My ESB is stuck at 1.020 and nothing I've tried has worked. I'm going to cold condition then keg it up. My next brew, a brown ale, will be fermented with harvested yeast from this batch. I figure the hugh yeast volume will eliminate stuck fermentation from highly floculent WLP002. If it gets stuck again I'm afraid I will be finished with White Labs. I've only had 2 stuck fermentations. They were both White Labs and they were both fermented at the warmest temprature I've ever used (68 degrees).
I've used Wyeast a lot and I've never had a problem.

You could try adding some dry yeast and see if that jump starts it.

I'm going to let it go as is. It is now cold conditioning and will be kegged in a couple weeks.
The more I think about it, the more I'm convinced that high flocculating yeast require a starter or need to be harvested from a prior batch. This one started fast but it never got going strong. I only got about a 1/2 inch layer of Kraeusen during the height of the primary fermentation. I didn't make a starter. I just pitched the contents of the tube.

Huh... same thing happened with the high flocculating 1728 I used.... only like 1/2" of krausen on the top.(if that) I thought it was weird and was a little concerned that there was a problem. Mine fermented out well though. I didn't use a starter then as I didn't have the capacity to do it. I will always use a starter now that I have the equipment to do it. Live and learn I guess.


RB you should have made this post in the hellfire ale thread hehe

OK. I'm done with the WLP002 yeast. I did my third batch with it and another stuck fermentation. Again at 1.020! This one was fermented with harvested yeast and it took off quick. Fermented for about 2 days then died. I kept the fermentation at 68-70 degrees and it was in the primary for 12 days. Now in the secondary the air lock is still.
I think I'm going to take it a step further and stop using White Labs. I never had these problems with Wyeast.

What was your OG? The 002 tends to leave beer maltier than the 007.

Personally, I've never had a problem with Whitelabs - the only bad yeast I ever had was a Wyeast smack pack.

alemonkey said:

What was your OG? The 002 tends to leave beer maltier than the 007.

Personally, I've never had a problem with White labs - the only bad yeast I ever had was a Wyeast smack pack.

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The OG was 1.060. After looking at the recipe, I did use a lot of crystal (2 pounds in a 6 gallon recipe). I did this brew before using Wyeast 1056 and the FG was 1.012 so I'm not sure what is going on.

I don't even bother with FG readings but i'm guessing the low attenuation/sweet character is a characteristic of the English ale yeast. Theres a drier version I think, and theres the London one which is drier again.

Hmm, dunno what to say. I use that yeast for both my Porter and IPA which are both healthy beers. Last time Porter was 1.063 -> 1.011 and the IPA was 1.066 -> 1.014. I do always do a starter.

There's enough yeast out there to avoid this one in the future though...

EDIT: Your attenuation result ended up at 66.6% using forumula: [(OG-FG)/(OG-1)] x 100. Range for that strain is 63-70 so your in line. I never bothered calculating mine until now and my IPA was 79% and porter 82%. I guess I'm now a bit confused why I do so well? The main reason I really like this yeast is the maltier outcome and the clear beer it makes.

I have a similar situation with some
"Fermentis Safale s-04" a dry ale yeast. At first pitch it got going on fermentation very quickly. I have since kept back the kreusen and stored it in the fridge for one week.
The yeast is healthy but it has the consistency of peanut butter and clumps together in chunks. It is being incredibly slow at getting going on the fermentation. Any advice? Should I try oxygenating the wort? I've also seen the use of magnetic stirrers to get trial jars mixing?

thanks
Matt