Windsor pitching rate

Ive been reading up on Danstar Vs. Fermentis yeasts, and Ive noticed a lot of bad reviews for Windsor and a lot of ok to good reviews on US-04. I did read on Danstars technical info that their pitching rate is 1g/L, which would require roughly 20g per 5 gallons. Fermentis recommends 50-80g/hL, or 10-15g per 5 gallons, unless my conversions are wrong. Seems the big complaint on Windsor is it leaves an incredibly high FG (even though it is only a moderately attenuating yeast). Is it possible people are underpitching this yeast? For anyone thats used this yeast, have you been using 1 or 2 packets?

Man, that would have been good info for when I used Nottingham. I was not impressed with Notty, but apparently I was underpitching quite a bit.

Although, buying two packets of Danstar removes it's price advantage over Fermentis.

When I use Windsor, I only pitch one packet. Nothing wrong with Windsor, it was selected for proper attenuation in can + kilo kits. That means you have high FG with all-malt brews. Useful for certain browns and stouts.

Resurrection zombie thread. GGGRRAAAAAIIIINNNNSSS

I'm putting together a recipe and I'm trying to select a yeast. I am down to S05 or Windsor. These are quite different, I understand. Windsor should attenuate kinda high and S05 pretty low. I'm just worried about how high the Windsor will stop because I don't want candy beer, but I do want a full bodied beer, not too dry.

A lot of threads on this forum regarding Windsor are talking about VERY high FG, like 1018-1027, but I'm not sure if those threads only exist because of poor pitching or temp control, or if this is normal for this beer. My OG will be 1048-ish.

Grain bill:
9lb Canadian 2-row
1.5lb Caramel 77L (I wanted 60L, but this brew store has 45 or 77 to choose from as alternatives)
0.5lb Honey malt

The plan is to really taste that Caramel and Honey flavour. Maybe I'm going overboard in trying to force that into the beer and the dryness of the 05 would be okay... I dunno. Anyway, the question is, with a moderate OG like this, to where should I expect a properly pitched Windsor to attenuate?

I would go with the S05 and just mash high, Something like 158. That should keep enough of the starches together to prevent you from finishing dry and give you a decent amount of body.

Or alternatively you could just go with Nottingham, which has a british-y estery profile (somewhat) and attenuates well but not quite as dry as US-05 in my experience. US-05 lends almost no character to a beer, so just make sure you are good with that when selecting it. More and more I brew I find that I like yeasts that contribute a bit more than just making alcohol (i.e. WLP007, Nottingham, Windsor etc.).

Nashbrewer said:

I would go with the S05 and just mash high, Something like 158. That should keep enough of the starches together to prevent you from finishing dry and give you a decent amount of body.

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The high mash was actually part of my plan before I started learning about yeast. I got lost in the details when yeast selection came up. So a heavy attenuator in a starchy wort won't get as dry, right? So S05 should be safe.

I'm not sure if this particular recipe warrants yeast adding flavours - at least not yet. I want to see what the basic recipe creates for me, then I can perhaps play with yeasts in future batches.

Here's a novel concept... I have a few 3-gal carboys... maybe I should just split the batch and use S04 AND S05 and compare. The only problem I see here is that S04 should ferment a bit cooler, so one or the other is going to ferment outside of its ideal temp and I think it would be the S04 because I may have a hard time keeping cool in this brew (warm weather is here, ferm temp controller is not yet wired up)

s-04 will give off much more flavor when fermented warm than S-05. S-04 will ferment overnight if you have the wort around 70 deg and will throw many more esters. I would prefer the S-04 fermented in the 60-65 deg range.

Yeah, that's why I'm stuck not using it... unless I can get my controller up and running in the next 10 days. It sounds like a more attractive yeast, but I'd have to keep it cool and I don't know if I can.

A lot of people are saying they use Bathtubs with lots of water and frozen bottles. Like a 2L or 1L frozen solid and swap it out every 12 hours or so. Might be worth a shot. Or a test run with regular water, that will get you close though the actual beer will run a few degrees higher due to the fermentation.

Everytime I've used windsor, I usually mash a lower so the yeast will attenuate more. I actually perfer the flavor of windsor over s-04.

Nashbrewer said:

A lot of people are saying they use Bathtubs with lots of water and frozen bottles. Like a 2L or 1L frozen solid and swap it out every 12 hours or so. Might be worth a shot. Or a test run with regular water, that will get you close though the actual beer will run a few degrees higher due to the fermentation.

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Swamp cooler, one of the few things in life thats as cheap as it is effective. I started doing it for less than 6 bucks (had to buy the plastic tote) and was blown away by how much better all of my beers tasted. I might have, at most, changed out the ice blocks (frozen soda bottles of water) 3 times in 24 hours to keep my fermentor at 66. Really effective, and I havent even tried the evaporative part of the cooler yet, just haven't needed to.

sagnew440 said:

Everytime I've used windsor, I usually mash a lower so the yeast will attenuate more. I actually perfer the flavor of windsor over s-04.

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How low do you get your beers doing it like this? I want to try windsor too. I understand it's ment to have a high F.G. but I don't want it way too high.

Stellrbrewr said:

Ive been reading up on Danstar Vs. Fermentis yeasts, and Ive noticed a lot of bad reviews for Windsor and a lot of ok to good reviews on US-04. I did read on Danstars technical info that their pitching rate is 1g/L, which would require roughly 20g per 5 gallons. Fermentis recommends 50-80g/hL, or 10-15g per 5 gallons, unless my conversions are wrong. Seems the big complaint on Windsor is it leaves an incredibly high FG (even though it is only a moderately attenuating yeast). Is it possible people are underpitching this yeast? For anyone thats used this yeast, have you been using 1 or 2 packets?

Click to expand...

Unless I am late in the gate here, the best way to pitch windsor yeast is into the garbage.

Go for a long three pointer for extra effect.

If you must use it, 1 packet is way more than you usually need for a 5 gallon batch.