White Labs Platinum Strains

I am expecting my White Labs Yorkshire yeast vials any day now.


Does White Labs cycle their platinum strains every year? In other words, will we be able to get our hands on them next year or is White Labs more like Wyeast, in the way that Wyeast releases a strain they keep under lock and key for a short period and then it's S.O.L. for the those of us who didn't get a chance?

I'd like to get my hands on the Wyeast Yorkshire and do a side-by-side comparison.

They're cycled, but not on a set schedule. I'm really liking the white labs yorkshire square yeast from the gravity sample of the beer I made with it. By the way, if you didn't already know, the white labs yorkshire yeast is from samuel smiths while the wyeast yorkshire yeast is from timothy taylor. Both are supposed to be very good.

KingBrianI said:

They're cycled, but not on a set schedule. I'm really liking the white labs yorkshire square yeast from the gravity sample of the beer I made with it. By the way, if you didn't already know, the white labs yorkshire yeast is from samuel smiths while the wyeast yorkshire yeast is from timothy taylor. Both are supposed to be very good.

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Yep.

I was actually aware of that. Sam Smith makes my favorite beer hands down. The Tim Taylor is apparently incredibly good as well...


I want to build a good English ales yeast bank. I am sure it will take some time.

In the meanwhile, I am going to brewing up a bitter in a few weeks. Once everything is in order around here... I have been in the process of updating equipment and will have to figure out my efficiencies.

I realize that the SRM won't fit the stylebook, but I don't give a rat's bottom. The tenative recipe to form the base of the beer, I until I get everything worked out....

7.5# English Pale (probably Thomas Fawcett Optic)
1.5 oz Thomas Fawcett Amber (36L)
0.5 oz Thomas Fawett Black Malt (455L)

I figure I just want to get a taste. I'll probably just mash at 150F for 120 minutes.

I am expecting 1# each of Bravo, Styrian, First Gold, Fuggles, and Target. I don't know how I'll use these but probably 1/2 oz of Bravo for 60 minutes and 1/2 oz of Styrian at 30 minutes. It may be overhopped but according to Terry Foster's book the trend of low hopped bitters is the result of the recent trends in the massive beer factories skimping and less than due to good taste.

Looks like an interesting recipe. If it were me, I'd throw in some crystal malt though, probably 8 oz of crystal 55. I love styrian goldings, I'd probably add a flameout addition to the above recipe but if you're not looking for any hop aroma you could leave it as is. And why the 2 hr mash? One hour is sure to be plenty.

I don't have it here with me right now... Don't you hate when you lose charts and graphs. It's a graph showing conversion time vs. temperature vs. total % extract.

If I remember correctly.... 158F total conversion in 45 minutes usually. 154F/60 minutes. 152F/90 minutes.... 149F was 120 minutes... 140 was 180 minutes.

It has something to do with the activity level of the enzymes and their denaturing rate. Either way... 149F is the point of highest percentage of yield vs. fermentability of the extract.

A British technique is mash in at 140F for 15 minutes and then raise to 154F for the duration. With British malts the protein rest is to avoided at all costs as it has a negative effect on the British malts. Although often a 104F/30minute rest is common as it shows improved mash yields with British pale malts of approx 15%. If the 104F/30minute step is used the next step is usually 140F and then 158F. A more common schedule is 104F/155F.

Some of this I am getting from an interesting book: Terry Foster says that commercial English pales tend to be about 15% maize (There's that 15% number again!).

For the first couple batches I will stick to 150F flat even and monitor the pH. The next two batches I will perform the 104F step and take note of the changes before I start modifying the recipe much.

You have almost convinced me to throw in some Fawcett 10L Crystal as the original gravity will begin below 1.040. 12oz or so ought to do the trick. The 23L Crystal is awfully attractive too. My aim is to let my tasting panel evaluate and become familiar with the several Thomas Fawcett pale malts available. Each one has it's own character.

The addition of black malt and amber malt is not unstandard. It isn't used by big breweries but is used by craftbrewers. The rule of thumb given is no more than 2% on black malt, and no more than 4% of the total grist respectively. I have decided to halve these values. The black malt is give a subtle complexity and the amber to yield a subtle nut flavor tying in with the caramel of the standard crystal.

From what I understand the overall impression should be due to the sulfate-chloride balance being biased toward the sulfate just a tad. Unlike most brewers and I gather this is the case with you, the yeast is my primary concern. I want the beauty of a good yeast to shine through.

I would like to understand more about how to achieve fullness of palate with a final low gravity.

But back on topic. I have emailed an online brew shop and plan on visiting one of the local shops on the morrow. According to their website (the local shop) they are still listing a few of the platinum and special collection strains.

I will let you know if I obtain any. Local homebrew groups are all fine and dandy, but the Internet provides us with worldwide connectivity. Anyone interested and I mean truly interested in the UK Bitter and UK Brown styles should pool their knowledge and maintain yeast banks. That way in case their is diasaster there is someone who can be relied upon to recover what was lost locally.

It sounds like you've done a lot of research and know exactly what you're looking for. I feel the caramel malt is essential to the style but if you don't add it, I understand that that's a new trend in english bitters (though typically in paler versions). And I agree that it would be great for there to be several banks of english ale yeast strains. I've been trying to get my hands on the wyeast west yorkshire yeast since just after it quit being sold last year. I thought it would come back into rotation this year but it doesn't appear it will. Hearing so many great things about timothy taylor's landlord bitter, and not being able to source any over here, I meant to make a clone, though it has to wait till I find the 1469.

KingBrianI said:

It sounds like you've done a lot of research and know exactly what you're looking for. I feel the caramel malt is essential to the style but if you don't add it, I understand that that's a new trend in english bitters (though typically in paler versions). And I agree that it would be great for there to be several banks of english ale yeast strains. I've been trying to get my hands on the wyeast west yorkshire yeast since just after it quit being sold last year. I thought it would come back into rotation this year but it doesn't appear it will. Hearing so many great things about timothy taylor's landlord bitter, and not being able to source any over here, I meant to make a clone, though it has to wait till I find the 1469.

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I think I will end up putting a caramel malt in as a final touch. Thank you for the advice.

From what I understand, Wyeast will re-release a strain that they have under lock and key if there is sufficient customer demand.

I am going to start a petition thread.

I'm really liking the white labs yorkshire square yeast from the gravity sample of the beer I made with it.

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Me too. Smells like Sam Smith's.

Well I did it boys.... I spent $186 on miscellaneous lab equipment.

All borosilicate and autoclaveable. (36) 12ml vials w/ caps, (20) 100mm petri dishes, a triple-beam balance w/ weights good to 0.1 grams. (6) Erlenmeyer flasks in different volumes, an alcohol lamp and replacement wicks, inoculation needle and loop, autoclaveable foam plugs, agar powder.

This ought to be enough to get started on building a yeast bank.