Cry Havoc

Has anyone tried WLP862 Cry Havoc? Its Papazian's personal strain and is said to be both an ale and lager yeast. I listened to the description on White Labs site and it sounds really interesting. I was curious if anyone has tried this strain yet, the results they got and what kind of flavors were impacted? How did it handle temp variances, etc.

Denny said:

This si from someone who knows Charlie well...that's all I can say...

"it makes good beer.

one thing to keep in mind, though ... he gives all of his beers plenty of time to mellow ... lagers lager and ales secondary at ~ 50 for a good while. if you want to make something to have kegged in a week, i'd say this isn't the right yeast for you. it also doesn't attenuate very well ... so keep that in mind.

if you use it for every one of your beers, your wife is going to ask why you don't make any good wheat beers. at least that's what happened with charlie."

Click to expand...

http://www.brewboard.com/index.php?showtopic=76114

Btw, it's a lager yeast that you can use at ale temps. Supposedly orig a budwiser yeast that has mutated in Charlie's yeast bank.

DiscoFetus said:

Has anyone tried WLP862 Cry Havoc? Its Papazian's personal strain and is said to be both an ale and lager yeast. I listened to the description on White Labs site and it sounds really interesting. I was curious if anyone has tried this strain yet, the results they got and what kind of flavors were impacted? How did it handle temp variances, etc.

Click to expand...

I brewed Papazian's Silver Dollar Porter with a vial of that. It is a steady worker. But an underattenuater too. Around 70%. I didn't pick up any special flavors imparted by the yeast. But it was fun to brew the recipe from the book that introduced me to the hobby by the book just as Charlie intended. The recipe turned out pretty tasty too.

Charlie talks a little about his 20 plus year old yeast strain in this basic brewing podcast....Not a lot, but he talks about how he's kept it going for so long, even when it had a mutation for awhile...

http://cdn2.libsyn.com/basicbrewing/bbr02-14-08history.mp3

I've got a vial that's been sitting around for a while... I'm afraid of the attenuation. I'm not sure what kind of beer I would use it on.

the_bird said:

I've got a vial that's been sitting around for a while... I'm afraid of the attenuation. I'm not sure what kind of beer I would use it on.

Click to expand...

Can't you just mash around 148 - 150 or so to make a more fermentable wort?

the_bird said:

I've got a vial that's been sitting around for a while... I'm afraid of the attenuation. I'm not sure what kind of beer I would use it on.

Click to expand...

I also have a vial of this. I guess I'll go over as many of Charlies' recipes as I can find and pick one, at some point.

I might re-brew the Good Life Pale Ale; it was my first AG batch, a pretty tasty little brew, and it's not so big that a slightly lower level of attenuation would make it too sweet.

bigben said:

Can't you just mash around 148 - 150 or so to make a more fermentable wort?

Click to expand...

There's really nothing wrong with a lower attenuating yeast. You just need to pick the right style and recipe to use. A longer than usual secondary period is also probably a good idea.

The only reason that I'm concerned with the attenuation is that I generally prefer my beers to be on the drier side, unless they're specifically something that's heavy and malty (like a bock). It's just a personal preference thing; I wouldn't brew an IPA, for example, with a 70%-attenuation yeast because it would be too sweet for my tastes.

I've got 3 liters of this in my kegerator. Haven't used it for a damn thing. I'm not loosing sleep.

After many careful readings, and the upmost respect for the complete genius of Mr. Papazian, I've concluded that his yeast is the dry PDM strain serially passaged. I could be wrong, and would like to have someone explain why I am.

Aspera said:

After many careful readings, and the upmost respect for the complete genius of Mr. Papazian, I've concluded that his yeast is the dry PDM strain serially passaged. I could be wrong, and would like to have someone explain why I am.

Click to expand...

Prise de Mousse (E.C. 1118)

Since it became available in dry form several years ago, the popularity of Prise de Mousse (PDM) yeast has increased rapidly. PDM is an excellent, general purpose yeast for both red and white wines. It produces low hydrogen sulfide fermentations, and it ferments vigorously. Since this yeast usually produces a dry wine, it is one of the more popular yeasts for California Chardonnay production. This yeast is tolerant to sulfur dioxide, and it is tolerant to high alcohol levels. Consequently, Prise de Mousse is useful for restarting stuck fermentations. Prise de Mousse is also used for the secondary fermentation of sparkling wine. Under normal conditions, Prise de Mousse produces little foam and seldom causes the winemaker any trouble. Smaller wineries often use this yeast for all their fermentations. PDM is available in five gram envelopes, 500 gram packages and in bulk.
http://www.homebrewit.com/wineyeasts.php

Is this the yeast you believe it to be cultured from? Kind of makes sense with what I've read so far about it.

I use it all the time for beer and mead and have yet to experience the "overly dry" beer. It might not be right for a Scottish alt, but I have made some fairly maltly lager beers with it. It is excellent for Belgian styles especially. Bear in mind that a entire flavor profile of a yeast strain may be determined by a very small number of characteristics.