Atomic Yeast!

I made a 2 quart starter with 6oz of DME on Saturday for my WL051 to be used to ferment an American IPA, OG 1.060. It began fermenting overnight, and by 9 am Sunday, it was raging. It is now 1 pm on Monday, and it is showing no signs of slowing down! I was going to brew tonight, but now I think I'll wait until Wednesday. Just thought I'd share.

Is your fermentor at the right temperatures?

I've never used that yest myself, but just figured I'd toss that out since higher temps means more vigorous fermentation, and more vigorous fermentation means more esters in the beer.

Ferment temps at 70-75.

WLP051, or California V ale, is very close to the original california ale yeast, except it produces a slightly fruitier, less clean taste

70 is at the very high end of the spectrum for this yeast- 65 to 68 is best

above 70 this yeast will start to give you too much yeast character to be appropriate in an American IPA

Whisler85 said:

WLP051, or California V ale, is very close to the original california ale yeast, except it produces a slightly fruitier, less clean taste

70 is at the very high end of the spectrum for this yeast- 65 to 68 is best

above 70 this yeast will start to give you too much yeast character to be appropriate in an American IPA

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Will I get "too much yeast character" if I cold crash the starter then decant the starter wort and wash the yeast with boiled cooled water?

telemarc said:

Will I get "too much yeast character" if I cold crash the starter then decant the starter wort and wash the yeast with boiled cooled water?

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You don't have to wash the yeast, just crash cool it and decant it into your wort. I like to bring the starter up to about 2 degrees below pitching temperature while I'm brewing. So, I'll decant and pitch a 64 degree starter into 68 degree wort, for example.

In this case, you don't have to worry about off-flavors. You're growing yeast, not making beer. Of course, you don't want to stress the yeast, but you don't have to worry too much about temperature at this point. I usually even do my lager starters at room temperature, but decant the spent wort first.

That's what I thought. Thanks again, Yooper! Your advice never fails

What does "decant the starter" mean?

grace1760 said:

What does "decant the starter" mean?

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It means to pour off the liquid from the yeast cake at the bottom of the starter vessel-in my case a 1 gallon carboy.

telemarc said:

That's what I thought. Thanks again, Yooper! Your advice never fails

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Yooper always rocks, I'm just amazed how much time she has to deal with us since I think her leg has healed up.

Just a quick update, I pitched this yeast into my American IPA yesterday at noon. The air lock came to life at 4 pm, and has been raging ever since! That's 24 hours of explosive fermentation for a 1.060 SG beer!