Safale WB-06

Didn't even know it existed until I saw it at the LHBS the other day. It's a dry wheat beer yeast, which has me so freakin' excited. To be able to make wheat beer without having to special-order liquid yeast is amazing!

I got a couple packets...does anyone have any experience with it? The LHBS owner said that if you ferment it in the low to mid 70's, you get more oft he banana-clovey esters, but beyond that, I don't know...

Dried wheat beer yeasts are new, which is why you haven't heard of them. I would not be surprised to see other specialty yeasts in dried form, now that the market is big enough support the testing necessary.

I have just used it in my American wheat. I fermented at 70 and it has banana like flavors

I too purchased some. I am stoked as well. So much less expensive than those liquids, if in fact it works as well. I have no reason to believe otherwise with the great results I get from Safale.

Post results when ready!

- WW

Nice...also got the 04, which I think the guy said was whitbread, and another one that was some other english strain..forget the # though. Fermentis doesn't even have the SB-06 listed on their website.

I've used the Brewferm Blanche dry wheat yeast that Austin Homebrew carries...

At the time I used it, it was still $4 for packet of this dry yeast (so not much savings over the $6 liquid), but I did it for experimentation purposes.

The Hefe that I brewed turned out great and had the typical esters/fruity/banana/clove flavors... Couldn't have been any better than if I had used liquid. The dry yeast, when rehydrated, with no starter also started fermenting in literally 3 hours...

I assume the WB-06 was about 50% the cost of the Brewferm yeast I used? $2 a pack roughly? If so, even more reason to use it!

Evan! said:

Nice...also got the 04, which I think the guy said was whitbread, and another one that was some other english strain..forget the # though. Fermentis doesn't even have the SB-06 listed on their website.

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t-58 is their witbread yeast. 04 is an english style ale yeast. I just brewed a Hefe with 06. Fermented out pretty quickly and smells great ... it's been in primary now for about 5 days. Started in about 3-4 hours after pitching. I fermented towards the higher range (70-72) because I wanted more of the banana flavors.

WB-06 was good to me. I made what I suppose you'd call a German Wheat.. I mean, I hesitate to call it a Hefe because I don't know if the dry strain is hefe. In any case, I used german hops. I fermented at 68 to keep the banana at bay since I'm adding a peach extract but it reminds me of a Pyramid Hefe.

Fermentis doesn't come right out and say it, but I think it is in fact a strain intended for hefeweizens. From reading around a lot of people seem to think this is the same strain as the Weihenstephan 68, i.e. WYeast 3068 and WLP300.

Here's a report on one guy's results. http://beeradvocate.com/forum/read/1083840

srm775 said:

t-58 is their witbread yeast. 04 is an english style ale yeast.

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I think you're confusing "Whitbread" with the belgian "Wit" or "Witbier" style - T-58 is described as "A speciality yeast selected for its estery somewhat peppery and spicy flavour development." and is supposed to be good for Belgian Witbiers. Whitbread is an english style, and by most accounts (including Midwest Supplies) S-04 is a dry whitbread strain.

Funkenjäger said:

I think you're confusing "Whitbread" with the belgian "Wit" or "Witbier" style - T-58 is described as "A speciality yeast selected for its estery somewhat peppery and spicy flavour development." and is supposed to be good for Belgian Witbiers. Whitbread is an english style, and by most accounts (including Midwest Supplies) S-04 is a dry whitbread strain.

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thank you!

Has anyone tried this? How did it turn out?

I have in primary Sea-Aira Kermvada (SNPA clone) which I used S-04 in for the first time. It was VERY active when I rehydrated it. It blew the top of my fermenter off within 10-12 hours! I had used S-05 the first time I made this but my LHBS was out so they said give this a try. I'll be keeping some of this on hand.

redneckbeagle said:

Has anyone tried this? How did it turn out?

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Sure did. As you can see, I'm less than thrilled.

I didn't like the results in a hefe I did a while back, either. It just tasted really yeasty without the hefe esters I wanted. I gave an entire keg away.

I tried the WB-06 in a Portland style hefe. I got the recipe for FB Steinbiners out of Portland OR.

I pitched 3/4 of the packet and kept fermentation right at 68º.

Tasted it a few days ago 3 weeks after bottling. Definite banana aroma and taste. My buddy thought it was delicious, but I'm not the best judge since I am not crazy about the hefe style. Much more banana flavor than widmer.

I let you know next week when my brother from Portland is in town.

I used it in a German Wheat that's just now ready to drink. Tons of bananas, but no cloves(that I can taste). It went off like a rocket and fermented out very quickly.

I used it in a hefe a while back and have another hefe fermenting using it. I personally loved it. I fermented my last one religiously at 62 F. It had a prominent clove flavor but not overpowering, not a lot of banana. Slight at most. I enjoy the taste of hefe's but particularly ones that are more on the clove side. If you do then you will enjoy this yeast. I had heard it can get too full of banana the higher you let it go, that's why I made sure it stayed at 62.

I'm gonna brew with two packs of WB-06 on xmas day. They say best by 05/09 but have been in stable fridge temps for the entire time. LOL

My preferences lean toward clove/ester balance. So thinking 65-ish ought to work.

Ideas/experiences/opinions about this yeast?

drinking a hefe made with it right now. great yeast. i ferment it around 68

Made this American Wheat recipe using the 06 and just sprinkled over the wort. A nice understated banana and clove characteristic. Nothing over the top, but it took off like a shot. I would definitely use this yeast again. It's a champ at $4.

The WB 06 was great in a recent brew of mine.
I was experimenting with a witbier recipe with only a little orange peel and coriander but with more hops than a witbier recipe.
The WB06 yeast produced a great wheat bear not unlike the Allagash white.
there was a citrus taste similar to previous brews where I had added fresh grapefruit zest. The flocculation was less than WLP 400 as well which gave a beautiful gold cloudy appearance. While it did not start off with a bang upon pitching, I had no trouble hitting my target gravity.

I made a wheat beer with this yeast for Christmas... I've still got some of it in the fridge, but supplies are low.

Actually, I split the batch between two fermentors; one got the 06 yeast, the other got T-58.

Unbelievable how different the beers are. I couldn't taste any notable difference in the 06 version between a 2 week-old bottle and a 3 month-old bottle. The T-58 version was a different story; the 2-week bottles were OK, but there was this "funkiness" to the flavor that was a bit much. At around 3 months, that had all kind of mellowed out and the beer is fantastic.