Windsor for german wheat beers?

Hey, so John Palmer says windsor can be used for german wheat beers. How to Brew - By John Palmer - Dry Yeast Strains While brewing Papazian's phat-fired weizenbock, I used the windsor and fermented at 62. (I brew smallscale 1 gallon batches and have used only dry yeast so far.) I was hoping to get the clove flavors by fermenting at the low range, but instead I got massive banana/bubblegum going on. It's pretty intense, which leaves me wondering if Palmer really meant this for a hefeweizen where this might be appropriate. I feel sick. Has anyone else tried this before?

No, but I wouldn't. Windsor is an English strain, but I can't figure out what it's really good for. It's certainly not going to result in a Bavarian hef.

WLP300 and 3068 are the go-to yeast for a German weizen, although 380/3333 might be more clove-forward. There really isn't an equivalent dry yeast.

I wouldn't use Windsor for anything, but I wouldn't recommend it for a German weizen in the least.

Danstar Munich is supposed to be "OK" but I've not tried it yet. Most seem to agree that weizen and Belgians still need liquid yeasts to provide those yeast derived flavors that are so important to the styles.

I don't think Danstar Munich existed when Palmer wrote that but it is supposed to be a wheat strain. Also the Safale WB-06 is another dry Wheat strain. I haven't tried either myself though.

A search for results of using WB-06 isn't too pretty.

I like WLP351 and 3068 best for my Weissbiers...

mmb said:

A search for results of using WB-06 isn't too pretty.

Click to expand...

I see some not recommending it for certain styles of wheat and at least one guy who liked it in a sunset wheat clone. Most of the detractors say it is too much clove and not enough banana, but since the original poster is looking for more clove and less banana it might just be what he is looking for.

Maybe after Christmas I'll do some experimenting, split a 5G batch into 5 1G jugs with 5 different yeasts.