Stubborn Suspended Yeast

Looking for a sound board. Just did a 10 gal batch with a Scotch Ale style malt bill. Decided to split the batch and pitch different yeast strains in each. Fermenter #1 with Wyeast 1728 Scotch Ale. Fermentor #2 pitched Danstar Windsor (never tried before).

Been on the cake for 10 days. Racked to secondary last night. Gravities are almost identical 1.010 (1.043 OG) Fermentor #1 settled nicely. But Fermentor #2 is very cloudy (milky) with still suspended yeast. It's more excessive than what I'm used to. My thought is to be patient and just let it do it's thing.

However, does anyone have experience with either the Windsor yeast or a similar situation of yeast not wanting to settle?

I just used the Windsor for the first time. I adjusted the recipe to compensate for the notoriously low attenuation and got a pretty good 67% attenuation.

Windsor is also notorious for low flocculation. You could try cold crashing and that might help, but your best bet is to use finings. Isinglass would work best, but gelatin would be a good option also. I used gelatin on my Windsor batch... kegged it and chilled it down to 34°F, then pitched the gelatin solution (Knox plain Gelatine from the supermarket) and mixed it around by shaking the keg after purging of air. Gelatin and isinglass work best (or at all) at low temps. I believe the beer must be under 50°F for gelatin to work at all (according to Noonan). I just did this on Sunday, so I'm awaiting the results of my gelatin finings for the Windsor yeast.

+1 on the above. It's going to be fine. As you brew more and more, it's amazing the nuances of yeasts that start to become apparent!

Awesome feedback. I'll let you know how it turns out.

menschmaschine said:

I'm awaiting the results of my gelatin finings for the Windsor yeast.

Click to expand...

Update for you...

The gelatin worked wonders on my Windsor Yeast bitter. It's very clear. I'm sure the cold crash helped to, but I think it was more the gelatin.