Safbrew WB-06 Clove Explosion!

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SenorD

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So I attempted to make a honey citrus wheat beer the other week, using Safbrew WB-06 (their dry hefeweizen yeast), since I've read that it's relatively mild on the phenolic character. It's been unusually chilly around here, so it was fermenting in the low to mid 60s, so I was expecting more of an American Wheat effect.

When bottling it yesterday, however, the hydro sample tasted like eating a handful of cloves. I think I taste the citrus somewhere in the background, but it's hard to pay attention to anything else with the cloves having a party in my mouth :tank:

So a couple questions: what have other peoples' experiences with this particular yeast been like? Also, what's the chance that the clove flavor will subside over time, given that it's already bottled?
 
I am not sure about your issue but I say give it a chance to mellow.

During my last bottling, the brew had a salty taste. So much so that I was really down about it all week. I finally gave in and tasted one that was only 4.5 days in the bottle. It was green but had mellowed and lost the salty taste.

Give it a week and chill one. You may be pleasantly surprised.
 
I've use it on my hefeweizens and my dunkelweizens. Haven't had a problem yet and both are fan favorites. I almost need to keep a hefe on tap at all times, which is a shame because hefes aren't my favorite.
 
I've only used it once, fermented at 62 and got a phenolic clove bomb. It was so strong I had to let it sit for 6 months before I could drink any of it. I'll give a thumbs down for this yeast at lower temps, I'll stick to my WLP300.
 
Made a damn fine Weizenbock with that yeast, but no luck in a dunkel. And the weizenbock took like 6 months to get decent. I don't care for this yeast at all.
 
:ban: :ban: :ban: :ban: :ban:

It's an old topic, but thought I'd contribute for the future generations:

It's summer here, so I made a peach wheat using Safbrew WB-06, for a light, sessionable refresher. Due to climatic conditions, I had no choice but to ferment around the 24C mark (to give Americans an idea, the suggested temp range on the packet was 15-24C). It's currently carbonating in the bottles at the moment, but I've been washing the peach slush to try and harvest yeast for the next brew, and the water I've been using to wash it has been smelling VEEERRY banana-y, despite it being peach, yeast, and water shaken around and crash cooled. I'm worried that bananas will drown out any peach or wheat flavours, because they've certainly got this post flanked.

So, in a nutshell, if you like heavy banana esters, you'll DEFINITELY get what you're looking for with high temps using Safbrew WB-06, but I'm sure you guessed that already. I imagine that if the harvested yeast is viable, I'll make a regular wheat, high ferm temp, with honey, for a nice banana-honey thing, and see if it goes well in a milkshake.

:ban: :ban: :ban: :ban: :ban:
 
Pith said:
:ban: :ban: :ban: :ban: :ban:

It's an old topic, but thought I'd contribute for the future generations:

It's summer here, so I made a peach wheat using Safbrew WB-06, for a light, sessionable refresher. Due to climatic conditions, I had no choice but to ferment around the 24C mark (to give Americans an idea, the suggested temp range on the packet was 15-24C). It's currently carbonating in the bottles at the moment, but I've been washing the peach slush to try and harvest yeast for the next brew, and the water I've been using to wash it has been smelling VEEERRY banana-y, despite it being peach, yeast, and water shaken around and crash cooled. I'm worried that bananas will drown out any peach or wheat flavours, because they've certainly got this post flanked.

So, in a nutshell, if you like heavy banana esters, you'll DEFINITELY get what you're looking for with high temps using Safbrew WB-06, but I'm sure you guessed that already. I imagine that if the harvested yeast is viable, I'll make a regular wheat, high ferm temp, with honey, for a nice banana-honey thing, and see if it goes well in a milkshake.

:ban: :ban: :ban: :ban: :ban:
Click to expand...


I got the same result using WB-06 (big banana) and some clove in a peach hefe I did last summer. Acidity of peach came through, but not 100% identifiable as peach. I used 7lbs of fresh peaches, an extra 3lbs may have helped. Overall I liked the yeast.
 
starrfish said:
I got the same result using WB-06 (big banana) and some clove in a peach hefe I did last summer. Acidity of peach came through, but not 100% identifiable as peach. I used 7lbs of fresh peaches, an extra 3lbs may have helped. Overall I liked the yeast.
Click to expand...

Hey, wow! Me too! Big peach tartness came through, and I would also use the phrase "not 100% identifiable as peach" to describe the effect it had on the beer. I used 1lb in primary and 5lb after vigourous fermentation had finished.

Also noticed that the already-light taste of wheat beer was diluted by the water in the peaches as well. I was going to use tree-ripened peaches for the 5lb, but someone nicked them all from the tree, so had to use store bought. I think I blame the wateriness on that.
 
Pith said:
Hey, wow! Me too! Big peach tartness came through, and I would also use the phrase "not 100% identifiable as peach" to describe the effect it had on the beer. I used 1lb in primary and 5lb after vigourous fermentation had finished.

Also noticed that the already-light taste of wheat beer was diluted by the water in the peaches as well. I was going to use tree-ripened peaches for the 5lb, but someone nicked them all from the tree, so had to use store bought. I think I blame the wateriness on that.
Click to expand...

hope to get some stronger tasting peaches from a better crop this year! last years SC peaches wer'nt the best. I heard apricot extract helps bring peachyness up.
 
i use wb-06 a lot. going to use it tomorrow. results: over 68 = more banana, the higher the more banana. under 68 = clove. the lower, the more clove. 68 is a good balance
 
Thanks for the heads up, guys. I think I'll do a clovey (dunkel?)weizen next autumn when the temperatures are good for clove. Northern hemisphereans could probably do the same for a "Christmas Wheat". Cloves are Christmassy aren't they?
 

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