WLP023 - amazing flavor

So I brewed 11 gallons of a very standard pale ale to essentially give WLP023 (burton ale) yeast a spin:

19 pounds pearle pale ale malt
6 ounces C80
Mash at 154 for 60
.50 oz columbus at 60
1 oz liberty at 30
1/2 oz chinook at 30
1 oz liberty at 2
1/2 oz chinook at 2
Pitch yeast at 60 and rise to 69
OG = 1.050

So after the first 24 hours things were chugging along and nothing out the blowoff tube, then after 48 hours a huge but short lived blowoff occured and I was afraid I lost all my yeast. Just a ton of yeast in the blowoff container and it smelled terrible!

For fear that I lost my yeast and I had an unfinished beer I took a sample, 1.012~! Essentially done in two days with this strain. So I thought "what the hey" and tasted the sample. It was amazing! It had a dry, bready, biscuity flavor throughout that finished with fruit flavors that I couldn't really identify...maybe even tropical like. I was amazingly impressed with the flavors produced by this yeast. I had an ale last week that I used WY1275 in and fermented under similar conditions and I don't think that these are the same strains.

This batch was an experiment for me. Many of my previous recipes have used a ton of different malts/grains to try and coax out the flavors I wanted. In this batch I manipulated my process with a simple grain bill and paid more attention to mash temps, mash thickness, water harness and fermetnation conditions to get the beer I wanted. It is quickly occuring to me that some GREAT beers are made with simple recipes and sound brewing technique. Lesson Learned

sounds great, I only wish I had control of my ferm temps that well

benbradford said:

sounds great, I only wish I had control of my ferm temps that well

Click to expand...

The big thing that has helped me has been my recirculating wort chilling system with a pump. I use tapwater to get down to 70, then I use ice water and recirc that to get down to 60 or below. I think pitching cool/cold makes all the difference in the world.

I get down to 60 too, but only because my ground water up here in the mountains is very cold... It does take an extra 15 minutes though.

I'm using 023 on a brown ale fermenting at 66deg right now and going into day 3, tons of blowoff.

sagnew440 said:

I'm using 023 on a brown ale fermenting at 66deg right now and going into day 3, tons of blowoff.

Click to expand...

Oh, I bet that will be good. Do you mind posting the recipe. I am looking for different uses for WLP023. I have never tasted a yeast like it and am looking forward to using it again, and again, and again....

The recipe is orfys mild mannered ale. It was supposed to be dark mild but my efficiency was higher than normal, and I over shot the og by about 14 points.
I used Cargill 2-row, Briess 60L, Briess Choc, and williamette for the hops.

Tried 023 for the first time in a special bitter. I cracked the fermentor today for bottling. It smelled really strange. Lot's a sulphur and stinky boozyness for lack of better term. But after the initial smell aired off a bit, I got some amazing complexity. Me an my buddy split a 10g gallon batch, 5g fermented with 002, and 5g with 023 both in the same identical conditions (68F). The difference was startling. WLP023 has a lot more character and is closer to the "English" character that so elusive to describe. It was quite a bit more tart than 002, less malty and more fruitiness. I think White Lab's description is pretty spot on. I definitely get pear/apple and a honey sweetness even though the beer is clearly very dry. I've got two more weeks to let it carb up, but I'm extremely pleased with 023 so far. The only thing is that it doesn't floc well at all. But it will settle in the bottle over it's aging period. A+ to this strain flavor wise.

beerhappy said:

Tried 023 for the first time in a special bitter. I cracked the fermentor today for bottling. It smelled really strange. Lot's a sulphur and stinky boozyness for lack of better term. But after the initial smell aired off a bit, I got some amazing complexity. Me an my buddy split a 10g gallon batch, 5g fermented with 002, and 5g with 023 both in the same identical conditions (68F). The difference was startling. WLP023 has a lot more character and is closer to the "English" character that so elusive to describe. It was quite a bit more tart than 002, less malty and more fruitiness. I think White Lab's description is pretty spot on. I definitely get pear/apple and a honey sweetness even though the beer is clearly very dry. I've got two more weeks to let it carb up, but I'm extremely pleased with 023 so far. The only thing is that it doesn't floc well at all. But it will settle in the bottle over it's aging period. A+ to this strain flavor wise.

Click to expand...

Your experience mimicks mine. I have found that 1 month of cold conditioning the kegs drops the yeast and the beer really peaks in flavor. Awesome yeast.