Wyeast 1450 SLOOOOWWWWW...

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HollisBT

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Has anyone else here had any experience with wyeast 1450 being ridiculously slow to ferment and flocculate? I have used it in two beers before, the first of which fermented on schedule, the second of which went painstakingly slow... I was planning on using it again in my next brew, but now my starter is going very sluggishly, and even after being left unattended for the past 5 days, I returned to it and it hasn't even flocced out yet...

Hs anyone else experienced this with this strain? Did something perhaps go wrong in my wash when I harvested it? Is there a compatible strain offed by white labs?
 
I pitched a 2L starter of 1450 three weeks ago and it is just now starting to clear up.
Planning on racking to a secondary on saturday and letting it sit another 7-10 days, then cold crashing.

Yes, flocculation is pretty slow on this one, but it's a great yeast when conditions are right.
 
Slow to ferment no it was pretty standard with time but as far as flocculating it doesn't it's a low floc strain and it took months the first time I used it to kinda clear and that's at 40 degrees ( I'm a slow drinker ). Try gelatin I hear people have good results with 1450 and gelatin to clear.
 
Hmmm, I'll try cold crashing and decanting the starter and checking gravity, since I need to step it up. But last time it seemed to take a very long time to ferment as well...


I'll check the gravity of my starter (even though I don't know the OG...) and make a decision based off of that. Guess I will also get some 1056 out of the fridge in case I need to start it to use instead...
 
RIC0 said:
Pretty sure a starter is highly needed for a faster start with wyeast. Ive had very very slow starts with wyeast on a few batches.
Click to expand...

I'm not talking just slow starts, I'm talking slow fermentations I. General...

I use starters on all my brews, it's pretty much a necessity, especially when you are harvesting your own cultures.
 
I have had the same experience with 1450. Seems like the fermentation was steady yet slow,lasting about 8 days. That said, the beer was fantastic and very clean. This stran gives a great mouth feel even a relatively low final gravitys and works well for me as I prefer a dryer beer. I have an IPA cracking away rite now with 1450,slow and steady and rite next to it two more brews made with 1056 and they are both blowing off like crazy. FYI I always use a starter of at least 2l per 6 gal.
 
Denny's strain? No its always been quick for me. With or without a starter
 
Denny's fav is definitely a slow floccer. I like the beer it makes but usually dont have the patience to wait for it to clear. I haven't noticed it fermenting slow though.
 
I haven't used it but if it's clarity you're after why are you using a low floc. strain? Flocculation is a yeasts tendency to form clumps, not necessarily settle to the bottom. Obviously yeast that flocculate well also settle well because they clump as they do their work, so there's more mass for gravity to pull on when they're done. Even cold crashing has limited effectiveness on some low floc strains. You have 2 choices:
1- pitch the whole starter
2- cold crash and decant knowing you are chucking some yeast

If you're brewing a cloudy style, I'd go for option 1. Option 2 is better but it would be nice to have made the starter a little bigger than required knowing you were going to waste some of it. This method would also tend to produce a clearer beer because you are throwing away the least flocculent cells. If that's what you want you might want to use a medium or high floc. strain next time...
 
I just brewed a black rye IPA yesterday. I pitched a smack pack of 1450 into 5 gallons with no starter and fermentation kicked off in less than 4 hours.

I'll let you know how it flocs out over time

PS: I just invented the style: black rye ipa. I ****ed up a ruthless rye clone. it called for 1.5oz choc malt an i accidentally spilled in a whole pound. Im pretty sure i am the first person to brew this style. I'm a genius and an innovator. :D
 
Demus said:
I haven't used it but if it's clarity you're after why are you using a low floc. strain? Flocculation is a yeasts tendency to form clumps, not necessarily settle to the bottom. Obviously yeast that flocculate well also settle well because they clump as they do their work, so there's more mass for gravity to pull on when they're done. Even cold crashing has limited effectiveness on some low floc strains. You have 2 choices:
1- pitch the whole starter
2- cold crash and decant knowing you are chucking some yeast

If you're brewing a cloudy style, I'd go for option 1. Option 2 is better but it would be nice to have made the starter a little bigger than required knowing you were going to waste some of it. This method would also tend to produce a clearer beer because you are throwing away the least flocculent cells. If that's what you want you might want to use a medium or high floc. strain next time...
Click to expand...

Charity is unrelated to the question in the Op, was talking about a long fermentation time...
 
remthewanderer said:
I just brewed a black rye IPA yesterday. I pitched a smack pack of 1450 into 5 gallons with no starter and fermentation kicked off in less than 4 hours.

I'll let you know how it flocs out over time

PS: I just invented the style: black rye ipa. I ****ed up a ruthless rye clone. it called for 1.5oz choc malt an i accidentally spilled in a whole pound. Im pretty sure i am the first person to brew this style. I'm a genius and an innovator. :D
Click to expand...

I brewed a rye heavy black IPA last year with just a subtle touch of smoke. 90-ish ibu's, dark as night, and was fu**ing delicious!! Iirc, my recipe had a lot more roasts character malts on it though... Some chocolate wheat and some carafa III.
 
HollisBT said:
Charity is unrelated to the question in the Op, was talking about a long fermentation time...
Click to expand...

I realize that but you said it's taking "rediculously long to ferment and flocculate", and also mentioned your starter hasn't floculated yet. I thought you might benefit from an understanding of the term. If you are waiting for a low floculating strain to floculate to determine when it is done, you will of course think it is "slow". In reality you have only determined what you could have read on the package. It is a low floculating strain...
 
Demus said:
I realize that but you said it's taking "rediculously long to ferment and flocculate", and also mentioned your starter hasn't floculated yet. I thought you might benefit from an understanding of the term. If you are waiting for a low floculating strain to floculate to determine when it is done, you will of course think it is "slow". In reality you have only determined what you could have read on the package. It is a low floculating strain...
Click to expand...

I understand the term just fine, and am aware of what it means. My last brew with this yeast took well over a month to ferment, that is what the question was about. Long and slow fermentations, just like the title to the thread states.

I'm not concerned with cloudy beers or the sacc taking its time to settle out, this is all based on hydro readings and not from reading the package of yeast... This thread was asking others experience with it, if you don't know what you are talking about then there really isn't any need to reply to the thread.
 
I have a stupid suggestion here ...... Denny conn is on this forum I have talked with him several times. His handle is Denny. Send him a pm with this question he's a really nice helpful kind a guy and fwiw it is his strain made by wyeast if he doesn't have the answers your looking for no one will. Just my .02 so we are not getting into a flocculation / wyeast sucks / white labs sucks argument.
 
Ok one other thing so I dot get bit picked its wy1450 used to be the cl-50 stain back in the 80's but Denny conn was the one who harvested and cultivate the strain after it was out of production. Then contracted through wyeast.
 
HollisBT said:
I understand the term just fine, and am aware of what it means. My last brew with this yeast took well over a month to ferment, that is what the question was about. Long and slow fermentations, just like the title to the thread states.

I'm not concerned with cloudy beers or the sacc taking its time to settle out, this is all based on hydro readings and not from reading the package of yeast... This thread was asking others experience with it, if you don't know what you are talking about then there really isn't any need to reply to the thread.
Click to expand...

Peace brother, just trying to help!! :fro:
 
Well, brewed again with this strain on n years day, after 13 days in the fermenter, it has dropped a whopping 30 points... Roughly 47% AA...


Still eating and fermenting, and lots still flocculating, but FFS that is seem slow yeast... Gonna pitch 1056 to it next weekend to finish up where this strain fell short.
 
HollisBT said:
Well, brewed again with this strain on n years day, after 13 days in the fermenter, it has dropped a whopping 30 points... Roughly 47% AA...

Still eating and fermenting, and lots still flocculating, but FFS that is seem slow yeast... Gonna pitch 1056 to it next weekend to finish up where this strain fell short.
Click to expand...

What was your OG and how much yeast did you pitch as well as temperature fermented at ? I only ask this as I've never seen this yeast behave this way.
 
Aschecte said:
What was your OG and how much yeast did you pitch as well as temperature fermented at ? I only ask this as I've never seen this yeast behave this way.
Click to expand...

Oh was 1.066, pitched a 2 liter starter to the wort...

Had active fermentation within 12 hours, reached a reasonably high krausen, then slowed down...
 
I've got one jar of 1450 left in the fridge and I think i'll do a stout with it this weekend, but probably won't buy it again.
I know its a low flocculator, but it is just too slow to clear for the flavor benefits you get out of it.

I've never experienced it to be slow to ferment, as others have stated. Its usually very close to my FG in 12-14 days.
But Wyeast should considering calling it a VERY Low flocculator.
 
HollisBT said:
Oh was 1.066, pitched a 2 liter starter to the wort...

Had active fermentation within 12 hours, reached a reasonably high krausen, then slowed down...
Click to expand...

That sounds like a good pitching rate hmmm... The only other reason I could think of for what would be a really slow ferment with this would possibly be a higher amount of dextrins and unfermentable sugars being present.... Higher mash temps equal longer and higher finishing gravities. Yeast can be a pain in the ass sometimes I've had issues with strains as well so please don't think I'm being super argumentative I just want to see the yeast work as it should for you.
 
Aschecte said:
That sounds like a good pitching rate hmmm... The only other reason I could think of for what would be a really slow ferment with this would possibly be a higher amount of dextrins and unfermentable sugars being present.... Higher mash temps equal longer and higher finishing gravities. Yeast can be a pain in the ass sometimes I've had issues with strains as well so please don't think I'm being super argumentative I just want to see the yeast work as it should for you.
Click to expand...

I tried to keep my recipe fairly simple, and easily fermentable since I have had an issue with this yeast once before...

75% 2 row
3% smoked malt
3% c80
7.5% Munich
7.5% wheat
1.5% chocolate malt
~2% molasses

Mashed nice and low at 150° for 60 minutes. I honestly don't believe it to be the recipe, I think it's the sacc, I also contacted wyeast about it to ask if they thought I had a bad strain.

I know that the yeast will finish, I just don't have the patience or space to give it 2 months to get there. And after that, I had wanted to bottle this batch, and I just don't trust the yeast to carbonate the beer in this case...
 
I talked in detail about my experiences with a wyeast lab tech, who said that it sounds like my strain is no good...


He sent me a coupon for a free activator, so I suppose I will give this strain another shot. In the meantime, I'll start up some 1056 to try and finish this beer.
 
I've used 1450 a few times and posted here asking similar questions about it. The first time it took off fast, didn't last long and I got a higher FG than I was expecting. The next time it took longer to take off, was a slow and quiet fermentation and finished much better.
I've got some of it harvested for my next 2 beers as I do like the flavors it delivers.
 

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