Wyeast 3056 vs 3068

Brewing up a hef this weekend and not sure which of these to use. The 3068 looks more like the profile I want but it says that ir requires 33% headspace?!?!?!

Has anyone used the 3068 with less headspace? If so how did it work?

Has anyone used the 3056 and did it give all of those nice banana/clove notes you were hoping for?

Thanks!

I used the 3068 recently in an All Grain Hefeweizen, fermented in a 6 gallon carboy (slightly more than 5 gallons), and it never reached the top. Howeve, that said, I think you should affix a blow off tube just in case. Mine came within about 2 inches of the blow off, even in a 6 gallon fermenter.

Also, I'm extremely pleased with the flavors produced by the 3068. If you use this strain, ferment it between 65 and 68 degrees, or I hear you produce too much "banana juice" like flavors. Just my .02. Cheers and good luck.

I've used both, and the 3068 definitely threw off more banana esters. Of course my temps were a bit too high. The 3056 came out more balanced, for my temps. Was a very nice hefe I did with some orange peel.....I'm gonna have to do that one again.

One thing that jumps out at me from Wyeast's site:

Ester formation is significantly affected by aeration and pitching rates.

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When I used it, I didn't do a starter. Hell, it was my very first batch. So according to them, you could probably minimize this by pitching a healthy starter and aerating well.

I didn't do a starter on mine. . .might be better bet if you did one, but my fermentation took off within 10 hours. I aerated by sloshing a closed fermenter around for a few minutes. Seems to have been adequate. There was a good, but well balanced "banana" tone to my beer, but again, I kept fermentation around 65 deg. F.

SwAMi75 said:

When I used it, I didn't do a starter. Hell, it was my very first batch. So according to them, you could probably minimize this by pitching a healthy starter and aerating well.

Click to expand...

I would pitch a good starter, but the last two wheat beers I've done (a Weizenbock and Hefeweizen) I've underaerated which is supposedly a technique used by some German breweries to increase ester formation (by stressing the yeast a bit). It really seemed to work in contrast to the first batch of Hefeweizen I did which was not nearly as estery as I wanted it. All three batches were done from the same original 3068 yeast.