Anyone Using DanStar WINDSOR for English Bitter

Has anyone used the danstar Windsor yeast for and English Bitter??

Can Anyone comment of if they have used the Windsor yeast and your impression of this product?

It's been a while since I've used it for a bitter or a mild, but I remember liking it. It's less attenuative than nottingham, and I ferment on the cool side of the yeast strain's optimum temperature so I remember it not being very fruity. I've used it in a stout also, with great results.

I've used it once and thought it had a good "English" character - a few appropriate esters and a little sweetness left

YooperBrew said:

It's been a while since I've used it for a bitter or a mild, but I remember liking it. It's less attenuative than nottingham, and I ferment on the cool side of the yeast strain's optimum temperature so I remember it not being very fruity. I've used it in a stout also, with great results.

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I completely agree. I, on the other hand, have not had good results with this yeast since I did not compensate for the low attenuation. I did an AG porter, mashed at 155F. It was terrible, cloying, and disgusting. Finished at 1.27, and all the variables aside from attenuation were handled properly. It went great on icecream though, and I use it for a chocolate cake recipe I have that originally called for guinness. I have not tried drinking one since the last time I drank 2 in one night. That night, I literally felt like my insides were churning from eating concentrated beans - not to mention my bedroom smelled worse than a german gas chamber.

However -=-=-=- I will try this yeast again mashing around 152. I am not sure what kind of beer I will go for, but I must try it again to make up my mind on it.

I've used this once in an English Bitter... a recipe for which I've tried various yeast strains. My impression was this: Despite it's reputation, this can be a good yeast to use if appropriate measures are taken to compensate for its "short-falls". I.e., mash at 149°F, replace some of the base grain (maybe 3-5%) with a type of sugar (corn sugar, table sugar, Lyle's Golden Syrup, etc.), and use gelatin after fermentation.

Taste-wise, it had a nice English fruity character to it with some residual sweetness, but the fruitiness was not very unique (if that makes any sense). Compared to, for example, White Labs Burton Ale yeast, which has a distinct, almost pear-like fruitiness, Windsor has sort of a generic fruitiness... an analogy is like drinking a cheap mixed fruit juice cocktail compared to a "gourmet" 100% single-fruit juice.

I'm not averse to using it, but I won't make a point to use it again either.