Alternate to Wyeast 1318 for DIPA

[gifty74]

The last DIPA I brewed has a great balance of bitterness to malt, and I really like the hop flavor provided by the whirlpool hop additions. I believe that the Wyeast 1318 provided a great ester'y profile and I allowed temps to rise a little into the mid 70's during peak fermentation, which I think helped. The biggest issue was that even with a healthy 1.75L starter (pitched into 5.5 gal of 1.074 OG wort) it only finished at 1.018. I think ridding this beer of that slightest bit of residual sweetness would make it damn near perfect. I am thus interested in alternates to 1318 that might give a similar profile. Should I go back to US-05? Try another English strain? WLP008 East Coast strain?? Let me know if anyone has some suggestions. Thanks.

 

[jekeane]

If you really liked it as it was minus the sweetness would it be worth the chance of making it exactly the same if you pitched some active 05 on day two When many of the Esters from 1318 should be already set?

At best it does the trick at worst you get the same beer.

 

[couchsending]

what did you Mash at? Did you add sugar?

 

[jammin]

Reducing crystal/specialty malt percentage and/or replacing some of the base malt with dextrose would be another work around.

I have a hard time getting 1318 to finish out dry on bigger beers as well. The finished beers never seem to be cloying despite this.

I think low amounts of sweeter malts (less than 3%) and higher finishing gravities (1.016ish) are a key to creating the juicy profile people aim for.

 

[gifty74]

Yeah, I would not describe the residual sweetness as cloying, just a hint higher than I was looking for. Could've however been the slightly high percentage of munich too. Malt bill was 15lbs 2-row, 12oz crystal 60L, 2 lbs munich 10L.

 

[gifty74]

I wonder if the 10L Munich is playing into it. Used it at 10% in this DIPA, and then 8oz of carapils as well, which amounted to 2.6%. Wonder if the carapils is adding a fullness / body that is amplifying the residual sweetness?

 

[ProblemChild]

WY1968 does wonderfully. My experience is much higher attenuation that what it calls for - then again I mash low and attenuation ratings might be done for a different temp.

I also love OYL-052 DIPA yeast

 

[Morrey]

Some like 1272. I use 1318 and adjust my SO4 to Cl ratio 1:2 as this (in my tastes) rounds out the sweetness and pops the hop profile. 75 SO4 and 150 Cl if you want to try that first.

My 1318 usually finishes less than 1.018....usually 1.012 - 1.015 and fermenting at 67F. It finishes on day 4 as a rule.

 

[Mainer]

I like 1272. - American Ale II
I've also heard great things about WY1450 - Denny's Favorite.

 

[Mainer]

That said, some of the best ales I've made were with good old Danstar Nottingham. It won't do anything fancy, but it'll chew through just about anything, and will leave a clean profile behind.

 

[kingwood-kid]

I use 1318 a lot, and I usually get pretty good attenuation, but in my experience it's more sensitive to variations in fermentability than a lot of other yeasts. You could try mashing for an extra 30 minutes. If you normally mash out, just skip that step and you'll be fine, the malt enzymes will continue to work throughout the sparge as long as you're below 160 or so. Another option is to do everything exactly as you did this time, then after about a week, add a hungrier neutral yeast (nottingham, us-05, etc).