Speeding up WLP530

[afr0byte]

So, I have used WLP530 a couple times (2, I think). Each time I've had to wait 2 weeks or more for FG to be reached (not including time waiting for yeast to settle out more in prep for racking). This is in comparison to 5-7 days for beers with WLP540 (Rocherfort yeast). Currently I've got a dubbel (OG ~1.068) fermenting. It's been a week and it's still pounding away slowly like in the past. It did have blow off within 36-48 hours, but slowed down after that. I used a pretty fresh (within a couple weeks of delivery to the LHBS...stored in a fridge at the LHBS) vial in a 2 liter stir plate starter, and I used pure O2 for a minute or so before pitching in to the batch.

Anyways, I've got it ramped up to 72 (which should work...it's the max temp for Alchel) right now. However, I've seen a couple of posts on the interwebs stating that people have had some luck rousing the yeast to speed things up. I'll probably just let it plug along slowly, but has anyone had luck with rousing this yeast?

 

[beergolf]

That yeast is a funny animal. It will start off fast and furious, and then slow down and take a very long time to finish.

The first time I used it I had waaaay overcarbed beer. I thought it was done and even had a stable FG for a few days. It was not fully done. Now I just give it plenty of time to finish. Belgians do well with some age anyway, so I just make sure to err on the side of more time rather than less time. This yeast cannot be rushed.

 

[afr0byte]

I imagine it won't be too much longer. At ~1.5 weeks it's at 1.018. So, if I had to guess I'd say another 5-8 points to go. I've recently raised the temp to 75 though, and there is still a lot of yeast on top.

 

[afr0byte]

I checked yesterday. All the yeast had fallen and it's working on clearing. It was at the 1.010-1.011 area (hard to tell with bubbles).

 

[m00ps]

Every time I've used this yeast is seems to go in sprints. It takes off (always needs a blowoff) dies down for a day, then takes back off again with another krausen. If you raise the temp a bit (I've used this yeast up to low 80s without problems) you may be able to induce its weird cycle thing.

 

[afr0byte]

Every time I've used this yeast is seems to go in sprints. It takes off (always needs a blowoff) dies down for a day, then takes back off again with another krausen. If you raise the temp a bit (I've used this yeast up to low 80s without problems) you may be able to induce its weird cycle thing.

I went up to 75...theoretically that should be warm enough. But, perhaps I'll try warmer if I use it in the future. I'll probably use WLP540 next time (I prefer Rochefort beers over Westmalle anyways....LHBS only happened to have WLP530).

 

[g-star]

You can get it to finish in about 7-10 days if you warm 1-2F/day after blow-off/high krausen. However, it is important to keep the temperature below 70F for the first 36-48hrs to avoid an overly estery/solventy beer.

I typically pitch at 64F, let it self-rise to 70F, hold for 2 days, then ramp 2F/day to 78F and hold there. I've won awards for tripels and BDSA's using this method.

 

[afr0byte]

You can get it to finish in about 7-10 days if you warm 1-2F/day after blow-off/high krausen. However, it is important to keep the temperature below 70F for the first 36-48hrs to avoid an overly estery/solventy beer.

I typically pitch at 64F, let it self-rise to 70F, hold for 2 days, then ramp 2F/day to 78F and hold there. I've won awards for tripels and BDSA's using this method.

I did start raising it 1 degree a day after 2 days (I was fermenting at <= 68 to start...pitched at 65) (up to about 72, where Alchel supposedly finishes off). I imagine it's more a factor of my basement being in the low 60s this time of year. If the ambient temp had been 72 I can imagine it finishing faster. But, I've also read Denny Conn say it acts like this for him too, and he probably knows all of the tricks.