warm ferment: WLP050 Tennessee Whiskey yeast in Blonde

[laserghost]

Recently picked up a vial of this yeast after seeing it's ideal temp range as 75–79, and also being listed a clean fermenter. The White Labs site suggests it for big gravity beers, but I was curious about smaller beers too, so I brewed a 1.056 blonde ale 6 days ago. I made an oversized starter so I could harvest a few mason jars for future batches, and ended up pitching about 1 L (decanted) for 5 gallons. Pitched around 68 and let it rise up to 75 in my water bath over a few days where it's hanging around 76. It's nice that I don't have to babysit the water bath with ice bottles multiple times a day, which is what drew me to the idea of this yeast for my current setup.

Some observations: Fermentation took off within several hours and the next morning it had a nice krausen formed that lasted maybe 1–2 days total and then dropped back in entirely. By the third day the krausen had dropped in so I decided to take a reading (rarely take a reading this early, but I was curious). Down to 1.011 and tasted pretty good for 3 days old. Took another reading this morning, day 6 and it's at 1.010 and getting a bit clearer. Tastes great, definitely clean. Going to give it another week and then keg.

I essentially brewed Biermuncher's Centennial Blonde grist ratio, but I boosted the gravity and used El Dorado and Amarillo with a slightly different schedule. I'm going to do a gentle dry hop with those as well.

I'll report back with some photos of the finished product, and some tasting notes, but so far so good. Maybe a good American option for warm weather when you'd otherwise be limited to brewing Saisons (got a Saison going in the bath next to this guy). Maybe I'll try a double IPA with it next.

 

[PrinceOfThePoint]

Very cool. I'm curious to see if you recognize any fusel or ester production. Let us know what you think.

 

[laserghost]

This was a tasty beer, and it's all gone! Brewed it on 7/25 and kegged it on 8/7 (13 days). Kicked the keg 8/26 (4.5 weeks). Went from 1.056 to 1.008, and cleared up pretty well on its own after a few weeks in the keg.

I'm not an expert on detecting off flavors, but I want to say this was really a pretty clean beer, especially for a 76–77 F fermentation. I didn't detect any fusels. Maybe some esters, but that could also be from the fruity El Dorado and Amarillo hops? First time using El Dorado, so maybe not the best choice for a yeast experiment. I'd try the same recipe again with the Cascade and Centennial in Biermuncher's recipe.

Toward the end of the keg, around a month, the fruitiness started to mellow out and balance into a really nice flavor that was malty and gently hopped. So maybe the hop flavor was a bit overpowering at first and needed to fade with a few more weeks. I made notes to give this beer a month before tapping.

Would be great to see what others experience with this yeast at warm temps. I'm going to try an IPA next.

 

[usmclar1]

I have been using this yeast with some regularity at higher temps (one batch easily fermented at 80 consistently for a week) and haven't noticed any off flavors or fusels. Seems to be very clean. Ester production does seem to ramp up with gravity a bit, but still fairly subdued. For my money, I prefer the WLP070 though as it has similar traits but a very smooth ester profile as opposed to the clean fermentation of WLP050.