WLP 300?

[skou]

OK, I'm making a batch of amber ale, and I want to
see if I can use WLP 300, which is White Labs
Hefeweizen yeast. This is not a yeast beer.

6 LBS Breiss light ale DME.
2 LBS brown sugar.
1 Qt Maple Syrup.
About 1 pound of mixed
Crystal malt.
I oz Cascade hops. (I LIKE
cascade hops!)

I have 4 Grolsch bottles of
propagated WLP 300. I used
one. Fermentation started in
about 1 hour.

This has been in the primary,
for about 1 week. Fermentation
has slowed WAY down. It is still
quite sweet. (This ferment is quite
strange, mostly because I have 2
inches of headspace.) It does tend
to overflow the airlock. The overflow
product is HEAVILY hopped, it is
blowing off the harsh notes.

Now, since it appears I'm approaching
the yeast tolerance, will adding some
Champagne yeast kill the clove/banana
notes I want?

steve

 

[RPh_Guy]

Batch size?

 

[skou]

4.75 gallons, about 1.090 OG.

I didn't take a gravity reading today,
but I'm guessing it is 1/2 gone. 1.045 ish.

steve

 

[RPh_Guy]

I'd pitch 1-2 packets of rehydrated US-05 if it doesn't reach the FG you expect.
It won't get rid of the hefe flavor.

Wine yeast is not good for fermenting beer because it doesn't ferment the more complex sugars.

 

[Gnomebrewer]

That's one of the strangest beer recipes I've ever seen. I hope it turns out (that's meant sincerely, I'm not saying it won't)!
You need to take a gravity reading, rather than relying on taste and guessing that it's half done. It's really hard to say if it will finish sweet or dry - there's a LOT of crystal malt, but also a LOT of sugar to dry things out, not much hop for bitterness, but WLP300 is quite tart so there should be some sourness to balance the sweet. As already mentioned, you won't get rid of the banana from the hefe yeast, but it does mellow with time. I agree that US05 would be a better finishing option, but I highly doubt that WLP300 would stop short unless it was massively underpitched - it's a beast.