WLP090 - Very Impressed!

[pumpkinman2012]

After reading about how clean San Diego Super Yeast ferments over and over, I decided to give it a shot in an American Pale Ale.
I'm very impressed!
I made a 2 liter starter, and to my surprise, 2 hrs after pitching, fermentation was very actively under way!
WLP090 is very clean fermenting, this yeast really let the malt & hops shine through, very balanced.

I am so impressed with this yeast, I started another 2 liter yeast starter and brewed a Centennial IPA, fermentation started 2.5 hrs after pitching, and it is currently fermenting. I cannot wait to see how it enhances the malt and hop profile of this IPA.
I think that I've found my "Haus Yeast"!

 

[thaymond]

I've been looking to try wlp090 for a while, but keep forgetting about it and going with something different. Last time I was at the LBHS they were out so I tried BRY97 with good results. Ill have to try this as I was gifted a load of ipa hops, and I'm always looking for a different yeast than 001/1056. Bry97 was close too. How does it compare with these others? Do you know?

 

[Stocktonbrew]

Happy to hear. I just made an IPA with 8 ounces of cascade using WLP090 for the first time. Fermentation started fast and was vigorous. Can't wait to try it.

 

[NathPowe]

Good to hear. How is it clearing up for you? I bought a vial that I'll be trying next week on an IPA. One of the main reasons I'm interested in trying it is that I've heard it floccs/clears better than 001/US-05.

Glad it worked out for you. Cheers.

 

[pumpkinman2012]

The beer appeared clearer than other batches brewed with different strains as I racked into a carboy for cold crashing and clearing with gelatin.
I harvested yeast from a starter I made a week ago with this yeast as per Brulosopher's post on harvesting yeast, WLP090 is a beast, after 3 hrs in the starter on a stir plate it showed signs of life, this is a very healthy yeast starter at three hrs:

 

[j1n]

I agree, its a very fast and clean yeast. prob one of my fav yeasts

 

[catdaddy66]

Just got this and am currently making wort for my second step of its starter. Going to use it in an American honey wheat. Debated whether or not to try S-33 dry yeast but reading this thread answered my question. San Diego super it is!!


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[catdaddy66]

The label asks for 70-75* ferm temp and is fairly adamant about it. Anyone have temp suggestions? I guess warmer would get it off to an active start... I have my bucket in a swamp cooler for the first time. Water is at 72* but do I add ice or not to get it down below 70*?


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[Ben58]

You don't want to do that. I always start my ferment at 65, ramping up 1/2 a degree per day. This gives the cleanest profile. From White labs site:

WLP090 San Diego Super Yeast

A super clean, super-fast fermenting strain. A low ester-producing strain that results in a balanced, neutral flavor and aroma profile. Alcohol-tolerant and very versatile for a wide variety of styles. Similar to California Ale Yeast WLP001 but it generally ferments faster.
View More »


Attenuation:
76-83% +

Flocculation:
Medium to High

Optimum Ferment Temp:
65-68°F (18-20°C)

Alcohol Tolerance:
High

 

[catdaddy66]

I pitched at 65* (beer temp) at 8 pm last night and checked throughout the night. It went to 68 by 8 am and I replaced the melted ice container with a fresh one. It's 1.5L of ice in 8 gal of water and a 5 gal batch. Fingers are crossed!


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[itsratso]

after scott at bertusbrewery.com switched to this and his favorable reviews i also made this my house yeast. i pitch at 63F, ramp up 1F/day to 65F. hold it until fermentation slows, usually about 5-7 days. then another quick rampup to 69F to finish. i allow 10 days total but scott i believe has done some beers in under 7 days?

 

[catdaddy66]

I know that my beer will be fine, but I pitched a 1L starter into 5 gallons of honey wheat ale and 48 hours later I haven't seen any airlock activity. Again, I've done enough brewing and discussed brewing on HBT to the point that I realize hydrometer readings are the only true evidence of fermentation.

In addition I've used a swamp cooler for the first time in an attempt to control temps during fermentation. The initial temp at pitching was 70* of the water, which the primary had rested in for 3-4 hours to equalize temps. Then I added a 1/2 gal jug of ice which cooled temp of water to 58* by next am. It has since risen to 62*.

The beer will be somewhat higher (I've read) by 4-6* with active fermentation so it would put it .between 64-68* for 48 hours. That is assuming it is actively fermenting.

My question is did I bring the temp too low initially to start a vigorous fermentation? I know it will be more active at higher temps, so I'm gonna try to elevate 1-2* each day until I see activity.



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[j1n]

I think you may have gotten the temp too low. If i remember correctly it said the best way to use this yeast was to pitch it at 70*F then bring it down to 66-68*F and hold it there for the fermentation.

 

[catdaddy66]

I think you may have gotten the temp too low. If i remember correctly it said the best way to use this yeast was to pitch it at 70*F then bring it down to 66-68*F and hold it there for the fermentation.

I agree, but earlier in the thread I posted that the label states 70*... A respondent said not to go that warm. I'll pull it out to warm it up and once active I'll put it back in the cooler.


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[j1n]

i think the point of pitching at 70*F is to get the yeast started quickly and then bringing the temp down will make sure the yeast produces clean results. The whitelabs site says 65-68 is optimal. When i pitched it, i immediately set the temp to 66 so the wort should have reached that within a couple hours after pitching.

Should start up after warming it up. Try to keep it within 65-68 degrees. This is the cleanest yeast ive used so far. i think its cleaner than wlp001.

 

[catdaddy66]

Pulled the primary out of the swamp cooler and over the next 24 hours I saw condensation in the airlock but no bubbles. Gave the bucket a vigorous swirl last night and had bubbles this am! Also had awesome aroma...


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[NathPowe]

Trying this yeast out for the first time on an IPA this weekend. Did a starter a couple days ago that took right off and finished out quickly. Really nice looking starter - lots of creamy goodness. Made .5L extra a la Brulosopher's method to save some for next time.

Stoked for the brew. Cheers.

 

[pumpkinman2012]

Nathpowe, I make extra as per Brulosopher's method as well, this has worked very well, a big thanks to Brulosopher!

 

[NathPowe]

Pitched my starter of SDSY into 5 gallons of 1.065 IPA wort (Mosaic, Citra, Columbus and Centennial - yes please) yesterday around noon. Airlock was chugging hard this morning at 6am. Really interested to see how this beer compares to US-05 in terms of flavor/aroma and flocculation/clearing. Time will tell.

Cheers.

 

[pumpkinman2012]

Here is an update:
I've been brewing every few days replenishing my inventory, so far in the past 13 days I've brewed the following:
Haus Ale - 6 Gallons (This is a Pale Ale)
Centennial IPA - 6 Gallons
Triple B IPA - 6 Gallons
Dark IPA - - 6 Gallons
Hoptimum IPA - 6 Gallons

I started with the original 2.5 ish liter starter, every time I make a starter I pour off approx. 500 ml as per Brulosopher's instructions found here: Click me, in addition to that, I've been harvesting yeast from the fermenters when I rack to a carboy for dry hopping and/or cold crashing.

Before we start a Secondary/No secondary discussion, I have to rack to a carboy to cold crash and fine with gelatin, my fermenting buckets are too big for the 4.6 cu ft. fridge that I use for this purpose.

The yeast harvested from the fermenters has been used usually within 4 or 5 days, when I take it out of the fridge to let it warm up to room temp before decanting and pitching into the starter, it becomes very active in the 500 ml canning jars, I pitched directly into the Triple B IPA without a starter, and it had no problem fermenting this beer from SG 1.064 to FG 1.010.

I have an Imperial IPA in the fermenter now that is fermenting steadily, the lag time was only 2 hrs, this yeast is still very impressive, even 5 generations down the line!

The brews that I've made with this yeast have all had a few things in common: Very short Lag time, fast fermentation times, good attenuation and flocculation, a very clean flavor profile that allows the malt and hop characteristics to shine through.

UPDATE #2:
Routine check on the fermenters 15 mins ago after I smelled that beautiful fermenting smell a bit more powerful than normal, I found that the lid to the fermenting bucket (8 Gallon Brewcraft) had blown off, put a blow off tube on the fermenter, with a gallon jug with StarSan, I wish that you all could hear this, the CO2 being released has literally (not an exaggeration) been constant without letting up as you would hear an airlock do when fermenting, for over 10 mins straight.......this yeast is a beast!

 

[SDCraftBeer]

We brewed a Hoppy Pale Ale (Citra/Mosaic) last Saturday with WLP090. Made a 1.5L starter the Thursday before and it took off in just a couple hours and flocculated nicely after 24 hours. I put it in the fridge and decanted the spent wort. We pitched the starter when the wort was at 72 and quickly put it in the ferm chamber and got it down to 63 within a matter of hours. Within 12 hours when I woke up we had bubbles and it has bubbling since then. This morning the airlock is showing signs of slowing a bit. I have raised the temp 1 degree yesterday and this morning so we are at 65 now. Very excited to see how this turns out, been using 001 pretty much exclusively with some mixed results..hoping this one can really help our hops shine and flocc a bit better.

 

[NathPowe]

Racked my IPA with WLP090 into a keg last night. The yeast took it from 1.065 -> 1.009 (mashed at 149). I like my IPA's on the drier side so I'm happy with that FG. Hydro sample was very nice. Hop forward, but I caught some faint touches of malt in there as well (grist was ~94% 2-row, ~3% Biscuit, ~3% C40). It seems to have flocced pretty well - certainly seemed better than US-05, although the cake was a bit powdery when I got toward the bottom of the fermenter. I think on my next batch with this yeast I'll try cold-crashing. Anyway, I'm certainly happy with my first WLP090 batch so far. Looking forward to tasting this one in a couple weeks.

Cheers.

 

[pumpkinman2012]

SDcraftbeer, I've been using 2 liter on all of my "normal" (SG 1.060 and below) brews, and 2.5 for higher gravity brews such as barleywine and Imperial IPA, I usually over pitch, if Beersmith shows that a 1.5 liter starter will do the job, I'll pitch 2 liters, this gives me a real strong/active fermentation that has been resulting in a real clean beer, the hops have really been shining through in my IPA's.
The yeast that I've harvested from the fermenters has been working out real well too, in less than 2 hrs from when I pull it out of the fridge, I can see it coming to "life" in the mason jars, I've had to use a blow off tube the past two times that I've used yeast harvested from fermenters.
For those wondering just how many times that you can reuse this yeast, I've made the following beer with the same original yeast, harvesting yeast as per Brulosopher's post on harvesting yeast, and from fermenters, in the past 3 weeks:

Haus Ale -
Centennial IPA -
Triple B IPA -
Dark IPA -
Hoptimum IPA -
Haus Ale - (yes, a second batch, my buddies can't get enough of it)
Brown Shugga' (Strong ale/Barleywine)

It's a work horse!

 

[catdaddy66]

Bottled my honey wheat ale and, after not seeing much activity in the airlock, I was pleased to get a reading on the FG of 1.005 (down from an OG of 1.042) and got an ABV of 4.9%! Great yeast...


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[SDCraftBeer]

After 7 days starting at 63 and moving up to 68 after 72 hours the beer has went from 1.050 to 1.009 exactly where I wanted it to. I am going to let it set for another week and move to the keg. Tasted the hydro sample and it tasted wonderful.

 

[pumpkinman2012]

It's ironic, I can now taste the difference between this yeast and the yeast I used on an identical batch of beer 6 months ago, I cannot wait to make my stout recipe, even using Nottingham, the subtle taste of coffee and chocolate come through, with WLP090 it should be great!

 

[Terpene]

Beast.

Pitched fat 2L starter.

3IPA
OG 1.104
FG TBD

Chinook, Amarillo, Citra.

 

[catdaddy66]

I used this yeast twice, back to back, recently. It has continued to be a great yeast but my fermentations have been mild in their vigor. The last time I noticed a bit more sulfur in the aroma than I expected but still pleased.

May need to refresh my version as I have used it about 8 times in 3-4 years.