Wyeast American Ale II 1272 Fermentation 7 Characteristics Questions

[pshankstar]

Is anyone familiar with the Wyeast American Ale II 1272 yeast? I have used it once before and the beer came out with Acetaldehyde characteristic. So I pitched the yeast again, but made a starter with it to clear this up.

Now I have used this yeast again for a Strawberry Blonde (recipe below). The fermentation seems non-existent again, similar to my last batch. The yeast was pitched on 11/4/15 after stirring the wort for a good minute or two to get it oxygenated. There is a small krausen ring in the fermenter about only an inch higher than the brew. There has been no airlock activity, which I know is not an indication there is no fermentation or there is fermentation. I haven't checked the gravity reading quite yet b/c I will be racking it onto 8lbs of strawberries later this week and I will check it then, to verify fermentation is happening. Also, I did a full boil this time and had a full 5 gallons of wort (or 19L). I added just one additional liter of water to the wort b/c I have the fast ferment conical fermentor, so I was trying to keep it close to 5 gallons after a collection ball or two is dumped.

I was just curious to know if others have any experience with this yeast and if it is a very subtle yeast? What I am seeing, is this normal with this yeast? Are liquid yeasts like this compared to dry yeast? I didn't do a starter with this batch or my last batch, but it is suppose to be "direct pitch". It just seems that my previous batches have more fermentation activity (i.e. more airlock bubbles, more krausen, etc...) and they have been done with dry yeasts (like Safale US-05 or Safale US-04 without rehydrating).

Thanks in advance guys!


Succulent Strawberry Blonde

Ingredients:

6.5 LB Extra Pale LME
1.5 LB Wheat LME
8 oz Carapils
.5 oz Cacade 7.5% @ 60 min
.5 oz Saaz 5.8% @ 20 min
.5 oz Saaz 5.8% @ 5 min
Whirlfloc @ 15 min
Wyeast American Ale II 1272
8 lbs, yep, 8 lbs, of Dole frozen strawberries
Priming sugar

Directions:

- Bring 2 gallons of water to 160* turn off heat
- Steep Carapils for 20 min with lid on
- Top up to 4 gallons, bring to boil
- Remove from heat, add LME
- Return to heat, bring to boil, start hops additions as listed
- Cool, transfer to fermenter
- Top up to 5 gallons
- Add yeast

Fermentation:

Fermented for 1 week at 68*. Then racked onto all 8 lbs of strawberries and let it set for 6 days at 68*, then racked back off of the thawed strawberries into a tertiary. I kinda got busy and it ended up staying in the tertiary for 4 weeks, that wasn't planned and I don't know that it's necessary. Then bottled.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showpost.php?p=1489973

 

[pshankstar]

I would like to add that I pitched the yeast when the wort was cooled down to 65 degrees. Also, the initial gravity reading (after adding the 1L of water) was 1.048. I noticed the yeast as seemed to drop down to the collection ball (based on previous experience). I'm not sure if this additional information helps, but I wanted to throw it out there just in case. Its just really strange if the airlock activity only occurred for a few hours while I was asleep one night.

 

[TheMilkMan]

I use this yeast quite often. For me this yeast is usually high activity. 3-4 weeks ago I made a starter and did a 1.060 IPA and had some serious blow off through the blow off tube. When I bottled that batch I pitched a new 5 gallon batch of IPA straight onto the yeast cake and it went crazy. The blow off tube clogged and blew yeast/beer all over the freezer(I use for temp control). In my experience this yeast is serious business.

 

[YellowRiver]

I'm on my second run of this yeast. The first time I got about 9 successive batches. Only once was the activity slow, seemed odd but that beer finally came around. Most times it finished fast at 65F, I usually then stepped it up to 70F. Never bottled at 7 days but probably could have.

I started a fresh cycle of the 1272 just to see if the results were similar. Like the brochure says, makes a great house strain.

 

[govner1]

I use 1272 fairly routinely w/ Pale Ales & IPA's and it always ferments vigorously and drops out very cleanly.
I just tapped a 2nd batch of Grapefruit Wheat IPA using 1272. Great beer and very clear for a wheat. Certainly no off flavors.
I've used 1272 in about a dozen brews this year.

 

[cladinshadows]

I use White Labs WLP051 from time to time (supposedly the same strain). Works very nicely in dark beers as well.

In my experience it is not very vigorous and tends to leave a bit of sulfur behind, even with a relatively large starter. This is not a liquid yeast vs. dry yeast difference, it's just an idiosyncrasy of the strain.

However, in your case it is possible that you are underpitching (no starter). With an already sensitive strain that could be the reason it isn't fermenting as you'd like. Your dry yeast ferments are more active because of both the strain and the fact that you are likely ending up with more viable cells in the wort at pitching than you do direct pitching a smack pack.

There is no dry yeast equivalent to Wyeast 1272 / WLP051, so if you like it's flavor then keep at it. Don't give up on it until you've given it a real shot with an appropriate starter. Lots of options for figuring out what "appropriate" means:
http://www.brewunited.com/yeast_calculator.php
http://yeastcalculator.com/
http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/calc.html

Hope this helps.

 

[Oginme]

I recently split a batch of IPA between WY1056 and WY1272. Fermented both on the chilly side (62F starting up to 66F at finish before cold crashing. This was a fruit bomb IPA recipe which has scored 40 in competition earlier this year.

The WY1056 started showing active signs of fermentation earlier, at about 10 hrs post pitching. Krausen continued for about 4 days, very steady and consistent. End result was very clean tasting, modest fruity (tropical fruit, melon, citrus) aroma. less of a hop flavor before hitting a strong citrus, pine, resin finish. Beer was very clear and bright.

The WY1272 was slow starting (~20 hrs) but then almost exploded and the krausen had dropped by day three. End result was extreme fruity aromas (tropical fruit, citrus, melon), much stronger than the WY1056. The taste was even more impressive with the fruit flavors starting from the beginning and lasting to the ending finish of modest citrus, pine and resin flavors. Beer was very clear and bright.

I do know from past use of WY1272, that when fermented at warmer temps, it tends to add some fruity esters. When fermented at temperatures below 65F it comes out much cleaner.

 

[pshankstar]

Thanks for all the feedback everyone! Here is the latest update on my end.

Even though the krausen ring was pretty small and saw no airlock activity, the gravity readings prove fermentation did occur. Before I pitched the yeast, I had an OG of 1.048. A couple of days ago I moved the wort from the conical fermentor to my bucket fermentor (I don't want the strawberries to clog it). I took another gravity reading when I racked the wort onto the strawberries (well before it touched the strawberries) and it came in at 1.012.

Now that the wort is sitting on the strawberries, I have steady airlock activity. A pop/bubble every 20 seconds (+/-). This is probably due to the yeast consuming the natural sugars from the strawberries.

The wort will sit until the 23rd, then I will keg it and have it ready for Thanksgiving! Which I'm excited to try but more excited to see what the family thinks of it!

I am in the process of building my own stir plate, so I will start making starters moving forward. I did save the collection ball to wash the yeast. Hopefully I do this ok and I will save it for my next brew day and make a starter with it. Thanks again everyone!