"Chunky" WLP002 -- is that right?

[DoctorMemory]

Yesterday I brewed a RIS, and since it's my first "big" beer I thought I'd better make a starter. I made a stir plate and a starter and put my WLP002 in it. When I went to pour in the vial, the yeast was a solid lump and it fell out in one chunk, which I have never seen before. I put it on my stir plate and everything looked good, I let it spin for 24h and it smelled yeasty so I threw it in the fridge to cold-crash overnight. When I went to use it, I decanted it and the yeast cake at the bottom was hard and firm again. I wound up using a spoon to dig it out. I checked this morning and my blow-off tube was bubbling, but not the serious glad-I-used-a-blowoff-tube kind of bubbling I was expecting.

My question is: is this normal for WLP002? Now that I think about it, I should probably check my fridge and see if it's acting up, is it possible this is due to the yeast being too cold? I have an old mini-fridge and it's never been very enthusiastic about getting real cold, but maybe I should check anyway...

 

[billl]

It's a pretty floculant yeast - ie it clumps together. It should produce a nice, compact cake.

Did you swirl it up before pitching or just spoon it out? You really should have given it a good shake to get it back in suspension.

 

[jfk69]

In my experience WLP002 and WLP007 are similar strains and absolutely are clumpy strains of yeast. I run into that every time I use either of them.

 

[kal]

WLP002 (same as WY1968) floc's like crazy. Sometimes I'll give it a (gentle) stir while near the end of fermentation to keep it going. Raise the temp a couple of degrees near the end can help too. I like to start at 66-68F and move up to 70-72 at the end.

Kal

 

[Roadie]

When I went to use it, I decanted it and the yeast cake at the bottom was hard and firm again. I wound up using a spoon to dig it out.

I decant all but a little bit of the starter beer and use that to swirl the yeast back into solution. Never have had to use a spoon on any yeast to loosen it. Some beers are a little slower to start than others. Given that you have action I wouldn't worry about the fact that it's not majorly blowing off.

 

[BarleyStanding]

I had the same reaction the first time I used WLP002. In my experience, yes it is lumpy/clumpy. Flocs like crazy, love that yeast!

 

[DoctorMemory]

Well, looks like i needn't have worried. Just got home toan overflowing blowoff jar and a bulging fermenter lid. I stuck the fermenter into a cooler and added water and ice, hopefully I'll avoid a real mess. After cleaning the airlock holding my blowoff three times I've decided to just stick the tube directly into the grommet and use some tape to seal it up.