Danstar Munich VS Fermentis WB-06 (Happy Wife Wheat)

[FSR402]

I get the sour thing as well. I thought it could have been down to something in my brewing process, but if you get it too then I guess it's a characteristic of the yeast .

Yea it's the yeast. These two beers were brewed as one then split and pitched.

 

[EdWort]

Thanks for the news, albeit disappointing. You saved me 7 hours of work and 3 weeks of waiting. It may have been the first keg for me to dump.

 

[FSR402]

Thanks for the news, albeit disappointing. You saved me 7 hours of work and 3 weeks of waiting. It may have been the first keg for me to dump.

I think that with a good american wheat recipe the Danstar would be a good easy yeast to use. The Fermentis is crap.

 

[Schlenkerla]

I was at the local HB picked up ingredients for my House Amber & Jamil's Saison.....

The LHBS owner asked if I want a free Danstar Munich Wheat Yeast. I'm like........ "Aaaaa Sure!!!! Wasn't planning to make a wheat but who knows. I might have too. "

I guess the Danstar Distributor is trying to set the hook in us and asked all his LHBS's to give it away.

I can handle that. I might have to make FSR402's wheat recipe. I have been on a Lighter Lawnmower Beer Kick lately. So this seams AOK to me. American Heffe...

I gots to do the Saison first. I've been procrastinating about it for months!!

 

[FSR402]

I was at the local HB picked up ingredients for my House Amber & Jamil's Saison.....

The LHBS owner asked if I want a free Danstar Munich Wheat Yeast. I'm like........ "Aaaaa Sure!!!! Wasn't planning to make a wheat but who knows. I might have too. "

I guess the Danstar Distributor is trying to set the hook in us and asked all his LHBS's to give it away.

I can handle that. I might have to make FSR402's wheat recipe. I have been on a Lighter Lawnmower Beer Kick lately. So this seams AOK to me. American Heffe...

I gots to do the Saison first. I've been procrastinating about it for months!!

Well my wife floated the keg with the Danstar in 3 weeks. I'm still working on the Fermentis. I even added 2oz of Blueberry extract to see if it would make it any better. It helped but not a lot.

I did brew up another wheat for a freind and I used the Danstar (he did not want to pay for the WLP300+ starter) and it's sitting on 10#s of strawberries right now.

 

[Schlenkerla]

Well my wife floated the keg with the Danstar in 3 weeks. I'm still working on the Fermentis. I even added 2oz of Blueberry extract to see if it would make it any better. It helped but not a lot.

I did brew up another wheat for a freind and I used the Danstar (he did not want to pay for the WLP300+ starter) and it's sitting on 10#s of strawberries right now.

I'd try adding anything citrus to that beer. Tart it up. Or try cutting it w/ something else making a black & tan. Kind of like a pseudo dunkelweizen.

Hmmmm 10lbs of strawberries. Reminds me of my Banana Cream Ale w/ 5lbs of banana ~ 22 bananas.

 

[mew]

Any thoughts on what other dry "heffe" yeasts we should test next? If I do a yeast test, I'll be sure to post about it.

 

[FSR402]

Any thoughts on what other dry "heffe" yeasts we should test next? If I do a yeast test, I'll be sure to post about it.

I don't know of any others out yet.

But I did brew up another wheat with a little change in grain and hops from this one, used the Danstar and then set it on 10 pounds of strawberries for 18 days. I just tapped the keg 3 hours ago. It's freaking great. :rockin:

 

[Tonedef131]

I have been wanting to do this same experiment for a while now since these are the only two dry yeasts I have not used. On Thursday I brewed up 11 gallons of a 60/40 wheat malt/pilsner and pitched a rehydrated pack of each into exactly 5.5 gallons of wort at 63F. They have been at 63 ever since and will remain there till activity slows down. This is within the suggested range for each of these and the temp I find to give the best balance in wheat yeasts. It should give a pretty good indication of the flavor profile of each of these since there was no spices or late hops or anything added. So far the WB-06 started a bit quicker but seems to already be dropping krausen, whereas the Munich was coming out of the airlock when I got up this morning. The Munich is the one that now has the blow-off.

I am going to bottle condition these for ease of taking to parties and the like. I won't drink a lot of this style but my friends love it and it will make a nice pool beer, so I will report back in about a month or so after this is all carbed up.

 

[Pisty_Pete]

I have been wanting to do this same experiment for a while now since these are the only two dry yeasts I have not used. On Thursday I brewed up 11 gallons of a 60/40 wheat malt/pilsner and pitched a rehydrated pack of each into exactly 5.5 gallons of wort at 63F. They have been at 63 ever since and will remain there till activity slows down. This is within the suggested range for each of these and the temp I find to give the best balance in wheat yeasts. It should give a pretty good indication of the flavor profile of each of these since there was no spices or late hops or anything added. So far the WB-06 started a bit quicker but seems to already be dropping krausen, whereas the Munich was coming out of the airlock when I got up this morning. The Munich is the one that now has the blow-off.

I am going to bottle condition these for ease of taking to parties and the like. I won't drink a lot of this style but my friends love it and it will make a nice pool beer, so I will report back in about a month or so after this is all carbed up.

So, what's the final word??

I've got a roggenbier kit from northern brewer that I'm brewing up with WB-06 and all of these less than favorable reviews have got me worried...

 

[tronnyjenkins]

How did those two brews ever turn out Pisty_Pete?
I am about to brew a 2 gallon batch with the Danstar Munich!

 

[Pisty_Pete]

How did those two brews ever turn out Pisty_Pete?
I am about to brew a 2 gallon batch with the Danstar Munich!

That wasn't me that did those two brews, actually. I did brew a roggenbier with wb-06 however. It turned out pretty decent. Not one of my favorites, but not bad.

The yeast seemed to perform ok. Fermentation started within 8 hours of pitching and although it did not ferment too vigorously (no blow-off) it attenuated alright. It did not (I guess as can be expected) flocculate very well at all.

And, as far as flavor/esters and phenolics are concerned there's really no detectable banana or clove. I, myself, will most likely not be using this yeast again. Hope that helps.

Cheers,
p

 

[tronnyjenkins]

Damn. Well I am thinking about doing it this weekend.
I might sweet talk the local brewpub and see if I could score some of his wheat beer yeast.
They have a freakin killer dunkel.

 

[mullenite]

I used WB-06 recently and it has a strong bubblegum/banana flavor, I fermented higher at about 70.

 

[tronnyjenkins]

whichever yeast i use i will be doing 70 degrees... its what i keep my house at

 

[tronnyjenkins]

do you think if i put the fermentor over by the warm back door and were able to keep it around 75 degrees F it might produce more banana and clove flavors?

 

[BCastine]

I have very good success with WB-06, but i open ferment when using it and ferment at 64, never more then 66. I also use very soft water with my weizen. Gives the perfect balance of banana/clove with a hint of vanilla. I'm guessing there will be a good amount of phenol/ester suppression @70+ in a carboy with an airlock, not the ideal way to ferment this style imo.

 

[Sean10]

Hey, Im new to the forum. I need a little help. Ive just laid down a wheat beer with Danstar Munich. I pitched at around 24C with OG of about 1050 ish. Rehydrated the wheat beforehand, and after about 5 days no bubbling atall. Has anyone had this problem. I got maybe a 1 and a half maybe 2 inch krausen after a day or two but even thats starting to settle now. Ive kept the temp constant at around 22/23 C. There are no off smells coming from the beer atall, its just stuck! Should i stir, change temp.? Any advice would be really appreciated.

 

[FSR402]

Hey, Im new to the forum. I need a little help. Ive just laid down a wheat beer with Danstar Munich. I pitched at around 24C with OG of about 1050 ish. Rehydrated the wheat beforehand, and after about 5 days no bubbling atall. Has anyone had this problem. I got maybe a 1 and a half maybe 2 inch krausen after a day or two but even thats starting to settle now. Ive kept the temp constant at around 22/23 C. There are no off smells coming from the beer atall, its just stuck! Should i stir, change temp.? Any advice would be really appreciated.

If you have krausen then it's fermenting. Never go by the airlock. you most likely have some leaks and the CO2 is coming out of there and not the airlock.
Wait until the krausen has fallen and then take a gravity reading. Take the reading 3 days in a row and if it's the same all three days it's done. (note: make sure the gravity reading is at or near where it should be for that beer and yeast.) Other then that it sounds like it's working just fine so leave it alone.

 

[Sean10]

Thanks for the quick reply! much appreciated. I just did a taste test and it sure as hell tastes like its been fermenting. Some nice esters in there, a little banana, hope it stays. Time will tell, Ill post the results. Thanks again, I can tell ill be using this forum abit

 

[Reno_eNVy]

I have very good success with WB-06, but i open ferment when using it and ferment at 64, never more then 66. I also use very soft water with my weizen. Gives the perfect balance of banana/clove with a hint of vanilla. I'm guessing there will be a good amount of phenol/ester suppression @70+ in a carboy with an airlock, not the ideal way to ferment this style imo.

I've used WB-06 in a couple different kind of wheat beers and had great success. At 60-64* my dunkelweizen comes out amazing, with the chocolate malt coming forward a bit with a nice push from behind from the slight banana produced by the yeast. My Honey Orange Hefe really benefits from fermentation temperatures around 68-70* and throws off just the right amount of banana/clove.

I hear and read people bashing dry yeast all the time (Sam Calagione and Randy Mosher apparently have nothing but contempt for them) but from my experiences I can get the same quality beer from WB-06 that I can from Wyeast #1010 or #3638 depending on temperature.

Dry yeast FTW! (you know, unless you need specialty yeast in which case you're kinda effed)

 

[BigdogMark]

We have been using the Danstar Munich yeast for the last 8 batches of our wheat beers with decent success. I would agree we aren't able to get a true hefeweizen with it but we do get a very good beer with the addition of Summit hops at the 20 minute point. We drink through the kegs at a quick rate.

The Munich floculates quite a bit more than WL hefe yeast. It produces a solid yeast cake instead of the soft spongy mass of crap at the bottom of the fermenter we got with WL yeast. On the other hand, the resulting beer does not have as much suspended particulate (yeast) as the WL brews. If the keg lasts more than three weeks we found the beer cleared up almost like an ale, but with a wheat flavor.

We haven't tried the Wyeast products and probably should. We don't have much use for WL yeasts anymore due to the beer loss resulting from the yeasty mess. As a matter of fact, we no longer filter our ales since moving to Notty yeast as well.

 

[LuizArgh]

I just did the exact same test.

I brewed a giant-sized batch of 42 gallons and split it in 9 carboys, 4 of which with the WB-06 and the rest with the Munich yeast.

the batch was:
60% pilsen malt
40% wheat malt (weyermann)
9 IBU worth of columbus hops
soft water (6,5 PH)
1048 OG
est. 9 EBC

I fermented for 10 days at 25ºC/ 77ºF, then dropped at 20ºC/ 69ºF for 3 more days then finally placed all carboys in my freezer to help sedimentation before racking.

at the time of the racking, here were my results:
WB-06: 1008/1009 FG (ap.att.82,7%)
Munich: 1014/1015 FG (ap.att.70%)

The munich sample was actually lighter in color that the wb-06. both had way more phenolic then fruity esters, which was quite surprising, considering the high fermentation temperature. The Munich sample was also quite sour. I used a PH measurement strip and the result was around 4 PH. Although not impossible, I would say that contamination is out of the question, as that character ONLY appeared in the Munich samples (and there were 5 carboys of those!). Unless, of course, there is a problem with the yeast.

the munich (in the back) and wb-06 samples

For what I read here, should I assume the munich must attenuate more? 1015 sounded quite high for the FG. but still, It wasnt supposed to word slower that the wb-06...

what about the sourness? was it expected? will it get better?

 

[passedpawn]

Great post Luis! What a great experiment. Sorry, I can't answer any of your questions as I have only used liquid yeast in the past.

Please post here again when these beers are carbonated and you start drinking them.

 

[HOOTER]

Just to add my $.02, I recently brewed an extract Hefe with Danstar Munich with great results. Fermentation started and finished quickly and attenuation was about 75%. The beer was nice a cloudy and the banana notes were subtle but present. This would be a great yeast for a Widmer Hefeweizen clone. I'm brewing another batch with slightly warmer temps (70 as opposed to mid 60's). We'll see what happens.

 

[Dunerunner]

Used two packets of WB-06 on my recent German Heffe and 1 day into FMT I got concerned I wouldn't get the esters I was hoping for so I added a packet (reconstituted) of T-58. A 10 gallon batch, OG 1.048, FG 1.008!!

It's done, I'm happy, It's good!!

 

[oparea]

It would be interesting to see this yeast fermented at the bottom of it's temperature range.

 

[jeremy0209]

Rise, thread. Rise from the dead. Rrrrriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiise (hands in the air, palms up)

I just started this exact experiment yesterday. I split a 5 gallon batch in half and pitched one pack of Munich and one pack of WB-06. So far, fermentation has commenced as outlined in the previous posts with the WB-06 being quick on the draw, but the Munich being more explosive. In case the last poster is still interested, I'm fermenting these at (hopefully) 60F. I say hopefully because the strips I have on the two fermenters stop at 64F, so I set my fermentation chamber to 54F and said a prayer. I figure a 6 degree difference is fairly accurate. As of now, they're both very active.

If anybody is interested, I'll be happy to update this thread with my results. I'll await your word.

 

[LuizArgh]

I'm interested =)

 

[jeremy0209]

I'm interested =)

OK....Let's start with some pics, shall we?

The first one is what was greeting me when I came home from work....it's the Munich, by the way.

The second one is what they looked like right after I pitched the yeast on Sunday....no big deal, right?

This is at 54F ambient, so I'm assuming approx 60F in the fermenter.