Danstar Munich Wheat yeast vs liquid Hefe yeasts

[PuNk]

I have been looking for someone with personal experience with the Danstar Munich Wheat yeast. I was just wandering the following questions:

1) Is there a comparable liquid yeast (Wyeast or White Labs)

2) If there any commercial beers using this yeast?

I just purchased a NB Bavarian Hefeweizen extract kit with the Wyeast 3638. I normally use dry yeast.

Thanks for your help, PuNk

 

[fratermus]

I have not used it for its intended purpose, but I did use the Munich in batch of apfelwein; didn't like it. A year later and the twigginess is still fading out.

I have not tried Munich in actual weizen wort; maybe I'll do that this week.

 

[Cpt_Kirks]

I have used it for Hefeweissen and Dunkelweissen. Pretty good, but liquid yeast is better. I like Wyeast 3068 the best, I guess.

 

[chefmike]

A buddy in my brew club tested two dry wheat strains. He is a little bit of a wheat beer freak. I cannot find the original thread, but I quoted him in a thread in the science section:

Last night my good friend Jeff and myself decided to taste these freshly carbed and tapped beer. Here are our tasting notes

WB-06
Cloudy with a thick white head, straw colored. Aroma is a bummer as there is a slight hint of sulfur and no clove or banana. Taste is very clean with a small trace of citrus and just a touch of perle hops. The mouth feel is very light and it has a very clean finish but the citrus tang lingers. Final grade 1-5 5 being the highest.

Dan gives this beer a 2.
Jeff gives this beer a 1.5.

Thoughts: This will be ok for beer pong, but is a far cry from the delecious hefeweizens I make using liquid yeasts wlp 380 hefe iv or Wyeast 3068 Weihenstephan.

Danstar Munich
Slightly cloudy(almost clear)1 finger of thick white head, Golden color. Aroma as the slightest hint of clove and touch of bread. Taste is very clean with a touch of breadiness. Mouth feel is light and the finish is crisp.

Thoughts: This is spot on for an American hefe but nowhere near a German hefe. I would consider using this yeast again but not the WB-06.

Dan gives this beer a 3.
Jeff gives this beer a 3.

 

[PuNk]

Thanks for the replies!

 

[Jimmies]

I used the WLP300 and it gave me a very noticeable banana flavor, which I happen to like.

 

[HairyDogBrewing]

I like WLP300 over WLP380.
But when I don't want to bother with a starter I prefer WB-06.

 

[Disi]

No experience of Munich Wheat personally, nor any liquid yeasts for that matter. But I'd like to share my experience of WB-06, and tasting of same recipe using the Danstar yeast.

I've tasted a hefe made with Munic, and basically, it screamed "bananas!" at me, aroma and taste. Rather clear, too.

On the flip side, I've used WB-06 and I, as well as everyone else who has tasted, like it very much. Cloudy, thick and creamy head, nice balance of clove and bananas, only slightly citrusy.

My recipe is very basic, 60/40 malted wheat and premium pilsner (Weyermann), and some Hersbrucker for bittering.

 

[chefmike]

On the flip side, I've used WB-06 and I, as well as everyone else who has tasted, like it very much. Cloudy, thick and creamy head, nice balance of clove and bananas, only slightly citrusy.

My recipe is very basic, 60/40 malted wheat and premium pilsner (Weyermann), and some Hersbrucker for bittering.

what temp do you pitch and ferment at? Do you rehydrate or just dump? Also what is your mash schedule? Are you doing a ferulic acid rest. I have some of this yeast and I will gladly switch if I can get a product I am satisfied with... for now it is WL380 for me. I pitch in the 50's and ferment at 62 degrees.

 

[Disi]

what temp do you pitch and ferment at? Do you rehydrate or just dump? Also what is your mash schedule? Are you doing a ferulic acid rest. I have some of this yeast and I will gladly switch if I can get a product I am satisfied with... for now it is WL380 for me. I pitch in the 50's and ferment at 62 degrees.

Pitch at 68; shake the hell out of the fermentation bucket and sprinkle the yeast over the wort. Ferment at 60°F for 72 hours, and 68°F for the rest (I normally bottle after ten days in primary). Single infusion, medium body (154°F for an hour), no mash out.

 

[chefmike]

Thanks for the info. summer time we go through a bunch of wheat beer. I usually just harvest yeast from one batch to the next using WL380... but since I have a packet of 06, I will try!

 

[ghpeel]

WB-06 has been described as producing beers that taste "tart" by several people. I've used it twice (weizenbock & dunkelweizen) and I agree with the "tart" tag. Not great. Probably best in American Wheat Beers where you want just a slight touch of yeast flavor, but not a banana bomb.

Caveat: I've also heard from other folks that it produces: lots of banana, no banana, lots of clove, no clove, lots of citrus & no flavor at all. So there's apparently a lot of differing opinions on this yeast.

I had a great simple weizen from a microbrewery in Pennsylvania that was delicious and made from WB-06. Brewer there said the key was ferm temps of 68-70F exactly. This place also had a peach weizen that was good too.

 

[UncleJohnnys]

I just made a 7 gallon batch and split it between two 4 gallon carboys, one with Danstar Munich and the other with Safale 34/70.

Both are fermenting nicely, the Munich @ 65F and the Lager @ 54-56F. The Munich is really putting off a strong banana smell and the lager yeast smells like bread.

This was something I made up from some Coors and Bud clone recipes I found for my "regular" beer drinking friends.

I'll post results of each as the finish up.

Here the recipe ingredients:

Amt Name Type # %/IBU

10 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) Bel (3.0 SRM) Grain 1 53.7 %
2 lbs Corn, Flaked (1.3 SRM) Grain 3 10.7 %
1.00 oz Fuggles [4.50 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 7 10.6 IBUs
1.00 oz Fuggles [4.50 %] - Boil 20.0 min Hop 8 6.4 IBUs
1.3 pkg Saflager Lager (DCL/Fermentis #W-34/70) [50.28 ml] Yeast 9 -
1 lbs Caramel/Crystal Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM) Grain 4 5.4 %
1 lbs Pale Malt (6 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 5 5.4 %
1 lbs Honey (1.0 SRM) Sugar 11 5.4 %
1 lbs Sugar, Table (Sucrose) (1.0 SRM) Sugar 6 5.4 %
1.0 pkg Munuch (Lallemand #- ) [50.28 ml] Yeast 10 -
2 lb 10 oz Minute rice (1.0 SRM) Grain 2 14.1 %

Measured Original Gravity: 1.065 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.008 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 7.5 %
Bitterness: 17.1 IBUs Calories: 216.3 kcal/12oz
Est Color: 5.2 SRM

 

[DynamechGT]

I have a dunkelweizen now at 2 weeks in the primary made with wyeast 3333 liquid - activate and dump, no starter. It was at about 74F for 3-4 days and its been at about 64-65 since then. It currently has a strong banana aroma from the airlock. I'm hoping that'll mellow over the next 2 weeks before I intend to bottle. Bottle conditioning will be at about 64F over 3 weeks to bring out a little more of the clove that I'm not smelling right now.

I've never used dry yeast.