NEW!!: Safale W-68 Dry Yeast

[Bassman2003]

It is all about learning the yeast. I would be afraid of fusels at 72F but maybe the dry yeast behaves differently than the liquid version. The lower pitch rate helps with banana already. 68F is about as high as I would go normally. But no big thing. At 72F things are going to rip!

 

[wepeeler]

It is all about learning the yeast. I would be afraid of fusels at 72F but maybe the dry yeast behaves differently than the liquid version. The lower pitch rate helps with banana already. 68F is about as high as I would go normally. But no big thing. At 72F things are going to rip!

The specs say 64.4-78.8F! I'm only doing 72F, because I got this yeast from a local brewery who fermented at 68F, and they wanted more banana. They're using me as an exBEERiment. So we'll see what happens!

 

[VTMongoose]

Fermentis did a presentation for our Homebrew Club on their dry yeast, and they told us, at least for W-68, to pitch half a pack at 80F, then continue to chill wort to fermentation temp. In case that helps anyone. I'm brewing a Hefe with it in the next few weeks, and I'm planning to ferment at 72 straight through to push more banana than clove.

This is what I like to do with all my ester-forward beers. I take about a liter of my wort while it's chilling, around 80-85°F, pitch the yeast. It starts ripping within an hour usually. While that's going, the wort's chilling in one of my fermentation chambers the rest of the way over the next few hours, then I just dump the whole starter into the chilled wort.

Doing it this way can easily cut half a day or more off your lag time.

 

[Sipina]

About 48 hours into the active fermentation with the W-68 yeast I'm getting noticable H2S aromas.

I guess I will just use this opportunity to ask folks with experience with this yeast.

How prone this yeast is to sulphur and how long does it usually need to clean up?

This has been the only brew of many in recent times that I did not use any yeast nutrient. I don't think that is indeed the cause for sulphur because the wort should be rich enough. But still the question is above.

Cheers!

 

[dmtaylor]

About 48 hours into the active fermentation with the W-68 yeast I'm getting noticable H2S aromas.

I guess I will just use this opportunity to ask folks with experience with this yeast.

How prone this yeast is to suplhur and how long does it usually need to clean up?

This has been the only brew of many in recent times that I did not use any yeast nutrient. I don't think that is indeed the cause for sulphur because the wort should be rich enough. But still the question is above.

Cheers!

No worries. All wheat yeasts always throw a lot of sulfur. Always. It's usually gone in 2 weeks, occasionally takes 3 or 4 weeks. Nothing to be concerned about unless you wanted to start drinking it this weekend.

 

[Bassman2003]

The SO2 in hefe is kind of a mystery for me. I often do not get it but when it does show up, I do not know why. Sometimes it will last into the beer flavor which is not good. My only area to guess at is oxygenation. Did you use pure O2?

 

[Sipina]

The SO2 in hefe is kind of a mystery for me. I often do not get it but when it does show up, I do not know why. Sometimes it will last into the beer flavor which is not good. My only area to guess at is oxygenation. Did you use pure O2?

I never oxygenate my wort and I only use dry yeast. I've had sulphur before and it always dissipated except once when it remained subtly after conditioning time in the bottles. That only case was still a fine beer though.

I don't have any worries for now as it is very early in the whole process. I am very curious though what kind of experience do folks have with this yeast (W-68) and sulphur.

I do have some experience with Lallemand Munich classic (never in a proper german wheat beer though) which always had some sulphur that had cleaned up nicely every time.

 

[VTMongoose]

This is a farty strain. Not as bad as others I have used. It always conditions out for me. I don't recommend oxygenating esterey styles personally.

 

[Bassman2003]

Sorry, I forgot this was a dry yeast variant! No O2 needed.

 

[wepeeler]

I brewed a Hefe yesterday, and I pitched 1/2 pack at 80F and continued cooling to 72F. I pitched at 2pm and had activity within 7 hours, and she was ripping this morning. I didn't smell any sulfur, but I'll check later when I get home from work. I think my last Hefe was a stinker, but the yeast cleans it all up!

 

[Sipina]

I brewed a Hefe yesterday, and I pitched 1/2 pack at 80F and continued cooling to 72F. I pitched at 2pm and had activity within 7 hours, and she was ripping this morning. I didn't smell any sulfur, but I'll check later when I get home from work. I think my last Hefe was a stinker, but the yeast cleans it all up!

I pitched a full sachet of yeast at 75F and cooled to 68F. It will be a nice comparison of results.

OG was 1.047 of 21L (5.5gal) wort.

 

[wepeeler]

I pitched a full sachet of yeast at 75F and cooled to 68F. It will be a nice comparison of results.

OG was 1.047 of 21L (5.5gal) wort.

Mine was 1.050 and is already done fermenting lol. Ripped through it!

 

[Sipina]

Mine was 1.050 and is already done fermenting lol. Ripped through it!

Any sulphur?

 

[wepeeler]

Any sulphur?

None on the nose, but maybe a touch waaaaaay in the background when I tasted it. This was exactly 48 hours post pitch.

 

[redrocker652002]

Having used mostly dry yeast would this compare ok with the liquid yeasts for this style? I have only used liquid a few times and never seemed to have much luck, so I have stuck to dry when possible

 

[wepeeler]

Having used mostly dry yeast would this compare ok with the liquid yeasts for this style? I have only used liquid a few times and never seemed to have much luck, so I have stuck to dry when possible

At half a pack of dry, I'd say it's worth the money!

 

[Sipina]

None on the nose, but maybe a touch waaaaaay in the background when I tasted it. This was exactly 48 hours post pitch.

Great to hear that!
How long do you plan to condition before moving to keg/bottle?

 

[Northern_Brewer]

Having used mostly dry yeast would this compare ok with the liquid yeasts for this style?

Can't say for W-68 but certainly for the Lallemand equivalent Munich Classic, the general thought is that this is a style where the dried yeasts are pretty close to liquid (unlike eg English yeasts).

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

So for a 10 gallon batch, and a preference for banana vs clove:

• How much to pitch? Sounds like one 11g pack?
• What pitch temp?
• What ferment temp?

I haven't made a hefeweizen in a while, as I'm just coming back from a ~5 year brewing hiatus and I'm into my 5th batch that have been 3 ales and 2 lagers... I'd love to brew a hefeweizen and follow it up with a roggenbier.

 

[dmtaylor]

@betarhoalphadelta

Yep, one pack is plenty. I'd pitch close to 65 F, hold there for like 12 hours, then let 'er free rise towards a max of about 72-73 F.

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

@betarhoalphadelta

Yep, one pack is plenty. I'd pitch close to 65 F, hold there for like 12 hours, then let 'er free rise towards a max of about 72-73 F.

Thanks!

 

[ncbrewer]

I think I'm an exception, but I was pitching a full pack of Munich Classic for 5 gallons at about 1.050 OG. Now I'm brewing 2.7 gallon batches and still use a full pack. I get banana and clove - pretty much balanced. I guess it's an over-pitch, but it's working for me.

 

[wepeeler]

Great to hear that!
How long do you plan to condition before moving to keg/bottle?

I check for stable gravity readings, but I'll most likely package on day 14.

 

[Bassman2003]

Thanks!

Just make sure you have the fermenter headspace if you going to let this yeast approach 70F+ !

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

Just make sure you have the fermenter headspace if you going to let this yeast approach 70F+ !

Thanks. Shouldn't be an issue as I ferment 10 gal batches in a 15.5 gal Sanke keg...