NEW!!: Safale W-68 Dry Yeast

[Rfox2014]

Why did you pitch so much? I cannot imagine you will get any significant ester character with that much of an overpitch.

I was expecting a higher final gravity (1.056)… even then I understand it’s still a healthy pitch (didn’t read SG until Tilt was tossed in). We’ll see. Will likely harvest the yeast and brew again anyway so.. experiment it is. I haven’t overpitched a hefe to tell you the esters will be completely gone, but have underpitched and warm fermented a hefe and still haven’t gotten the banana I wanted. If it lacks flavor I’ll be severely underpitching the next one lol. On the bright side, I’ll have hefe yeast for a while

 

[Bassman2003]

Overpitching weizen yeast makes the beer cleaner. One packet should be the correct amount for a 5-6 gallon normal strength hefe.

 

[dmtaylor]

pitched 3 packets (6 gal batch) and let free rise to 71 at peak fermentation. Big pitch on 1.048 wort.

That's a waste of about 2.5 packs of yeast. Seriously, I would have pitched no more than 1/2 a pack. Save money and get more flavor.

 

[Rfox2014]

That's a waste of about 2.5 packs of yeast. Seriously, I would have pitched no more than 1/2 a pack. Save money and get more flavor.

I hear you

 

[VTMongoose]

I haven't posted in here in a while. I continue to make pristine authentic Bavarian style wheat beer with this yeast, at the same pitch rate (1 gram per gallon), with various fermentation profiles. I am absolutely in love with this Dunkelweizen I just made. Even though it's dark in color, it goes down just as easily as any of my Hefeweizens. Give this recipe a shot. It's a winner.

https://share.brewfather.app/HUboMt91wpbEAG

The key with these styles is getting them DRY. I want to see 1.008 on the hydrometer, 1.010 at the absolute maximum.

 

[Bassman2003]

Thanks for sharing. I agree, the more I brew the more I aim for strong attenuation.

 

[AlcheMania]

I haven't posted in here in a while. I continue to make pristine authentic Bavarian style wheat beer with this yeast, at the same pitch rate (1 gram per gallon), with various fermentation profiles. I am absolutely in love with this Dunkelweizen I just made. Even though it's dark in color, it goes down just as easily as any of my Hefeweizens. Give this recipe a shot. It's a winner.

View attachment 879552

https://share.brewfather.app/HUboMt91wpbEAG

The key with these styles is getting them DRY. I want to see 1.008 on the hydrometer, 1.010 at the absolute maximum.

Thanks for the update! I've fallen off the w-68 brewing after getting more into hazies and pils for the hot months But plan on having a big Weizenbock ready end of September!

 

[Sipina]

I just bought this W-68 yeast to try it out in my attempt to make some hefeweizen.

I've been recently trying out some different classical hefeweizens and had noticed that most of, if not all of them had the banana aroma and flavor quite restrained. It was there but quite subtle, I had to look for it a bit so to speak. I found these beer much more dominant on the phenolic side paired with lovely wheat malt flavors and aromas. The beers I had tried were Schneider dunkel, Ayinger Brauweise, Franziskaner HefeWeiss, Weihenstephaner and some others which I can name here later. Is that normal or am I getting these beers not fresh enough? Supposedly the isoamyl acetate can disapear relatively quickly.

I am familiar with doing a ferulic acid rest in general. I'm wondering what kind of profile regarding phenolics do you guys/girls get from the W-68 yeast? Is it strong on phenolics? Should I do the ferulic acid rest or would I be making a totally unbalanced beer? I've read that some of these german wheat beers can be more or less expressive on either banana or clove side. I do like the banana restrained like in the beers I had tried and that's the profile I'm looking for.

 

[Miraculix]

I just bought this W-68 yeast to try it out in my attempt to make some hefeweizen.

I've been recently trying out some different classical hefeweizens and had noticed that most of, if not all of them had the banana aroma and flavor quite restrained. It was there but quite subtle, I had to look for it a bit so to speak. I found these beer much more dominant on the phenolic side paired with lovely wheat malt flavors and aromas. The beers I had tried were Schneider dunkel, Ayinger Brauweise, Franziskaner HefeWeiss, Weihenstephaner and some others which I can name here later. Is that normal or am I getting these beers not fresh enough? Supposedly the isoamyl acetate can disapear relatively quickly.

I am familiar with doing a ferulic acid rest in general. I'm wondering what kind of profile regarding phenolics do you guys/girls get from the W-68 yeast? Is it strong on phenolics? Should I do the ferulic acid rest or would I be making a totally unbalanced beer? I've read that some of these german wheat beers can be more or less expressive on either banana or clove side. I do like the banana restrained like in the beers I had tried and that's the profile I'm looking for.

Sounds like my type of yeast! I like Schneider Weisse, I think the regular is called Nr. 7. That also has virtually zero banana but a lot of clove.

I haven't had many Weissbier that were really dominant on banana. Usually they are a bit restrained. Don't tell anyone, but we add a bit of banana juice if we want more banana, here in Germany . It's called Bananenweizen.

 

[Peteinno]

I am disappointed in the attenuation of this yeast. I brewed a smoked dunkelweizen that started at 1.050 and finished at 1.015 for 68% attenuation. Mashed at 147 for 30 minutes and 162 for 30 minutes and used 1 package of yeast. Water chemistry was adjusted properly and fermented between 68 and 71 degrees. It's conditioning now so I haven't had a chance to taste it yet.
Granted, this is the first time I did a 147/162 mash.
What's everyone else getting for attenuation with this yeast?

 

[VTMongoose]

I am disappointed in the attenuation of this yeast. I brewed a smoked dunkelweizen that started at 1.050 and finished at 1.015 for 68% attenuation. Mashed at 147 for 30 minutes and 162 for 30 minutes and used 1 package of yeast. Water chemistry was adjusted properly and fermented between 68 and 71 degrees. It's conditioning now so I haven't had a chance to taste it yet.
Granted, this is the first time I did a 147/162 mash.
What's everyone else getting for attenuation with this yeast?

Around 83%. You probably didn't hold your beta rest for long enough. I hold at 147 for 75 minutes with my system. Either that or your rauchmalt is just not very fermentable.

 

[Peteinno]

You might be right, first time I used an oak smoked wheat, about 19%. I know at 152 you don't get much more extraction after about 45 minutes. Thanks.

 

[Sipina]

I don't like to keep opened sachets of yeast around therefore I intend to pitch the whole 11g of W68 yeast into wort. I might make it around 1.050 starting gravity and I am looking to get the more clove dominant profile in my hefeweizen. I believe the 11g pitch is considered a bit of a overpitch however it should work well to get the clove profile? Is that correct or am I thinking wrong?

Cheers!

 

[Bassman2003]

Overpitching would favor the clove vs banana. You can ferment cooler to favor the clove as well. Say 62F.

I am always unclear on how many actual cells are in dry yeast packets. So pitching the entire packet is not necessarily a bad thing. The best approach is to pitch the entire packet, pick a fermentation temperature and see how it turns out. Then adjust for your next brew.

 

[Sipina]

Overpitching would favor the clove vs banana. You can ferment cooler to favor the clove as well. Say 62F.

I am always unclear on how many actual cells are in dry yeast packets. So pitching the entire packet is not necessarily a bad thing. The best approach is to pitch the entire packet, pick a fermentation temperature and see how it turns out. Then adjust for your next brew.

That's what I have thought. I'll make the usual wort I make with 50% wheat malt, including ferulic acid rest, and proceed with pitching the whole sachet and ferment in the basement at around 20-22 degrees celsius. Will report on the results here.

 

[Bassman2003]

I like to push the wheat to 60 or 65% to bring out the wheat flavor. As well as double mill just the wheat. But that is if your system can lauter this without a stuck mash.

 

[Sipina]

I like to push the wheat to 60 or 65% to bring out the wheat flavor. As well as double mill just the wheat. But that is if your system can lauter this without a stuck mash.

Great tip! Will consider that for sure. I have rice hulls on hand so I should be safe enough regarding lautering. The other half of the grain will be pilnser malt which should let the wheat flavor shine I presume.

 

[Bassman2003]

Yep. The wheat, if a large enough percentage of the grain bill, adds a unique character imho. Kind of tangy/spicy? I just try to make the hefeweizen taste different from the barley beers as it is a unique style.

 

[VTMongoose]

Yep. The wheat, if a large enough percentage of the grain bill, adds a unique character imho. Kind of tangy/spicy? I just try to make the hefeweizen taste different from the barley beers as it is a unique style.

I've found the tanginess level of the wheat varies a lot depending on what variety it is and where it's grown. Red wheat's tangier than white but the red wheat I get locally from Epiphany maltings is pretty mild, more similar to Briess's white wheat.

Also, I rebrewed that Dunkelweizen after housing the last keg. Version 2 is identical other than using Briess's Midnight Wheat rather than Weyermann's Chocolate Wheat ounce for ounce. As a result, it's darker but slightly less chocolatey tasting, coming across more like dutch-processed cocoa. I preferred the Weyermann but this is still plenty crushable.

Interestingly, this was keg conditioned after only two weeks in primary and is free of sulfur. Also, the keg was fully carbonated after only 9 days conditioning. I experimented with starting keg conditioning on my latest Hefeweizen after I think only 9 days in primary, two days ago.

Bottom line I just continue to be impressed with how consistently and "well" this Fermentis W-68 performs, even at very low pitch rates. It's been a game changer for me.

 

[wepeeler]

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.

 

[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?