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Safale WB-06

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Warrior

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Anyone use this dry wheat yeast Safale WB-06? Made a starter two days ago, not getting the usual top crop of yeast slurry like I get with white labs or Wyeast ger wheat yeast.
 
Not sure about the top crop as I don't use those yeasts very frequently. I've used WB-06 before and the beer turned out pretty good.

By the way you usually don't need to make a starter with dry yeasts, a properly rehydrated pack of dry yeast has nearly 200 billion yeast cells, enough for a 5 gallon batch up to about 1.060 OG. Making a starter for dry yeast is basically a waste of time and DME because the yeast pack already has nearly as many cells as you are going to get in a 1 liter starter on a stir plate. Now if you were stepping it up to 10 gallons from one pack with a 2 liter stirred starter then you can do that and double your yeast but the DME still costs you so you really aren't saving much money. Basically it's not really worth the effort unless you really enjoy making starters.
 
By the way I am doing exactly what I told you there is no need to do. I'm making a starter with US-05 but I do have a good reason for it. I am stepping up one pack for a 10 gallon batch on my stir plate and I used some pressure canned wort which I made from an all grain batch of 1.040 wort specifically for starters. That way it doesn't cost me much because I buy my grain in bulk and it only takes me 5 minutes to make the starter because the wort is already sterile so I can pour it directly into my sanitized flask without boiling. If it only for 5 gallons though the starter is unnecessary. If it's for 10 gallons it's not much cheaper if you used DME for the starter wort than just buying an extra pack and that extra pack will save you the 40 minutes it takes to make a starter.
 
Actually make 24 gal batchs, 2.5 gal starter. But thanks for the feedback. As far as a top cropper, most weiss yeast strains get a hugh pancake of yeast on the top of the fermenter and can blow through the airlock. I'm going to use 7 carboys just in case. My last batch with WL300 in 6 carboys came out the airlocks and made quite a mess.
 
Made me a great Hefeweizen w/ it this year.
Planning on using it soon for a Roggenbier.

very good yeast in my opinion
 
Brewed a dunkelweiss last night, it was actively fermenting this morning. Glad to hear the flavor profile of the yeast is good. I'll see how the flavor compares to the liquid version. No pancake this morning on the top, not a bad thing especially if it keeps me from having the eruptions out the airlock:)
 
Kegged the Dunkelweiss two days ago. I don't think it has the strong flavor profile as much as the Liquid version I used before. Not as much pronounced bananna flavor profile from this strain. Not bad for a dry yeast but will go back to the liquid version next time.
 
Kegged the Dunkelweiss two days ago. I don't think it has the strong flavor profile as much as the Liquid version I used before. Not as much pronounced bananna flavor profile from this strain. Not bad for a dry yeast but will go back to the liquid version next time.
If you ever try this yeast again, try an open ferment a day later when it's in full krausen. The esters and phenols should go up significantly with open fermentation. Cover when the krausen falls.
 
It's a necro thread, but worth saying anyway.

Note that WB-06 is not a hefe yeast - it's a member of the saison family that's most closely related to 1388 and WLP570, so may have come from Duvel. Hefen are probably the style where dry yeasts are weakest, but your best bet is Lallemand/Danstar Munich Classic (not the "ordinary" Munich) which at least is true hefe yeast.
 

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