WB-06 Verdict: Bah!

[Evan!]

I love me some hefe yeast, but I don't love having to pay so much for liquid yeast all the time---or having to wait for it to ship. So I thought I'd try Safale's WB-06. Pitched it into a Weizenbock, fermented it in the mid-to-upper 60's, and it finished high (maybe 1.023).

When I racked to secondary, it started bubbling again...slowly. If you looked closely at the carboy, you could see tiny bubbles rising from the bottom constantly. This went on for weeks, until my kegerator was assembled. I carbed it up and it tasted okay...but kind of weird. Not like a hefe. It had this odd off-taste, like a savory/fruit thing (maybe kind of like mixing soy sauce and peaches?) I thought it was just a recently kegged beer needing age, but it's been in for over 2 weeks now, and I'm not impressed. O'Flainagan warned me, but I had to try it on my own.

I can't say I'm 100% certain it's the yeast, but I'm willing to say 97% certain. I'll not be using it again. The beer is drinkable, but not good...and I must say, even though I've gone through most of the keg, I've contemplated dumping it a couple times just to free up a keg.

So, there you go. WB-06=

 

[Soulive]

I'm brewing that Hefeweizen with this yeast soon. I still haven't had any problems with it. Its funny you mention the soy sauce though. I did a Weizenbock with Wyeast 3068 and I got that same off flavor. It was pretty disgusting as far as off flavors go. I guess the soy sauce doesn't discriminate between liquid and dry yeast...

 

[Evan!]

Maybe it's better with a hefe?

 

[Soulive]

Maybe it's better with a hefe?

Shouldn't matter IMO. It could be under-pitching though. If your OG was 1.070 (for example), you should've pitched 2-3 packs of the yeast. If you only pitched one, the stress could've led to the off-flavors...

 

[Evan!]

'tis always possible.

 

[zoebisch01]

Imho, Hefe is all about the yeast. Sure, sure it's the malt as well...but what I mean is that the yeast is what makes it. Thanks for the heads up. If they ever dry the strain that is WLP-380, I'll be a happy man .

 

[Soulive]

'tis always possible.

I use Nottingham most of the time which comes in 11.5g packets. The packets from Fermentis Safale are 5g. I assumed they were the same size and amount of yeast. After pitching one packet of S-04 into an OG of 1.065, I learned what happens when stressed yeast throw off-flavors. Now I pitch 2 packets if I'm using Fermentis yeast on and OG above 1.055. I usually never have to pitch more than 1 packet of Nottingham...

 

[ChrisKennedy]

The Safale packets around here are 11.5g.

 

[Soulive]

The Safale packets around here are 11.5g.

$hite, does anyone know if they have always been because mine aren't. Mine also weren't bought recently so maybe that's why...

 

[PseudoChef]

OT: Evan, you really like colons in thread titles, don't you?

 

[Evan!]

mine are 11.5 as well. But they didn't start making the WB-06 until relatively recently...how long ago did you get them, and are you certain the packets weren't 11.5?

 

[Evan!]

OT: Evan, you really like colons in thread titles, don't you?

Colons are freakin' sweet, yo. Now, that's not to say that I am in love with them like sause loves commas, but...nevertheless, colons are underutilized IMO.

 

[Soulive]

mine are 11.5 as well. But they didn't start making the WB-06 until relatively recently...how long ago did you get them, and are you certain the packets weren't 11.5?

I bought them about 8-9 months ago and have been cold storing them. I even remember showing my friend how they were lesser in weight than the Nottingham. Weird...

 

[DFoster]

I just bought 2 packets of this stuff...what a waste of money apparently.

 

[sagnew440]

I used WB-06 for my first batch and used no ferm temp control. temps were around 74-76 for 10 days. The beer was pretty hoppy for a wheat. As for the yeast i couldn't pick up any off flavors. the banana aroma finally showed up after 3 weeks in the bottle( which i didn't particularly mind).