White Labs Has My Christmas Cheer 👍

[Broothru]

Check out this packaging. All for two PurePitch Next Generation 70 ml pouches of the new White Labs WLP 808 “Mythical Hammer” high pressure lager yeast. I’ve never had any yeast order this well packaged and handled.

My order was processed on 12/18, shipped from White Labs in San Diego across country to the ex-urbs of D.C., in the middle of the late Christmas shipping crunch, with bad weather on both coasts, and arriving today 12/20 before noon on my front porch! And all for the meager cost of One-Rate shipping.

I’m impressed. No wait, flabbergasted at this level of service. I barely get it this good even, on a slow day, from MoreBeer’s warehouse in Pittsburg, less than a three hour drive from my home.

It’s truly a Christmas miracle.

 

[jdauria]

I love their fast shipping, though we are definitely paying to get it that fast! What are you going to use the yeast for? I bought a pack to try a few weeks ago and plan on using it on a Schwarzbier next week. Going to overbuild my starter and then save some of the yeast for future use.

 

[Broothru]

I love their fast shipping, though we are definitely paying to get it that fast! What are you going to use the yeast for? I bought a pack to try a few weeks ago and plan on using it on a Schwarzbier next week. Going to overbuild my starter and then save some of the yeast for future use.

When I finally get satisfied with my recipe and processes for an NEM low-alcohol beer, I'm going to brew it and then use the spent grains (augmented with fresh pilsner malt) into a party-gyle second mash for a light lager fermented under 1 BAR pressure. It's my first foray into pressure brewing. I'll probably mix one of the pouches with glycerin and freeze them for future follow-on sessions if I'm happy with the results of pressure fermentation. The other 70 ml pouch will get propagated to a 2L starter for the first test brew, and I'll harvest the yeast post-fermentation for near term sessions once I'm comfortable with the process.

I've read that, due to the adaptive nature of yeast, that they will adapt to fermenting under pressure so that the budded daughter cells will then underperform if you try to use them (harvested) in an unpressurized fermentation. I have to assume that White Labs propagated this new yeast under pressure, so the results of this yeast fresh out of the pouch would likely be disappointing if used unpressurized. I'm curious if this factor might have a negative impact of home propagation on a stir plate. I may send White Labs an email about this to see what they say.

I've had my unitank for over four years and only used it for spunding, harvesting yeast, and pressure transfers, so I guess it's time to expand my repertoire. A pressure fermented light lager is a good starting place to test the process before attempting something more robust. I don't foresee it replacing my favored lager yeasts, especially for German and Bohemian lagers that I think shine only when fermented with their unique yeast strains. But I'm anxious to see how pressure affects the quality of my more pedestrian lagers where quick turnaround time takes precedence over high quality ingredients and traditional process.

 

[BeerAndTele]

I barely get it this good even, on a slow day, from MoreBeer’s warehouse in Pittsburg, less than a three hour drive from my home.

Pittsburgh.

Impressive shipping though.

Cheers.

 

[jdauria]

When I finally get satisfied with my recipe and processes for an NEM low-alcohol beer, I'm going to brew it and then use the spent grains (augmented with fresh pilsner malt) into a party-gyle second mash for a light lager fermented under 1 BAR pressure. It's my first foray into pressure brewing. I'll probably mix one of the pouches with glycerin and freeze them for future follow-on sessions if I'm happy with the results of pressure fermentation. The other 70 ml pouch will get propagated to a 2L starter for the first test brew, and I'll harvest the yeast post-fermentation for near term sessions once I'm comfortable with the process.

I've read that, due to the adaptive nature of yeast, that they will adapt to fermenting under pressure so that the budded daughter cells will then underperform if you try to use them (harvested) in an unpressurized fermentation. I have to assume that White Labs propagated this new yeast under pressure, so the results of this yeast fresh out of the pouch would likely be disappointing if used unpressurized. I'm curious if this factor might have a negative impact of home propagation on a stir plate. I may send White Labs an email about this to see what they say.

I've had my unitank for over four years and only used it for spunding, harvesting yeast, and pressure transfers, so I guess it's time to expand my repertoire. A pressure fermented light lager is a good starting place to test the process before attempting something more robust. I don't foresee it replacing my favored lager yeasts, especially for German and Bohemian lagers that I think shine only when fermented with their unique yeast strains. But I'm anxious to see how pressure affects the quality of my more pedestrian lagers where quick turnaround time takes precedence over high quality ingredients and traditional process.

Interesting information. I was planning on an unpressurized fermentation. I wonder if a large starter would help offset any underperformance right out the pouch? Well at least I am only doing a small batch and it's for my consumption and not for sending to comps, so guess I will have to see what happens. If it underperforms, I will know for next time.

 

[tdf]

Pittsburgh.

Impressive shipping though.

Cheers.

I always find it funny that morebeers 2 warehouses are in Pittsburg and Pittsburgh.

 

[Broothru]

Interesting information. I was planning on an unpressurized fermentation. I wonder if a large starter would help offset any underperformance right out the pouch? Well at least I am only doing a small batch and it's for my consumption and not for sending to comps, so guess I will have to see what happens. If it underperforms, I will know for next time.

I got a reply from White Labs last night and will try to post it ASAP, but today’s a very busy day, complicated by last-minute Christmas items and two family issues that have happened in the last 2 days. Never a good time, but we’re managing.

 

[Broothru]

So when I emailed White Labs I basically had three questions:

1) How well does this yeast perform after propagation, especially under pressure fermentation, due to yeast mutation? In other words, will this yeast, designed and propagated for use under pressure, perform the same if I do step-up volume propagations at ambient pressure?

2) Is the viability and performance of the yeast degraded significantly after using it in a pressure fermentation? In other words, how good will it perform as a harvested re-pitch? Is it mostly a one-and-done use project?

3) where'd the funky name, "Mythical Hammer," originate.

Here's their response:


Hey Ted,

Thanks for the feedback, sorry for the delay but I sent your question over to our education team to see if they could help explain some of the effects that pressure would have on the yeast health/repitching to see if I can get some clarification on some things.

1)Making a starter at normal pressures and then pitching into the under-pressure environment, there is no issue. There is more of a concern for after fermenting under pressure. Alcohol or low/high pH is toxic to the yeast and will result in less generations if repitching due to more stress. If you are propagating prior to pitching, you will be in the clear but the harvested yeast after the first batch might not perform as well due to the reasons stated above. The best way to check for a viable yeast cell count is to bust out the good ole microscope to verify.

2) From your previous concern of changing environments, harvesting this yeast might not yield ideal results due to changing from pressurized to unpressurized. If you're using straight from our PurePitch Next Generation this has a shelf life up to 7 months. For harvested yeast usually we suggest not keeping it longer than 2 weeks, I know some people "wash" it to try and extend it.

3)We partnered with a local asheville homebrew supply store called Clawhammer Supply (Copper and Stainless Steel Distillation and BIAB Brewing Equipment). They helped create a fun name that goes along with their clawhammer logo. This was due to them asking for yeast to go along with their new pressurized fermentation keg they are currently releasing (Stainless Steel Keg Fermenter - 6.5 Gallon). The yeast itself is a few of our favorite lager strains that produce clean profiles to be used in multiple styles of lagers but those lighter ones you listed such as Vienna, American, Mexican lagers I think this would work great for.

Thanks again for your feedback and let me know if you have any other questions.
Cheers
Andre

Prompt, friendly, and authoritatively to the point. The only thing they wouldn't divulge was the strains they blended to come up with this yeast. I've always thought of White Labs as my preferred source for yeast, but I may just be near the point of making the relationship exclusive. I've also been lusting after the Clawhammer 4" TC keg, with whom WL collaborated in the formulating and naming the new yeast. Maybe Santa can cram a last minute "Good Boy" present into his sleigh.

Cheers to all, and Merry Christmas.