WLP001 and WLP400

[shadows69]

Anyone have experience with either of these yeasts? I made a dead man clone with wlp001 and a Blue Moon clone with wlp400. It's been over a week and both are still very active. Both have a nice layer of Carson on top. Fermenting at 64 degrees. Never seen yeast this active for this long. I had to add a blow off tube to wlp001. Is this normal? Thanks

 

[chumpsteak]

Well first off I'd get Carson out of there. Nothing will infect (or drink) your beer faster than a dude name Carson in the carboy.

The rest of it sounds normal.

 

[shadows69]

lol, yeah i know miss spell. Looks like i need to raise the temp to 68 according to the forms on White Labs.

 

[Brulosopher]

lol, yeah i know miss spell. Looks like i need to raise the temp to 68 according to the forms on White Labs.

You don't necessarily have to raise temps, it'll just take longer to ferment out. I often ferment 001 at 66F with great results. At 68F, it'll take a 1.060 wort down to 1.010 in 4 days.

Never tried 400...

 

[TarheelBrew13]

Those are my two favorite yeasts. I usually ferment at about 72 F ambiant temp because I don't have any method of controlling my temps and I live in the south. I usually get my 1.060 beers to about 1.010 in about a week and then if I let them set another week or two they will drop to about 1.008. I usually get between 80-90% attenuation on WLP001 and 80-85% attenuation on WLP400. Those numbers are higher than the ones given by white labs but I have made many batches with them and still get these numbers.

Your fermentation sounds pretty normal, however. Time of fermentation is something that is hard to predict. You can speed up your fermentations by making sure that your wort has proper oxygen levels (check out the Wyeast videos for some great info on that.) and that you have pitched the ideal number of yeast cells (Mr.Malty). That's why a lot of people on here just let there beer set for a really long time in the carboy. Well, that and because many people believe that long aging increases the quality of the beer. You can't go wrong with checking your gravity and bottling after the gravity has remained the same for 3-5 days.

Short Answer: Your beer sounds fine
Also, what blue moon clone recipe did you use?

 

[xdalisx]

WLP-001 usually ferments pretty fast for me, usually at FG in less than a week. I let it clean up for a couple after and it is good to go. But it is a very active yeast.

Just used WLP-400 for the first time and it is sloooowwww. took off real fast, but it is still chugging along at 2 weeks in, no drop in Krausen and can still see the yeasties swimming (though not nearly as vigorously). A few more points to go and it will be at FG. gonna let this one sit for about 5 weeks total, then bottle. for a few days it smelled real bad (sulfur), but now it smells amazing!

 

[shadows69]

Thanks all for the reply's.
This is the one i used for blue moon.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f71/austin-homebrews-belgian-white-beer-135187/
The difference i did was change the orange peal to .25oz sweet orange and .25oz bitter orange peal.
I did another one with s04 and i think it was well a lot of orange peal. Nino's number 4 and it's on tap now, but I'm no fan of s04. It's not bad just not Blue Moon, to much orange.

 

[dcarter]

I just pitched 7 vials into a 25 gallon batch of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale clone. At 7.50 each, I hope it makes good beer!

 

[ChaosStout]

If you ferment your WL400 too low(Like I did at 63F)you might end up with a clovey hefeweissen instead of a belgian lol

 

[swolfe]

I just pitched 7 vials into a 25 gallon batch of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale clone. At 7.50 each, I hope it makes good beer!

Why didn't you use US-05 or make a starter?

 

[shadows69]

When I make sierra Nevada I use so5 or 1056. I would of went with the s05 for 25 gals. I use s05 and 1056 in just about everything having to do with ales. The only reason I'm using wlp001 and wlp400 is because my lbs stopped carring wyeast.

 

[swolfe]

My understanding is that WLP001 = Wyeast 1056 = Safale US-05.

If there are any minor differences I'm unaware of them, though I'm not an expert at this or anything.

 

[NordeastBrewer77]

I just pitched 7 vials into a 25 gallon batch of Sierra Nevada Pale Ale clone. At 7.50 each, I hope it makes good beer!

wow, you should look into making starters. >$50 for yeast is a lot to spend, and according to MrMalty, you still under pitched by ~33%, assuming the yeast was fresh.

 

[cheier]

My 2 cents on the yeast... I haven't used WLP001, though I have used WLP400. Someone pointed out that WLP 400 is slow... I say you damn rights it's slow. I did a starter with it and it took a few days before I saw activity in the flask. Once I pitched it, it was still a bit laggy, but still fermented. It took nearly 3 weeks for it to fully ferment. The beer tasted fantastic.

 

[cheier]

My understanding is that WLP001 = Wyeast 1056 = Safale US-05.

If there are any minor differences I'm unaware of them, though I'm not an expert at this or anything.

While this comparison is true, each company handles their yeasts differently. US-05 is a dry yeast, and as such has to be a slightly modified strain in order to handle being dehydrated, then brought back to life. Typically the liquid yeast is still fresher and should still do a better job.

When comparing Wyeast to White Labs, I will note that there are differences, even between the same strain. I haven't compared WLP001 to WY1056, but I have compared WLP013 to WY1028 (London Ale), and they behaved differently. I've used WLP013 on a barleywine and used WY1028 on a barleywine and other beers. The barleywine being the closest comparison. WLP013 blew the airlock off my carboy. WY1028 didn't even need a blowoff tube. They were both big pitch starters too.

So in general, while they are "equivalent" yeasts, they are different, and it is worth taking that into account. Unfortunately, I can only get Wyeast at the LHBS because I found I preferred some of the White Labs stuff.

 

[shadows69]

Thanks again for the information. What temp are you guys fermenting at? I'm running between 64 and 66 for both wlp001 and wlp400. I hope that's ok as for any off flavors. I still like wyeast better as far as quickness, taste however remains to be seen. All this and all I was looking for was pacman yeast and ended up with wlp001, which was the closest I could get.

 

[cheier]

Around 72F or slightly higher I find is where WLP400 works its fruity magic...

 

[g-star]

I think people who claim differences between US-05 and 001 or 1056 have a psychological bias against dry yeast. I've used all three, and cannot tell any difference, especially in any kind of aggressively flavored (hopped) beer.

And the dude who used 7 vials of yeast???? Someone needs to save you from yourself. Wow.

 

[shadows69]

Thank you looks like i am running a little low in temp for the wlp400. Going to rasie it some as the fruity magic is what i am looking for. By the way bitter orange peel is just not the key in Blue Moon at least for me and many others i saw posted, seems sweet orange peel all the way.

 

[dcarter]

wow, you should look into making starters. >$50 for yeast is a lot to spend, and according to MrMalty, you still under pitched by ~33%, assuming the yeast was fresh.

No time to make a starter since I planned poorly. I had to have this batch on for a get together at the end of March and had officially run out of time. It was fresh and has fermented beautifully since last Saturday. OG 1060 and its now at 1010 and falling. On the bright side, I now have yeast for life! LOL