WLP051 California V fermentation time/temp

[phillip_h]

What is your experience with fermentation time for this yeast? I typically go with WLP001, but my local store was out.

I brewed a pretty big beer (OG 1.084) on Saturday and pitched a 2L starter. It's been fermenting at ~67°F for 4 days. I took a sample last night and it was in the 1.050 range.

When should I start bumping the temp up? There seem to be varying opinions regarding temperatures for this yeast.

I'm guessing it'll probably take 2-3 weeks to finish up. Normally, WLP001 goes through a beer like this in 7-10 days.

 

[phillip_h]

Anyone?

 

[cladinshadows]

This post is probably too late to help... but....In my experience it is slower than WLP001 but not 2 or 3 times slower. A wort that might take 5 days for 001 might take 7 with 051. The main thing that slows you down with 051 is the sulfur production which then takes a bit to dissipate. The last time I used it in a big beer it was completely done with main fermentation by day 6 or so.

Without continual gravity readings, deciding when to ramp up can be a guessing game and you sort of have to go by feel. At this point, however, I'd say you can definitely safely head towards 70F if you've got some lingering signs of fermentation.

Hopefully it turned out ok. Even though this post is late for your beer, you should report back about what you did so future WLP051 HBT searchers can find out what worked or didn't!

 

[phillip_h]

This post is probably too late to help... but....In my experience it is slower than WLP001 but not 2 or 3 times slower. A wort that might take 5 days for 001 might take 7 with 051. The main thing that slows you down with 051 is the sulfur production which then takes a bit to dissipate. The last time I used it in a big beer it was completely done with main fermentation by day 6 or so.

Without continual gravity readings, deciding when to ramp up can be a guessing game and you sort of have to go by feel. At this point, however, I'd say you can definitely safely head towards 70F if you've got some lingering signs of fermentation.

Hopefully it turned out ok. Even though this post is late for your beer, you should report back about what you did so future WLP051 HBT searchers can find out what worked or didn't!

This fermentation has been extremely slow. It has been about 2 weeks, and it has been stuck at 1.040 for a few days. I'm going to pitch some US-05 this afternoon to get things going again.

 

[cladinshadows]

Your best bet will be to prepare a moderate-sized starter (1.5L or so), get it going, and pitch the whole volume at high krausen. Since any new yeast is going into a hostile environment (few nutrients remain, no oxygen, relatively high alcohol) it will need a running start to have a fair shot. A packet of US-05, even if rehydrated, may not get much done.