WLP075 Hansen Ale

[Beer-lord]

I've never really gotten anything English out of it except the way it looks in my starters and how it drops out. I do ferment most of my beers at 65-66 so maybe if I did at the higher end, say 70-72, I'd notice a difference. I simply get a clean beer with a better mouthfeel than when I use chico yeasts.

 

[whovous]

I am on my second generation with this yeast, and my apparent attenuation experience has been different from most of you. There is nothing special about my process, so I suspect the yeast blend may vary from vial to vial. I made a blonde that went from 1.047 to 1.006 (87%) and pitched half of the yeast from that batch into an APA that went from 1.060 to 1.006 (90%).

I often use some Chico variant (US-05, WLP-01 or San Diego Super) and never get attenuation numbers like these.

 

[Beer-lord]

Made another starter for a beer this weekend with 075 and this time the starter looked much more like egg drop soup than it usually does. And, it wasn't nearly as active but it did do it's job. I've heard others mention that they felt the viability of this last shipment differed greatly in each vial and I'm not sure I agree but I have 4 more vials to play with.

 

[Nagorg]

I finally got around to kegging this beer, about 4 days later than intended. Took a gravity reading and this beer landed at 1.011. So, it took a while but it finished by day ~25!

 

[Beer-lord]

I've got my second one fermenting now only 4 days in and I see less activity but no reading yet. I aerated it well, gave it yeast nutrient and a bit bigger pitch than needed. I think I'm good or hope so.

 

[Nagorg]

I have to say that it turned out very tasty! Good clarity too even though its hard to see that in this pic because of condensation on the glass.

Pretty happy with the with the way it turned out.

 

[Beer-lord]

A nice looker! Hope you're happy with it.

 

[Nagorg]

A nice looker! Hope you're happy with it.

Thanks... It is delicious! This beer is also my first "closed transfer" into the keg from my conical. It tastes really good. Not sure how much of that is due to low/no O2 exposure or the WLP075 but it really turned out nice.

 

[Beer-lord]

I've got 2 beers in with Hansen and my brother has one (a Wookie Jack Clone) and all are very good. I'm glad I ordered 6 and I'm also over building starters to save for the future.

 

[smata67]

More Hansen Ale yeast porn. Northern Brewer's Black IPA. Came out fine, the 1.019 FG, though not the expected 1.014, worked out. Very easy--if not too easy--to drink this one is.

 

[Nagorg]

a Wookie Jack Clone

Loved Wookie Jack... And Double Jack too.. Hopefully you'll update the thread on the outcome.

I'll be doing a Zombie Dust "clone" next with WLP075. I've done it before and its way better with this yeast!

 

[Mer-man]

I have to say that it turned out very tasty! Good clarity too even though its hard to see that in this pic because of condensation on the glass.

Pretty happy with the with the way it turned out.

View attachment 639896

Btw you can wipe condensation off

 

[Nagorg]

Btw you can wipe condensation off

Seriously??? Dude, I did but it keeps coming right back. Pretty humid here in Texas... I have to let the beer warm up closer to room temp before condensation stops forming. Its almost gone by the time that happens...

But since you obviously doubt the clarity...

 

[smata67]

At one month in the bottle, I'm finding that the beer is somewhat undercarbonated. Thin head with lots of large bubbles that dissipate quickly. Essentially no head or lacing by mid glass. Perhaps a tad underconditioned, as well. I did the bottle flipping trick and that seems to have resolved the issue, foam has thickened up and lacing endures to the bottom of the glass. Beer is crystal clear. My pic is of a flipped bottle. My particular vial seems to have had higher than normal flocculance (it stalled at 1.023, but I was able to push it down to 1.019). It was shipped during some brutally hot weather is my best guess as to why this happened. Putting the yeast back into suspension has worked on a test batch and I'm going to flip them all. Posted in case someone else encounters the same issue.

 

[Nagorg]

Just wanted to give an update. I had complained to White Labs about the poor performance of my yeast. So, they sent me new yeast via overnight shipping. I brewed this last Saturday and pitched this new batch of WLP075 that didnt get hot. MUCH BETTER performance!! My beer is already at 1.011 on day 4!

I will say that despite the slow ferment with the first shipment, the finished beer is actually really, really good.

But I wanted to show others what should be expected from WLP075. Its a very good blend, just need to be sure it doesnt get too hot in shipping. Of course you can say that about most Ale yeasts but this is more proof of this!

 

[smata67]

I got to thinking that I would pitch from the yeast cake for my next batch, but this being a blend (and a heat stressed one at that), it is not going to be the same. And then I thought a bit more and figured out I made a starter for this first batch, so I already didn't really have the original yeast to begin with. To experience this yeast as Chris White intended, one would need to pitch the vial, no starter. Though my bastardized yeast did make a pretty good beer and I suspect so will its offspring.

 

[whovous]

My first shipment spent a week exposed to 90F plus temps. The replacement turned out great for several brews, so now I am trying to revive the original, which is also a day or two past the use by date.

Yesterday morning I combined an Omega Propper Starter, 16 oz of RO H2O, and the aging vial of WLP075. Omega says their starter, plus a pint of water, has an OG of 1.040. I put everything into an Erlenmeyer flask, put the flask on a stir plate, put in a sponge stopper and went about my business.

I think the can says to give it 24 hours. This morning there was no sign of krausen, but I guess that is not unusual on a stir plate. The yeast is not completely dead because my hydrometer tells me the SG is now 1.028. I left the stir plate running until I get home tonight.

What should I do next? I still have two more cans of Propper Starter, if that makes a difference. Cost is not really an issue for me here.

 

[ba-brewer]

Give it another day as is.

I just made a starter from my second vial of WLP075. I normally only go 24hrs but I could tell there was not too much new yeast so went 48hrs. No krausen not much foam until after 30hrs. I took a portion of that starter and built that up for a second beer and that behaved more normal, got some krausen and only needed 24hr. I did not get the same egg drop soup flocks as when the vials were fresh.

 

[whovous]

Thanks. I will give it more time. Did you cold crash and pour off the wort before doing the second starter?

I have another beer fermenting right now into which I pitched a slurry from an earlier Hansen Ale brew. It took a bit longer to start fermenting than before, and I am not getting the egg drop soup effect with that one, either. I think that is a third generation re-pitch.

 

[ba-brewer]

I actually did cold crash the portion from the first starter, but normally I just pitch without crashing. Figure it is best to keep things going when the yeast is active and it saves time over all. All of my starter beakers where busy so that is why I crashed it.

 

[smata67]

What to do next? Cut your losses and order some fresh Hansen, they are more available now than when we all ordered from the vault 3 months ago. OR.... continue to rebuild your existing stock with larger and larger starters. Take off the stir plate let sit for a few hours to settle, decant and get another 1-2L starter going. Do this a couple of times to build up to a pitchable amount of slurry, about 15mL (about half a vial) and pitch into a 5 gallon batch, or keep building the stock if more is required.

 

[kingmatt]

I never ended up using my replacement vial...It was also shipped hot and looks very dark. I am finding it much more difficult to find time to brew these days with an 8 month old, I just can't take the risk.

Hopefully WL will do a wide release and I will be able to find it fresh one day.

 

[ba-brewer]

this is from the description on the product page;
This is a blend of many IPA strain favorites. It has the attenuation of WLP090 San Diego Super Ale Yeast and the character of WLP007 Dry English Ale Yeast. This strain produces dry, hop-forward beers with minor ester production and is blend is a great flocculator.

Anyone ever try blending WLP090 and WLP007 to see if that gets you close enough?

 

[whovous]

I never ended up using my replacement vial...It was also shipped hot and looks very dark. I am finding it much more difficult to find time to brew these days with an 8 month old, I just can't take the risk.

Hopefully WL will do a wide release and I will be able to find it fresh one day.

My replacement vial was shipped hot and looked dark as well, but it fermented like a mo-fo. I got roughly 90% attenuation the first two times I brewed with it. I wish I'd done a better job of saving those yeasts for future brews. I've never been very good at doing so, but it did not matter much with "normal" yeasts I could always buy again.

 

[whovous]

What to do next? Cut your losses and order some fresh Hansen, they are more available now than when we all ordered from the vault 3 months ago. OR.... continue to rebuild your existing stock with larger and larger starters. Take off the stir plate let sit for a few hours to settle, decant and get another 1-2L starter going. Do this a couple of times to build up to a pitchable amount of slurry, about 15mL (about half a vial) and pitch into a 5 gallon batch, or keep building the stock if more is required.

There was a little bit of krausen tonight when I got home. I am going to let it go til morning, or maybe even tomorrow. I think it will continue to attenuate. I do not see more Hansen available from White Labs other than from a vault pre-order that appears to have zero orders to date.

 

[ba-brewer]

I made slants of my first vial I opened, but looked to see if any was available online out of curiosity. There is a note at the top that says there is 20 vault strains available to retailers. Maybe that is how they are going to do the vault from now on and you will need to go to retail places to get special yeast.

 

[Beer-lord]

Loved Wookie Jack... And Double Jack too.. Hopefully you'll update the thread on the outcome.

I'll be doing a Zombie Dust "clone" next with WLP075. I've done it before and its way better with this yeast!

Sorry, I somehow missed this!
The beer was phenomenal! My brother had stopped brewing for a while, got into kegging and this was his first beer brewing again. He picked a recipe of a semi-clone to Wookie and we brewed it and it only lasted 3.5 weeks in the keg (that's not long for the few people who drink from his keg). Luck probably played some part but it was just plain great!

 

[Nagorg]

The beer was phenomenal!

Good to hear... The beer I brewed with the slow ferment is absolutely great, one of the best I've brewed. The first keg blew last weekend, luckily I have another one to take its place.

I'll be kegging the Zombie Dust clone this weekend. I'll post back in a couple of weeks but I expect it to be delicious too!

 

[smata67]

Right around vault release time, a few of the brew suppliers had some in stock. I remember Atlantic had some and I wished I had waited to order from them as they are right next door and had better shipping options. Love2Brew is showing it in stock now, but that might be dated info. My vial is dated to expire September 14 and I doubt it was in production long, so the vendors have old stock if they have any. I kept half a vial, that is looking brownish, but I did split the other half after stir plating and that unpitched yeast is nice and beige. I have had WL vials turn brown on me after 3 months, but never had any problems getting them to do the job after making starters.

 

[whovous]

Leaving it on the stir plate until this morning seems to have done the trick. It was down to 1.012, or 70% attenuation. I decided I didn't need to wait to see if it would make 80 or 90% and moved the flask to the fridge. Tonight I have about a 1/4" of stuff at the bottom of my 2 liter flask.

OK, dumb question time: Is that stuff all yeast? The only things that went into the flask were the Omega Propper Starter, a pint of RO, and the contents of the WLP075 vial. Is there a trub source in all of this? If not, then I already have plenty more than 15ml of yeast.

My inclination is to wait until morning, decant the wort, then add another Propper Starter and pint of RO for another day or so on the stir plate. I assume it will start a lot faster this time, and that I will have more than enough yeast to split the result in half (or even thirds), use one portion for this weekend's brew, and save the rest for future adventures.

Does this make sense, or am I mistaken about what I am seeing at the bottom of the flask/