WLP925 White Labs High Pressure Lager Yeast thread

[rtstrider]

Hey all! Ive been searching for some resources, and real life experiences for wlp925. So far I've come up with quite a few dead ends and generic posts of...Yeah it's good for quick lager turn around. Well...I'd like to get a thread started to share my current experiences with this strain and see what other experiences everyone else has had. I'll go first

WLP925 is an absolute beast of a yeast strain! It freezes well (with a glycerin mix) and propagates fast! I decided to step up this yeast and learn the strain using the Omega Lutra Helles recipe. This was fermented at 62F under 15 psi pressure. I will say this first pitch did finish by day 7 but it took a few weeks of lagering, with gelatin, to hit it's stride. The best way I can describe the initial impressions from this strain would be a warm fermented w34/70 (or variant). Theres a particularly assertive/sharp nose/flavor that I pull from that strain warm fermented. This had what I would call that signature originally but it has aged out now at 3 weeks.

Moving on I brewed a batch of Yoopers Fizzy Yellow beer and racked that straight onto the wlp925 yeast cake. This was also fermented at 15psi/62f. This batch was done on day 4 and ready for cold crash. This was cold crashed for 3 days then kegged/fined with gelatin. The attached picture is day 14 from brew day. This also had that assertiveness on the nose/palate. However that went away after a few pours.

One common theme on these two batches so far is there is a nice, lemony, undertone. Very similar to what you might get from w34/70.

With that said I am now on batch 3 and am fermenting at 50F/15psi stepping up 3F every 24 hours until this hits 68F. This is a dry hopped pilsner and Im really curious to see how this one turns out! I really feel this strain would make a great house continental pilsner strain more so than something on the maltier side. I will report back after batch 3 so there's more data

 

[DuncB]

I used it a few times, found it needed a lot of time and help to clear with Super F.

Novalager is my current choice although I'm not a big lager maker. It's " resting " in the back of the fridge waiting resurrection or destruction.

Most yeasts seem to cope with pressure, even if we are led to believe they can't.

If they couldn't bottle conditioning wouldn't work.

 

[rtstrider]

I used it a few times, found it needed a lot of time and help to clear with Super F.

Novalager is my current choice although I'm not a big lager maker. It's " resting " in the back of the fridge waiting resurrection or destruction.

Most yeasts seem to cope with pressure, even if we are led to believe they can't.

If they couldn't bottle conditioning wouldn't work.

You're correct! I will say I haven't seen that pressure at 15 psi has really any negative impacts on the ale and lager strains I've tried so far. If anything I do believe that you still need temperature control even with pressure. I have had good results using gelatin fining and have Nova ordered. The last, and only, Nova brew I tried the yeast was more in the kolsch territory than lager imo. Going to try pitching heavier this go around though just to see if that might help!

 

[DuncB]

In my early days of pressure fermenting I changed the ball lock connector on my spunding valve to a new non return type.
When I returned from a trip after pitching the yeast and putting the spunding on I found a very turgid fermentasaurus at 35 psi.
Yeast still chugging away.
The wheat beer wasn't ruined, but it took me quite a while to get the pressure down as each gas release made the foam rise about 6 inches.

 

[T Murph]

Although I haven't tried wlp 925 I do ferment under 15 PSI with wlp 820, Chico 1056, 34/70, US O5, US 04 and Czech 2278 regularly. Additionally though, I adhere to strict temperature requirements for fermentation as directed by the yeast packages. I have yet to have a problem with any of my usual yeast choices fermented under pressure.

 

[Broothru]

I used it a few times, found it needed a lot of time and help to clear with Super F.

Novalager is my current choice although I'm not a big lager maker. It's " resting " in the back of the fridge waiting resurrection or destruction.

Most yeasts seem to cope with pressure, even if we are led to believe they can't.

If they couldn't bottle conditioning wouldn't work.

I like NovaLager a lot as well, both pressurized and unpressurized. I've also fermented with WLP-808 "Mythical Hammer" hybrid lager three times at 63F @ 1 BAR pressure. It fermented clean and quick, finishing within 4~5 days. Raised temp to 73F for two days, even though I used ALDC enzyme to help keep diacytl at bay. Not a hint of off flavors due to DMS precursors. Cold crashed rapidly to 38F verses 2F per day. Cleared quickly with an assist from BioFine after two days at 38F (my normal lager serving temperature). After one week the beer was carbed, clear and ready for serving. The ALDC really does allow for faster lagering/conditioning. So less than two weeks total time each, grain to glass, for an American Lager, a Blonde Ale and a Cold IPA. All came out good and scored well in competition.

I've never fermented with WLP-925, but between NovaLager dry yeast and WLP-808 liquid, I don't think I need to look any further for a pressure fermentation yeast.

 

[rtstrider]

Now the wlp925 has cleaned up. So much so I can see this becoming the house lager strain. It's a very agressive/fast fermenter! I do have a pack of Novalager and S189 on hand and am going to play around with those strains. Does Nova repitch well?

 

[Broothru]

Now the wlp925 has cleaned up. So much so I can see this becoming the house lager strain. It's a very agressive/fast fermenter! I do have a pack of Novalager and S189 on hand and am going to play around with those strains. Does Nova repitch well?

Never really got around to doing a repitch of Nova. I do have a harvested sample (~200 ml of thick slurry under ~50 ml supernatant) in a Mason jar in the beer fridge), but haven’t gotten around to trying it.

Frankly, it’s just too convenient keeping a few 11g sachets in the fridge. For a dry yeast, it’s not particularly cheap ($7-$10), but to buy a $4 can of Propper and spend 10 days attempting to bring it back to pitching health seems like false economy.

Note that there’s nothing in print suggesting that NovaLager is suitable for pressure fermentation. That said, the times that I’ve used it under pressure, it performed marvelously. In fact, I’ve only used it once unpressurized, and it turned out well also.

 

[DuncB]

Ten days seems too long to resucitate a big yeast sample like you have. Perhaps that long for a sample on agar.

 

[rtstrider]

Just a quick note. WLP925 is a beast! This last batch I started fermentation at 50F and raised 3F every 24 hours. By day 4 (62F) the fermentation was almost done so I went ahead and bumped this up to 68F and let it free rise over the next 3 days. The batch is currently cold crashing with 12 psi of co2 and will be getting gelatin fined this evening and sitting until a keg opens up in a week or two.

This will definitely become my house continental lager strain for sure! This strain is awesome!!!

 

[Broothru]

Ten days seems too long to resucitate a big yeast sample like you have. Perhaps that long for a sample on agar.

Most of my frozen samples are in 50 ml centrifuge tubes. I thaw them slowly, a day or two in the fridge. Then I allow everything to separate with most of the supernatant and glycerin floating to the top and discarded. That leaves maybe 30 ml yeast slurry. That’s about the volume of yeast slurry you’d get in one of the old White Labs tubes.

I put the yeast in a 1L Erlenmeyer with 250 ml of 1.020 SG starter. It usually doubles the volume of yeast slurry in 3~5 days. Settle, crash, decant to a 2L flask and add 1L of 1.040 starter. After 3~5 days I’ve got 300~400 ml of dense slurry.

Don’t know what my cell count/density is at that point, but I can either pitch it or freeze it, or store it in the fridge for up to 6 months and still have enough viability to repeat the process.

 

[rtstrider]

Now after some lagering time this yeast is clean! The first pitch had some issues but the two successive pitches worked great! This will probably become a house lager strain once I get a second fermenter on glycol. It's just easy and FAST!!!

 

[Broothru]

Now after some lagering time this yeast is clean! The first pitch had some issues but the two successive pitches worked great! This will probably become a house lager strain once I get a second fermenter on glycol. It's just easy and FAST!!!

If you can find it (or get it from Yeastman), snag yourself some WLP-808 "Mythical Hammer." It's a hybrid yeast that White Labs developed in collaboration with Clawhammer to use in their 6.5 gallon kegmenter. Ferments fast at 65F and 1BAR pressure for both lagers and ales. Clean with good attenuation, clears quickly. Works well in just about any style beer, except maybe for highly phenolic ones. White Labs is pretty closed lipped about what yeasts they blended for this colab, other than to say it's a blend of two of their favorite yeasts, which doesn't provide many clues. It really is a nice yeast, but it looks like they've put it in their Vault Series, so limited availability.

 

[rtstrider]

If you can find it (or get it from Yeastman), snag yourself some WLP-808 "Mythical Hammer." It's a hybrid yeast that White Labs developed in collaboration with Clawhammer to use in their 6.5 gallon kegmenter. Ferments fast at 65F and 1BAR pressure for both lagers and ales. Clean with good attenuation, clears quickly. Works well in just about any style beer, except maybe for highly phenolic ones. White Labs is pretty closed lipped about what yeasts they blended for this colab, other than to say it's a blend of two of their favorite yeasts, which doesn't provide many clues. It really is a nice yeast, but it looks like they've put it in their Vault Series, so limited availability.

Seeing as they mention citrus I wouldn't be shocked if wlp850 might be in there. That yeast screams Heineken to me which in turn screams fruity lol

 

[Broothru]

Seeing as they mention citrus I wouldn't be shocked if wlp850 might be in there. That yeast screams Heineken to me which in turn screams fruity lol

Never really picked up much on either fruity or Heineken (skunked?). The two fermentations that I liked the best were a American Blonde ale (Liberty, Tradition and Saaz) which was more floral/herbal, and an American IPA (Simcoe, Centennial, and a double dose of Citra hop hash in the whirlpool), so with that much citra I probably couldn't/wouldn't suspect the yeast contributing much citrus to the final beer. The downside of pressure fermenting can be suppression of esters, however.

The biggest thing I like about pressure fermentation is the quick turnaround for lagers. Soup to nuts, fermentation is done in 5-7 days. I've also been adding ALDC enzyme at the same time as yeast pitch. It virtually eliminates diacetyl (though possibly because of the higher temperature of fermentation) and cuts down the conditioning/lagering time from a month or more down to about 7~10 days.

But the yeast I'm really high on right now is NovaLager dry yeast from Lallemand. Not advertised as a pressurized yeast, but my experience with three pressure fermentations with it is that it's excellent. I plan to use it in an experimental dual yeast pitch for a Kolsch in a few weeks. I'll start the fermentation with W2565, let fermentation go to 3~4 days, then pitch the dry NovaLager to fully attenuate the wort without interfering with the yeast-derived "Kolsch flavors" which have likely already been set in the fermenting beer. My goal is to dry out the beer and encourage the second yeast to help flocculate the Kolsch yeast faster than you'd normally get with that stubbornly fluffy stuff that takes forever to clear.

I'm also planning a pilot batch using Escarpment Labs "Kolsch" yeast with Mythical Hammer in a pressurized pitch, allowing the first 3~4 days to proceed at 1 to 2 psig before increasing over the next few days to 1 BAR by Day 8 or 9. I've been doing side-by-side propagations of five Kolsch yeasts, and the Escarpment Labs has been a very pleasant surprise. It is producing all the wonderful aromas (light green apple, pear and fruit) that Kolsch should present, and has been one of the best attenuators (1.006 in three days at 69F), and once it's done it drops like a rock without cold shocking or clarifiers.

 

[DuncB]

I've not found novalager the best floccer, it's needed help with super F and cold time. But it gets there.
Currently cold crashing a Marzen to tuck in the back of keg fridge for a few months.

 

[Broothru]

I've not found novalager the best floccer, it's needed help with super F and cold time. But it gets there.
Currently cold crashing a Marzen to tuck in the back of keg fridge for a few months.

Not the best flocculator like, say BRY-97 or Nottingham, but respectable none the less. In fairness, it starts slowly but picks up pace mid-stride and results in very clear beer much faster than the typical Kolsch yeasts do. I guess that's what I was comparing it to.

Speaking of clear, does anyone reliably know what yeast Pacifica is brewed with. I'm slowly working my way through a 6 pack, and can't believe the crystal clarity of the beer. Please don't shatter my illusion and tell me it's (ugh) filtered.

 

[AmarikinBrew]

I have heard, in certain parts, of a gaggle of yeastalchemysts who turn common grains into liquid gold, that when drunk, make one wobbley like a jellyfish out of water......