Wyeast 1469 - West Yorkshire

[MilwaukeeBrewGuy]

I too have noted higher than advertised attenuation. Cranked out an esb that went from 1.061 to 1.011
on a 153 mash. Fermented at 64.

Do we really need to wash this yeast? Seems super clean when I top cropped it.

 

[jmo88]

I too have noted higher than advertised attenuation. Cranked out an esb that went from 1.061 to 1.011
on a 153 mash. Fermented at 64.

Do we really need to wash this yeast? Seems super clean when I top cropped it.

You really shouldn't wash top cropped yeast as it is pure yeast. Just skim a bit of the brown crud off the krausen first, then it should be as viable as you can get. I usually find that it's best between 48-72 hours.

 

[ISUBrew79]

I brewed a bitter with this yeast recently, using 95% Crisp Maris Otter, 5% Crystal 120, Willamette for bittering, and EKG for flavor/aroma. It fermented out to 1.009 from an OG of 1.048. It does seem less flocculent than say WLP002/Wyeast 1968. I racked the beer to a secondary on top of some gelatin dissolved in hot water. This really helped to drop the remaining suspended yeast. To my surprise, I did see a small krausen rise to the surface in the secondary. I just racked from underneath when I kegged the beer.

Overall, I like the 1469 yeast. It attenuated well, and produced a very drinkable bitter. I plan to try this yeast in other brews (mild, etc.) in the future.

 

[Nugent]

I top-cropped about 150 ml of the beigest, creamest krausen from a Landlord clone from Graham Wheeler's book a week ago and just made a small starter with half of it to make sure that all was well before a Tuesday evening brew session.

Well ... the krausen in my flask nearly blew out the foam stopper within the hour. Put one of those orange double-port carboy tops on the flask, ran a plastic racking cane into one of the ports and some tubing from the came in a sanitized tub. Am now top-cropping from the starter. Crazy.

SWMBO was wondering why I was panickedly running from the deck, where I was spraying stuff with StarSan solution, to the 'brew room' to set up my Frankenstein of a contraption.

 

[eharlow49]

I realize I am reviving an old thread here but it appears to be the most comprehensive in regards to this particular strain. I will be bottling a TT Landlord clone over the next few days that used this yeast. The hydrometer samples were amazing. So much so that I plan on having it be my house bitter. As such, I would like to wash and store this yeast. I have read the "Yeast Washing" sticky and thought I was good to go until I read (can't remember where exactly) that washing highly flocculant yeast is a bit different. To those of you who have washed this yeast with success, what were your methods? Were they similar to the ones found in the "Yeast Washing" sticky or were they more along the lines of the method illustrated here: http://perfectpint.blogspot.com/2011/07/washing-highly-flocculant-yeasts.html ?

 

[bierhaus15]

I'm a little biased since that is my blog... but really 1469 is the ideal strain for top cropping. You'll get healthier yeast and not have to worry about getting the trub and yeast to separate. Also, you won't have to worry about acid washing after successive generations. You can save top-cropped yeast much in the same way as you'd do it by washing. However, top cropping is not just scooping off whatever is on top of the beer at any given time. Here is a very good primer on proper yeast storage and top-cropping. http://www.wyeastlab.com/com-yeast-harvest.cfm. Cheers.

 

[eharlow49]

Thank you and thanks for the link. Very informative and I'll definitely try that next time. For this particular batch (since its obviously to late for me to top crop), I think I'll give the method you illustrated a shot and see how it goes. Thanks again.

 

[siobhan]

I'm also using this yeast for the 1st time, on an Irish Red. Brewed last Sunday.

I smacked the pack Thursday and it only swelled a bit in 24 hrs. This caused me a little concern. On Friday, I added it to a starter, as planned. I didn't think I was seeing much action there, either, over 48 hours.

Sunday, I had to decide whether to start mashing or not, so I poured off some starter supernatent and tasted it. It was definitely beer. I mashed, boiled and pitched.

The fermenter is currently going gangbusters. Whew! I don't know if this yeast always behaves this oddly, but it's certainly working a treat now.

 

[tgmartin000]

Zombie thread!

How would this yeast work in an American brown?

 

[ballz50401]

I'd say give it a go. Probably will have better results with a malt forward brown compared with a hop forward brown ale.

 

[WaltG]

I just started a British Golden with 1469 and didn't see active fermentation for 24 hrs. Usually with S-04, US-05, Mangrove etc I see activity in 3-5hrs. Right now is chugging along though. went from 1.050 to 1.025 in a little under 3 days. It's not going as fast as other yeasts but I think it's ok.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

I'm not sure why people are so surprised that a classic top-cropping yeast produces a lot of krausen - it's kinda the point of top-fermenting yeast, people are too used to bottom-fermenting ones or top-fermenting ones that have adapted to life in conicals.

Yes 1469 seems to be one of the slower yeasts, but it's worth noting that the classic Yorkshire yeasts need generous aeration in the early stages of fermentation. These videos will provide useful context for anyone wanting to use 1469 :

Sam Smith's rousing : https://twitter.com/samsmithsbeer/status/992470580111781889

Tim Taylor's main "brewery tour" video (yeast at 11.06) :
Tim Taylor fermentation video (rousing at 1.07) :

Supposedly the current Taylor's yeast came from John Smith's via Oldham; the Harvey's yeast also came from John Smith's. Assuming that's what 1469 is, then (like WLP037 and WLP038) it's a POF+ yeast related to the saison family rather than the main group of British yeasts. Wiper and True made a well-received Yorkshire Saison last year using WLP037, so you might want to give it a go fermenting it hot to bring out the phenolics.

 

[Tribe Fan]

When I was in the UK, I drank a lot of Timothy Taylor cask ales. Loved this stuff. I have to try this yeast. Thanks for the videos, I think that is very helpful. I might just let this ferment in an open container.