# Experience With Wyeast 1968



## MattC (28/7/10)

Just split my first smack pack of Wyeast 1968 London ESB tonight. Noticed that the yeast in the smack pack was quite coagulated compared with the last 2 smack packs I split (1275 and 1056). See picture of the 1968 i split tonight and the 1275 I split 2 weeks ago, both have been shaken (1968 on the right and 1275 on the left).

Has anyone else noticed the same from this yeast?

Cheers


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## Effect (28/7/10)

1968 floccs like a mofo. I bet it was like a thick yeast cake at the bottom of the smack pack - comes out all lumpy for me. It is EXTREMELY flocculent!!! Your beers will be bright without ANY filtration.


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## Tony (28/7/10)

looks like bits of cooked egg white in the starter.

Awsome stuff and quite normal for the yeast.


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## Wolfy (28/7/10)

MattC said:


> Has anyone else noticed the same from this yeast?


As others have said it's normal behavior for Wy1968.
If I leave it on the stir-plate it will actually flocculate and look much like your picture while it's still being stirred around!


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## Scruffy (28/7/10)

I love 1968.

I was only just.

...and the yeast is magic too. Although the cluggy stuff you've got in that bottle looks a bit dodgy...

Just send it to me, and i'll try and dispose of it humanely... 

Nah, just kidding, it's _normal_.


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## felten (28/7/10)

It ferments out in like 4 days but drops like a rock, you probably want to pitch low and start raising it up after 24-48 hours to make sure its finishing up. I've put down 2 brews with this in the past fortnight starting at 18c for >24h then raising to 1 degree a day to 21c.

Tastes bloody great, and no need to filter it!


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## warra48 (29/7/10)

I love this yeast. It really accentuates the malt character of the beers it ferments. The jars look normal to me.

I currently have a stout fermenting with it. One thing I recommend and do about once or twice a day is to gently swirl my fermenter for the first week or so, just to get some of the yeast resuspended, because it drops out so quickly. By doing this, I got 80% apparent attenuation with my last brew, an IPA. I agree with felten about the temperatures to make sure it finishes up.


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## Fourstar (29/7/10)

a pretty versatile english yeast. ive made stouts, milds, bitters, barleywines, pale ales with it and have always had awesome results. never been hit by the diacetyl fairy with it either!


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## berto (23/9/10)

Hey guys, 
I know I've dug up an old topic here, but is this yeats good for a pale ale?

It looks like it definitely suits english bitters but I'm after something which will go well in a pale but not be too fruity or malty.


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## MattC (23/9/10)

berto said:


> Hey guys,
> I know I've dug up an old topic here, but is this yeats good for a pale ale?
> 
> It looks like it definitely suits english bitters but I'm after something which will go well in a pale but not be too fruity or malty.



this yeast will be fruity and will finish a little high for a pale ale IMHO. Try Wy1056 or US-05

Cheers


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## zebba (24/9/10)

I've used it twice with pales - one english, one americanised english (golden promise + melanoidin + simcoe + amarillo) and both beers I was EXTREMELY happy with. Possibly my favourite yeast. I fermented cool (around 17), then started to ramp up the temp as the krausen receded to keep the buggers active.


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## Sammus (24/9/10)

yeah depends on the pale ale mate, fine for an english, but I wouldn't use it for an APA.

edit: May as well add to the thread, here's a snap of my 1968 starter, while being stirred


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## Mattese (24/9/10)

I just used it for a english ale, and I didn't realize just how quickly it would ferment. 4 days seemed to fly, with me running around like an expectant father. Amazing stuff for a english... I have found a new friend.


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## mje1980 (24/9/10)

Keen to try this in my bitters etc. Got the smack pack in the fridge, waiting for a donor beer!


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## Back Yard Brewer (2/10/10)

MattC said:


> Just split my first smack pack of Wyeast 1968 London ESB tonight. Noticed that the yeast in the smack pack was quite coagulated compared with the last 2 smack packs I split (1275 and 1056). See picture of the 1968 i split tonight and the 1275 I split 2 weeks ago, both have been shaken (1968 on the right and 1275 on the left).
> 
> Has anyone else noticed the same from this yeast?
> 
> Cheers




I feel a lot better looking at your examples. I have a starter right here right now in a Cconical, when I initially poured it out of the smack pack I went "argh" WTF. It smelt good so in the end that is what I went with.




BYB


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## reviled (2/10/10)

I recently acquired some gen 2 1968 slurry off a mate and managed to get three really good brews out of it, first time using it as well and I agree with everything above that it is indeed a great yeast that really pushes forward the malt character!


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## warra48 (2/10/10)

Mattese said:


> I just used it for a english ale, and I didn't realize just how quickly it would ferment. 4 days seemed to fly, with me running around like an expectant father. Amazing stuff for a english... I have found a new friend.



This is one of my favourite yeasts. I love the way it pushes the malt character, although it doesn't hide the hops if you use enough of them. And it drops brilliantly clear, even without cold conditioning.

I've just retired my last batch of this yeast. I used it for a Mild first up, and just used a jar of slurry straight from primary into the next batches, an IPA, a Stout, a Best Bitter, and another ESB.

My experience with it, not necessarily what others will experience, is that it does tend to go quickly early on, but it will very slowly keep working for a long time to reach terminal gravity.
I find if I bottle inside of two weeks, it gives me high carbonation, even using priming sugar to only about 1.8 volumes.
My practice now is to leave it for about 3 weeks before bottling. In fact, I bottled an ESB last weekend, after 25 days in primary. 

I guess if you keg, it's not an issue.


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## felten (4/10/10)

Just put down a brew with this on the weekend, its definitely my favourite yeast atm. The smell of it is great, its almost tempting to drink it right out of the smackpack, and none of my gravity samples (or fast ferment) will be going down the sink.

It ferments fast, flocs clear, and tastes great. 60 hours after pitching @ 18c and its down from 1.052 to 1.015 (ff test ended at 1.010), awesome.


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## frog-inasock (5/10/10)

Warra48,

Recently used this yeast and noticed much the same as you during fermentation. It slowly continued to work after visible signs of fermentation had finished at 4 days (top of wort clears, hydro sample bright), it was about 1016 and I wanted a few more points so let it sit for about 5 more days and low and behold it dropped to 1013! Was about 9 days total with a slight raise in temp in the last few days. 

Another observation from using this yeast a couple of times is the flavour development is hindered by kegging straight after fermentation (9 days), other yeasts dont seem to mind (wyeasts 1187, 1056, 1272 - i.e different styles/attenuations). After carbing the keg it had a heavy malty flavour and what I can only describe as a nasty tannin bite from presumably late hops (as opposed to dry astringency from overcrushing grains). But interestingly I bottled a few stubbies too and a month later I took one from my fermentation fridge that had been at about 20C the whole time, chilled that day and the heavy malt and bite had completely disappeared, leaving a nice fruitiness, well worth it, yum.

To clarify, it was an all grain batch, with 2 late fuggle + EKG additions near flameout at about 1/2g per litre.

So next time I think I'll condition in the keg at 20C until the stubbies taste right and see how it goes.


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## mje1980 (28/10/10)

First time user, very happy so far. I have a mild in the keg which i used the 1968 for. Its a great mild anyway ( tried it on an engine at a recent Real ale do ), but yeah, this yeast is a yummy one. I pitched a 1.073 UK strong ale onto the cake, which has been purring along at 16-18c for 4 days, and is down to 1.020. Yesterday it was 1.025, so although its been around 18c, its still dropping 5 points a day, woo hoo!!. 

Interesting about the bottling bit. Might leave mine for a good week before bottling. Will be hard though, i have a few UK blondes, and a brown porter waiting for this yeast. I might try top cropping with this one too. First time, so hope it goes ok. 

Cheers

EDIT, i have been swirling this almost daily, thought i'd add. I seem to do this with all ales, just a habit i guess!!


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## mje1980 (30/10/10)

My strong ale is down to 1.016. From 1.073 that's 78% apparent attenaution. Bloody hell, im keen to bottle it and brew some more beers but don't wanna risk bottle bombs or overcarbing them. Sample is tasting delicious.


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## mje1980 (14/12/10)

Just finished off a keg of UK blonde with this yeast. I ran out of whirlfloc for a while, and i also no chill so it wasn't very clear, except the last few pints!!. Was about a month before it cleared up, is this normal??

Might be my imagination, but there seemed to be more yeast character and malt flavour when the yeast finally decided to drop out. I liked the whole batch, but when it started to clear up, i think i noticed more flavour. 

Anyway, love this yeast. 

Got a batch of bitter naturally carbing up, ready for an engine.

Strong ale nice, but i think 8% cara aroma is a little much!!. Will give it another month and see if it smooths out.


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## Pennywise (14/12/10)

I don't think I've ever had a hazy/cloudy beer using 1968, and I don't use whirlfloc or any other clearing/fininf agent, deffinatly not normal in my brewery.

As for it tasting better, could just be that after a month it hit the sweet spot. Make another and leave it for a month to mature befor tapping?


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## mje1980 (14/12/10)

Pennywise said:


> I don't think I've ever had a hazy/cloudy beer using 1968, and I don't use whirlfloc or any other clearing/fininf agent, deffinatly not normal in my brewery.



Since i ran out of whirlfloc, my no chilled beers have been cloudy. They never used to be. Not sure if its the warmer weather causing the cube to take a lot longer to cool down or what. Not really a big issue for me though.


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## Andrew (14/12/10)

An excellent yeast very suitable for any type of open ferment or pseudo Yorkshire square setup.
It flocks so hard that in a 22Hl fermenter you climb in, carve it up like cold-set jelly or custard, and shovel it out!
30 kilos of this yeast in an old barley bag in a wheelie bin in hot weather can blow a bin up though....ooops!
Gareth


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## O-beer-wan-kenobi (9/9/13)

Sorry to dig up an old post but I think it is relevant.

I have some Wyeast 1968 and after doing some great ESB's and English mild I was hoping to use it for an English IPA.

I know the yeast doesn't attenuate well but have read that with swirling the fermenter and and leaving it to ferment long enough to clean, it up can get down to 75%.

My question is, what do people think about using this yeast for an IPA and should I ditch this for another strain?

The recipe I was thinking to do is below. What are your thoughts?

```
Estimated OG: 1.056 SG
Estimated Color: 21.1 EBC
Estimated IBU: 50.9 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 73.0 %
Single Infusion 65.0 C
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
         
5.35 kg               Maris Otter (Crisp) (7.9 EBC)     
0.22 kg               Biscuit (Dingemans) (44.3 EBC)        
0.22 kg               Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (78.8 EBC)        
0.13 kg               Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L (236.4 EBC         
35.00 g               Target [10.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min       
25.00 g               Fuggles [4.50 %] - Boil 10.0 min               
40.00 g               Goldings, East Kent [5.00 %] - Boil 0.0        
1.0 pkg               London ESB Ale (Wyeast Labs #1968) [124.
```


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## NewtownClown (9/9/13)

Have made English IPA using this and the WL equivalent. I think it is very suitable for both ESB and IPA.
It's a bitch and needs to be roused every now and then


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## O-beer-wan-kenobi (9/9/13)

The ESB and mild I made I didn't swirl them and they came out fine, although I wasn't looking for a dry attenuated finish.
I think I will give it a go and see how it turns out. The OG is not going to be too high for an IPA so hopefully it wont turn out too sweet


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## O-beer-wan-kenobi (17/9/13)

I have made the IPA with the Wyeast 1968, started fermentation at 18 for a few days and slowly ramped it up to 21.
As recommended I gave it a swirl every day and and it has now finished. Starting gravity was 1.052 and it has finished up at 1.010. This seems to be 80% attenuation. Is that possible with this yeast? All of the documentation states 67-71%

I'm pretty sure there is no infection. The sample I took tastes pretty good


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## BeerNess (17/9/13)

mash temp and agitation of the FV with the temp rise could do it I reckon... Kinda like the fat people on Biggest Loser getting driven by those personal trainers.


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## Weizguy (18/9/13)

I'm fairly certain that I have achieved 80%+ attenuation from W1968 and the Ringwood yeast.
Maybe it's my brewhouse, but I often get better apparent attenuation than the manufacturer states.
Recently brewed a weizenbock with W3638, and got 96% apparent attenuation (IIRC, s.g. 1.071 down to 1.002).


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## O-beer-wan-kenobi (18/9/13)

Yeah, I mashed this IPA at 65 and swirled every day so that could be the reason.
I was concerned about using this yeast for under attenuation for the style so I guess I am where I want to be.

:icon_offtopic: 
This is the first beer I have dry hopped. I have just thrown in 45g of EKG pellets in 22l, but I have read mixed advice on quantity and time for dry hopping. Was planning on giving it 3 days or so, then cold conditioning to hopefully drop out the hops and then keg. Anyone see any issues with my approach to the dry hopping for this beer?


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## BeerNess (18/9/13)

Your dry hop sounds good, 3-7 days before CC and you should be rocking 

Quantities and time are all about personal preferences and views, experimentation is the answer!


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## Camo6 (18/9/13)

I used this yeast for the first time last week. What a flocculator! This yeast reminds me of the fat kid in school who would try real hard at sports but once he'd had enough he'd lay down and couldn't be moved.
I made a starter and the next morning it was clumping together on the bottom of the flask and laughing at the stirbar.
Is this normal for this yeast?


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## O-beer-wan-kenobi (18/9/13)

I have made a few brews reusing the yeast from previous batches and making starters. Even after the stir bar whizzing around for hours there were still big clumps, like set custard!

From experience I would say its normal for this yeast.


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## Moad (4/3/15)

Digging up a really old thread here but I needed to tell someone that wont think I'm crazy...

This yeast is incredible...

I used it in a rye/MO/Munich dsga with all galaxy hops. The maltiness is incredible!

Us05 will never touch another golden or English ale in my brewery


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## sponge (5/3/15)

Moad said:


> Us05 will never touch another golden or English ale in my brewery


US05 should never touch an English ale in any brewery h34r:


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## Coodgee (7/8/15)

TIme to dig this thread up for a third time  I've got a 2L starter going on the stir plate right now. Looks just like some earlier pictures in this thread. hoping to do a Northern brown ale tomorrow. 

is it a good idea to mash cool (say, 64*) with this yeast to try to get it down close to 1012? Also I noticed a lot of people like to ferment this at 18*, perhaps that is why it drops out quick? I was thinking of letting it do it's thing at 20* since the yeast flavours are apparently so good?


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## Coodgee (11/8/15)

So I brewed on Friday night and pitched my start at about midnight. Unfortunately this was a "drink and brew" occasion and I think the sanitation may have been a bit substandard towards the end there with a couple of bungs finding their way to the bottom of the fermenter. But last night the Krausen was completely gone, so not wanting to risk infection I racked to secondary. It went from 1050 to 1015 in less than 3 days, which was my target FG because I want a nice malty profile to go with the biscuit and chocolate malt flavours. So now I've racked to secondary (sealed cube). tasted really good already, no off flavours detected, but I want to let the flavour develop a bit and let the burnt flavours meld and mellow with the malt and yeast flavours. Do you think I would achieve this quicker with cold conditioning or room temp conditioning? What a great yeast!


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## warra48 (11/8/15)

I wouldn't be in a hurry to cold condition with this yeast. It keeps slowly working for weeks and weeks even when you think you're at FG.

I bottle, and need to make sure I drink them all within 3 to 4 weeks of bottling, otherwise the carbonation just goes nuts, even with a low level of priming.

There's a theory that this is really a cask yeast, and designed to naturally carbonate ales in the cask for serving on a handpump.


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## Coodgee (11/8/15)

warra48 said:


> I wouldn't be in a hurry to cold condition with this yeast. It keeps slowly working for weeks and weeks even when you think you're at FG.
> 
> I bottle, and need to make sure I drink them all within 3 to 4 weeks of bottling, otherwise the carbonation just goes nuts, even with a low level of priming.
> 
> There's a theory that this is really a cask yeast, and designed to naturally carbonate ales in the cask for serving on a handpump.


makes sense. maybe I'll just serve it out of the cube tap then! do you think there any advantages to letting the yeast get the FG lower? 1015 was my target FG to give me the malt profile I was looking for. If it goes lower it might be too dry for my liking. I'm more concerned about what process will condition and meld the flavours.


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## Mikedub (11/8/15)

warra48 said:


> I wouldn't be in a hurry to cold condition with this yeast. It keeps slowly working for weeks and weeks even when you think you're at FG.
> 
> I bottle, and need to make sure I drink them all within 3 to 4 weeks of bottling, otherwise the carbonation just goes nuts, even with a low level of priming.
> 
> There's a theory that this is really a cask yeast, and designed to naturally carbonate ales in the cask for serving on a handpump.


I've experienced this too Warra,
Best Bitter - 4 weeks in primary, low priming - 4 weeks in the bottle all good - 8 weeks its over carbed for the style, still great character in this yeast


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## warra48 (11/8/15)

Coodgee, go when ready, just drink it within about 4 weeks or so would be my advice.


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## GrantSpatchcock (11/8/15)

1968 is probably my favorite yeast, it's a cracker, and by far the best English yeast I've found.

It's unbeatable for lightly carbed english beers, and the proof is in the pudding. Last year my Mild Ale brewed with WLP013 scored second in the states, this year I used the same malt bill and ferm profile, but 1968 and took first with an extra 8 points. Cracking yeast!


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## Danwood (25/8/15)

Gotta' love 1968 !

You can't do this with many other yeasts...

Ed- The stir bar is in there somewhere too...it's more like a Selleys product than a yeast !


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## Yeastfridge (25/8/15)

Gotta get me some of this! Anyone have any experience fermenting a bit warm? Should be fine for at least another month but I don't have temp control...


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## mofox1 (25/8/15)

Yeastfridge said:


> Gotta get me some of this! Anyone have any experience fermenting a bit warm? Should be fine for at least another month but I don't have temp control...


Alias of yeastfridge and you don't have temp control... <_<... :lol:


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## Bribie G (25/8/15)

As Warra says.

Last winter I drank a keg of ESB made on 1968 from a keg sitting under the desk in the garage at ambient (around 12 degrees) with a bronco tap attached. Over the course of a fortnight it basically served itself with its own generated CO2 and only needed the odd squirt of gas towards the end.

I had brewed it virtually UK Real Ale style, two Sabbaths in the FV then kegged, a week to settle then started serving. From memory I even had to release the PRV initially as it was foaming.

edit: yeastfridge, you should be ok till maybe October in the Southern half of Oz, most UK yeasts can happily go to low 20s but will chuck yeast esters. 1968 is pretty much a London yeast and they traditionally fermented a couple of degrees warmer than Northern yeasts such as Yorkshire Stone Square strains.
I believe this yeast is either Fullers or a close brother, they conduct their main fermentation at 20.


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## Aus_Rider_22 (5/10/16)

3rd time I have used 1968. Used it when I originally brewed but after a 4 year lay off I am doing it properly and now have a flask and stir plate for building the correct amount of cells to pitch.

Anyways, had a 1.2L starter on the plate for 26hrs and it was floccing hard when I turned it off, it was amazing!

Decanted and pitched the yeast on Friday 30th, today it's done and dusted. 1.042 to 1.010 @ 76% apparent attenuation. Kept at 19c and only thought to swirl it yesterday.

Very happy and will be using again very soon! 

PS: sorry to drag up an old thread, but I was expecting a FG of 1.013/1.014.


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