San Diego Super Yeast Wlp090

[Bribie G]

Bought my first vial, at the Bris HB conference, and going to run up an American Wheat this afternoon - really liked the Murrays Whale Ale when I was down that way:

Moby Wheat
21L batch to around 4.9% ABV

2500 BB Pils
2000 Wheat Malt
Chinook 60 mins to around 20 IBU

WLP090

Anyone used this yeast yet? Guy at the conference said it can do a super clean brew in about 3 days then give it a couple for D rest etc. Can't wait to try this one.
I've never made a wheat, after it settles out should I cold condition it for a week or just keg as is? I take it that it will have a residual haze anyway?

 

[Mayor of Mildura]

I've made a few american wheats with 1272. Pretty well what you are suggesting here. They are hazy and easy drinking. Just don't do what I did with one and put a couple of kg's of nectarines in. :icon_vomit:

 

[jbowers]

Any idea if this yeast is likely to be available in Melbourne?

 

[Zizzle]

Is this strain from one of your San Diego clients?

No. We included the name San Diego in the title to honor the hometown of White Labs.

Ah crap, I was imaging this strain was some love child from strains from Green Flash & Stone IPAs.

But in reality, they probably just use WLP001 anyway.

 

[Bribie G]

I think it's derived from WLP001, guy said it was bred at Whitelabs and is not a brewery strain.
I didn't get round to it yesterday, mashing it now.

I was going to use Chinook but we all got some Stella and Topaz hops at the conference, both sound like they might add a nice touch to an American Wheat, tossing up which one to use.

 

[Mayor of Mildura]

Wow those are some pretty impressive AA levels. Why not use both. Last one I made I used riwaka. Turned out great.

 

[Bribie G]

This stuff is insane
Going on the advice of the Whitelabs guy at the QLD conference I did a starter with strictly 1040 wort and pitched the vial at 2pm. A few minutes ago there was a huge "bang" from the brewery and the yeast had hurled the top of my starter pail across the room like a frisbee, with krausen forming already.



This is the growth stage, not supposed to do that <_<

I'm getting the starter and cube down to a common 18 then pitch.

Hanging onto my hat

 

[DUANNE]

this yeast at normal brew temps is done after 48 hours max 72.and actually floscs out unlike 1056.it is also very clean.makes notto look slow.

 

[user 10246]

Interesting, sounds like a good one. Might give it a try meself

 

[user 10246]

Interesting, sounds like a good one. Might give it a try meself

 

[DJR]

Got a vial from Dave's home brew - not sure when I will use it. In the next week or two. Might become a staple if the 3 days is true and it floccs OK - US05 i find I have to leave for 2-3 weeks before it's settled out properly

Planning a simple lawnmower/summer beer - 95% pils, 5% wheat, Amarillo to 25 IBU, then will use some slurry for the house pale ale - Amarillo and NS, 75% pils 20% munich 5% crystal/caramalt

 

[mahonya1]

I think it's derived from WLP001, guy said it was bred at Whitelabs and is not a brewery strain.
I didn't get round to it yesterday, mashing it now.

I was going to use Chinook but we all got some Stella and Topaz hops at the conference, both sound like they might add a nice touch to an American Wheat, tossing up which one to use.

Which way did you go with the hop choice, and how's it tasting? I did an APA with Stella late addition, still in the fermenter but tasting pretty good.

 

[Bribie G]

I got sidetracked with a back op and couldn't do any heavy lifting, and it's been sitting at -1 for about a week still in primary but the fridge cranked right down. I'll keg straight out of primary. Actually there was krausen hanging around for about 7 days but being a wheat beer (which I've never done before) that's no real indication. I'll try a bog standard APA next, which I already have sitting in a cube, and simultaneously my Viennale so I'll have a better understanding with these two brews.

 

[np1962]

This stuff is insane
Going on the advice of the Whitelabs guy at the QLD conference I did a starter with strictly 1040 wort and pitched the vial at 2pm. A few minutes ago there was a huge "bang" from the brewery and the yeast had hurled the top of my starter pail across the room like a frisbee, with krausen forming already.

View attachment 49979

This is the growth stage, not supposed to do that <_<

I'm getting the starter and cube down to a common 18 then pitch.

Hanging onto my hat

Growth Phase?
If you pitched a whole fresh vial into a couple of litres of wort there isn't going to be a need for a growth phase. She's gone straight on to fermenting.
I'm assuming these vials flew over for the conference so were less than a week old and would be suitable for pitching direct to 23L batch.
From all reports this is a very clean, quick fermenting yeast.
Nige

 

[tallie]

After the talk about this yeast at the QHC recently, I am so far a little underwhelmed by its performance, and it sounds like I'm not the only one. Flocculation seems to be good, but so far, the advertised speed of ferment hasn't aligned with my experience.

In the first batch I used it, I let the yeast gradually rise to room temperature before activating the yeast in 1L starter wort. It was then pitched into 23L of 1.052 wort at the same temperature (18C). It took over 24 hours before any krausen formed, and it stayed at fairly high krausen for 5 days. I took a gravity reading after 4 days and it had only dropped to 1.032. I let the fermenter slowly rise to 20C over a day and I took another reading 3 days later, by which time it had got down to 1.013.

I thought maybe it would do better on its second generation and harvested 2x500ml quantities of thin slurry that were pitched directly into two new 23L batches of beer at 1.047 & 1.052 OG. It took less than 12 hours this time for the krausen to appear, however, both beers had only dropped to ~1.025 after three days. Better than the first batch, but still nowhere near what I had been lead to believe. Both had dropped to 1.010 after 7 days (it may have got there quicker, but that was the first opportunity I had to take another reading).

Out of those who have actually used this yeast, what have your experiences been? What temperature are you fermenting at and how quickly is the yeast working?

Edit:

this yeast at normal brew temps is done after 48 hours max 72.and actually floscs out unlike 1056.it is also very clean.makes notto look slow.

I missed this comment earlier, and nearly made a comment about how I've found Nottingham to be much faster! What do you consider to be "normal brew temps"? And what was the OG of your wort(s)? Maybe I just had a dodgy vial, although it was well within the best before date (19th Feb, 2012 - first gen pitched on 21st November) and the second generation still didn't perform as advertised.

Cheers,
tallie

 

[Bribie G]

It's definitely a quicker yeast than US-05 or Wy1056 - probably about the same speed as Yeast Irish Ale - I like the fact that it flocs and drops nicely, as opposed to US-05 that hangs around with a scummy krausen for days and days.
Current batch (2 fermenters of different recipe done on some slurry from #1) took 5 days to finish in primary, then I popped them in the cold fridge on Sunday and I'll keg them tomorrow.

Definitely not the 3 day wonder as advertised... however it does remind me very much of that Pacman yeast that was out a couple of years ago.

I'll keep using this in place of US-05 / 1056 for the time being anyway. I'll be putting up a pic of #1 which is a half and half wheat beer, shortly. Dropped and cleared very nicely and only 4 days in the keg.

 

[Bribie G]

Well #1 was in primary for a week, cc for a week and kegged for a week but only on gas for the last 4 days. Turned out great.


Piccy (Whale ale lookalike)

 

[Paul H]

Geez Michael I'm thirsty just looking at it

Cheers

Paul

 

[DJR]

Pitched mine on NYE, at about 5pm, into a simple 1.045 OG APA. Took about 24 h to show a thick fluffy krausen, airlock started about 4-6 h in.

It's down at about 1.030 now, and has dropped 4 gravity points in the last 8 hours. Don't know if it'll hit the 3 day mark, but not bad.

Flavour so far is good - much like US05 but a little different.

 

[Liam_snorkel]

Got some of this a few weeks ago.
First brew was an ale, cleaned up after itself and kegged in 6 days.

Pitched 1/2 a cup of slurry I'd saved (no starter) into a 1.068 stout on sat night, checked it just before and it's hit 1.018. not bad for 4.5 days.
mind you I cooked it at around 20-22deg, similarly with the ale.