Wb-06

[darrell.wallace]

Hi all,

i have my first wheat fermenting at the moment. with the current cold temps my fridge has allowed the wort to fall to 16.5 degrees. fermentation seems to still be going (gravity today is 1030 down from 1052 in 3 days) but i was wondering what temps you think would be to low for this beer. i used safbrew WB-06 dry yeast and the information i can find says that it should be right down to 15. does anybody have any experience with this yeast or do you think that i need to add some type of heating to my fridge.

I guess the other question is will the low temps mean that i have made some of the yeast dormant.

Darrell

 

[bakkerman]

The lower temps will mean you end up with lower levels of phenolics and esters.

These give it the banana and clove tastes. I have no experience with this yeast, but having used the Weihenstephan Weizen strain, the optimum temperature is around 19 degrees.

 

[Kleiny]

Ive found that my wheat beers benefit from a higher temperature for ester and phenolic flavour
this give sme the taste im looking for in a wheat

above 20 is a good point so if you can bring the temp up i reckon you would get some benefit

 

[dataphage]

Hi all,

i have my first wheat fermenting at the moment. with the current cold temps my fridge has allowed the wort to fall to 16.5 degrees. fermentation seems to still be going (gravity today is 1030 down from 1052 in 3 days) but i was wondering what temps you think would be to low for this beer. i used safbrew WB-06 dry yeast and the information i can find says that it should be right down to 15. does anybody have any experience with this yeast or do you think that i need to add some type of heating to my fridge.

I guess the other question is will the low temps mean that i have made some of the yeast dormant.

Darrell

The temp range on this yeast is pretty wide, I reckon you'll be okay down to about 10 C, it'll probably slow down but no harm done.

I used this yeast recently and fermented it warm after reading about the strain on here (do some searching around and you'll find a long thread on it). I got lots of bannana in the flavour, fermenting it cold might push it toward the clove end of its flavour profile according to what I've read on here or you might not get many ester flavours at all. You might want to bring the temp up to finish the fermentation off, take it out of the fridge for a day or two maybe depending on ambient temperature.

Just as an aside this yeast attenuated a long way down, far further than I expected and the beer is quite dry compared to what I was expecting.

 

[mfdes]

The lower temps will mean you end up with lower levels of phenolics and esters.

These give it the banana and clove tastes. I have no experience with this yeast, but having used the Weihenstephan Weizen strain, the optimum temperature is around 19 degrees.

I have to disagree here. I always hear this and it is not my experience at all. I always follow the 30 degree rule and pitch at 13, ferment at 17. Much better results in my opinion. The phenolics come through well (you must mash the right way to develop them in the first place), and the esters should be percieved but in no way rising above and dominating the other flavours.
99% of the warmer fermented weizens I have tasted are cloying and not very drinkable in large amounts, as they ought. I usually ferment with WY3068 or WLP300.

MFS.

 

[roger mellie]

I have to disagree here. I always hear this and it is not my experience at all. I always follow the 30 degree rule and pitch at 13, ferment at 17. Much better results in my opinion. The phenolics come through well (you must mash the right way to develop them in the first place), and the esters should be percieved but in no way rising above and dominating the other flavours.
99% of the warmer fermented weizens I have tasted are cloying and not very drinkable in large amounts, as they ought. I usually ferment with WY3068 or WLP300.

MFS.

I think you would struggle to make a cloying beer with WB-06 - maybe with some of the liquid strains but not this yeast

I have fermented up to 23 and as low as 18 - with WB-06 from my experience Bubblegum is related to lower temps. I never follow the 30 degree rule - pitch and ferment at the same temp - mondo phenolics.

RM

 

[Julez]

I have to disagree here. I always hear this and it is not my experience at all. I always follow the 30 degree rule and pitch at 13, ferment at 17. Much better results in my opinion. The phenolics come through well (you must mash the right way to develop them in the first place), and the esters should be percieved but in no way rising above and dominating the other flavours.
99% of the warmer fermented weizens I have tasted are cloying and not very drinkable in large amounts, as they ought. I usually ferment with WY3068 or WLP300.

MFS.

Hey MFS, just as an aside, what is your mash schedule to achieve this aim? Do you decoct or just do a stepped mash with a couple of rests along the way?

Julez

 

[darrell.wallace]

Is down to 1024 today so obviously still fermenting away. tasted great when i did the gravity today so am not as worried today.

20 degree day today helped to bring the temp back up to 18 and i am happy with that.

Thanks for the replies.

Darrell

 

[hockadays]

I used this yeast twice and the first got thrown out because of the phenolics and the second is not far behind it but drinkable. No banana at all just clove city and therefore totally unbalanced. I tried it at 18degc first and at 21degc for the second. I won't be using this strain again, not even comparable to liquid strains available.

 

[mfdes]

Hey MFS, just as an aside, what is your mash schedule to achieve this aim? Do you decoct or just do a stepped mash with a couple of rests along the way?

Julez

Hi Julez,

I do a ferulic acid rest at 45 degrees C although I've found 50 is also a good compromise as a combined ferulic acid and protein rest. Decoction mashed for me work amazingly well in wheat beers, and lautering is tons better. Still, who has the time... these days I do step infusions and chuck in a bit of Munich for added melanoidins. I just lauter more carefully.

I recommend reading Eric Warners book on German wheat beers. I've found I follow most of his advice nowadays and do not do as most people. This includes the 30 degree rule, especially with the Weihenstephan strain, which in my opinion is the only one to use for Weizens.

Just my subjective opinion though.

MFS.

 

[Rustyc30]

Im drinking my wheat beer at the moment that used WB-06 I ended up fermenting lower that I wanted around the 18 deg mark still tastes good but bit light on the flavor side but it does make for a very easy drinking beer just not what I was really looking for. Next time i;ll try to keep it at around 20 - 21 deg

 

[trogdor]

Tried this yeast about 3-4 months ago. Accidently let the temp creep up to around 23-4 (woops!). I would not recommend this unless you want to share a pint down at the zoo with the monkeys - tastes like bannanas!

Does anyone know if this should die down with a bit of age?

 

[dataphage]

Tried this yeast about 3-4 months ago. Accidently let the temp creep up to around 23-4 (woops!). I would not recommend this unless you want to share a pint down at the zoo with the monkeys - tastes like bannanas!

Does anyone know if this should die down with a bit of age?

Mine got above that I suspect and had the same thing! It seems to have settled a bit with age but bottles have dropped absolutely crystal clear (about 12 weeks since bottling). I've been rolling them along the counter top to get a little of the yeast back in to it.

 

[SJW]

I have done a few Wheat beers with this and the best was the one that was pitched at 30 and fermented at 30. It got 2nd in the HAG Brew Comp at Potters 2008. Loads of bubblegum and nana. Loved it. So did the judges.

Steve

 

[Cortez The Killer]

30 sheeeshhhhh

The temp control police will be round at your place in no time

I'm busting to give this yeast a go

Interesting it doesn't give any off flavours that high

 

[SJW]

Well........ nothing tasted off to me. I would not ferment this high all the time for wheat beers but the one I did prior to this one was in the low 20's and was very boring.

Steve

 

[darrell.wallace]

looks like fermenting at between 15 and 18 was ok because i kegged yesterday and am drinking the first now. it has banana and clove, unfortunately no bubblegum but a very nice balanced beer.

thanks for the replies.

Darrell