White Labs Vs Wyeast

[big d]

i will be in adelaide and perth soon and will be stocking up on both varieties.never tried white labs before.
whats the general opinion of white labs yeasts.was thinking of wlp001 california ale yeast.

thoughts anyone?
varieties?

cheers
big d

 

[AndrewQLD]

I use white labs yeast exclucively now, I did try wyeast and while there products are excellent the cell count inside the pack is less than half what you get in the white labs, I found that the white lab cultures take off a lot quicker too.

I make up a fairly large starter to begin with, get 1/2 a dozen stubbies for storage, and then make another starter for the first brew. After this has fermented I rack to secondary and take a nice thick sample from the slurry and put this back into the vial that the yeast came in originally.

I get a lot of yest from one vial :lol:

 

[Hoops]

Andrew

That's good to know, thanks. I was considering using Wyeast or Whitelabs.
You just made my mind up for me.

Hoops

 

[Jovial_Monk]

Must admit I liked the WL

Stopped stocking it because local distributor did, but I am getting some in from Natl distributor in Sydney. Intend to stock enough to complement the WYeasts plus the WL seasonals on hand as they are released

Jovial Monk

 

[Linz]

A neat trick I saw in regards to the white labs vials is... when draining the cooled wort from the boiler or CFC to your fermenter,once the fermenter reaches half full pitch the vial to the wort. Then slow the rate of drain and fill the vial again and cap.There is usually enough yeast left behind in the vial to start again. Havent done it myself but seen it done.

 

[Murray]

Sounds good Linz. I doubt you would be able to achieve the original cell count, but it still would be useful.

I'm a WL fan myself. More yeast, much simpler process.

 

[Linz]

With the wyeast you proof it before you pitch it to a starter(swollen pack),whereas with the white labs tube you're banking on the fact that it has been handled correctly/sufficiently along the way and proofing it IN the starter.
Either way you'll only lose $15- $20(plus the cost of the brew if you're pitching from the tube) once at the one shop won't you??

 

[wardy]

well so far i've only used the wyeast... but i am about to try the white labs because that is what my new HBS stocks.

my question is a little off thread....

with regard to propogation and making 5 or 6 starters from the original.. what temperature should the yeast be propogated at when it is a lager yeast, should it be done at the 10C or 12C as it's profile suggests? or can it be done at room temperature?

My thoughts were that temperature would not matter too much as this would only effect the "flavour" of the fermenting wort/beer produced (which i would throw out later), whereas i am only concerned in the "multiplication" of yeast cells. However, will my yeast cells be better "quality" or more of them if they are "propogated" at the temperatures suggested by the manufacturer for fermentation?(ie low temperatures) does this make sense?

 

[Linz]

Wardy,

Making and splitting starters is/can be done at room temp(less than 30oC).
Your thoughts are spot on. There would be more, sooner at a warmer temp as they would multiply faster. The quality should still be there if your sanitary methods are up to scratch.
The suggested fermentation temp are there for the Flavour profiles for the yeast, IE:- known flavours at that temp and odd flavours at higher temps and missing flavours at lower temps.

At least thats my spin on it....waiting for the numerous others to come rolling in B)

 

[deebee]

I guess Wyeast have picked up on the fact that WL have a pitchable tube whereas their packs need to be made into a starter before pitching. The last couple of wyeast packs I have bought have been the pitchable size packs - you do not need to make a starter - they can be smacked, swollen and pitched. I still make a big starter and split it up for economy's sake.

 

[Barry]

Good Day
These are my favourite White Lab yeasts at the moment.
WLP001 Calf Ale, great all purpose ale yeast from blondes to dry stouts, lets the malt and hops come through, neutral.

WLP023 Burton Great for English pale, IPA, bitters a real ale profile that can take higher ale fermentation temps.

WLP025 Southwold Also great for bitters and pales, a soft interesting profile.

WLP028 Edinburgh Great for stouts, porters, red ales, any dark malty ale.

WLP810 San Fran IMHO the best lager yeast for those who brew lagers in the garage in winter (or for anyone), everything from Bohemian pils to dopplebocks, very forgiving and easy to use.

 

[peter]

just started up a WL liquid yeast by making up a mini wort using a 2L coke bottle, then dividing the contents up equally. no probs.
my question is , what effect does the alcohol have on the stored yeast?
i have read somewhere that alcohol creates a harsh environment for yeast to live in- or is this not true?
any comments would be apreciated.

 

[Jazman]

i like white labs for convience but wyeast is good and you know if you got a the right plus wyeast is cheaper but in adelaide wlabs is hard to get at the mo unless i get it from sydney so im happy with wyeast

 

[jayse]

you guys aren't really talking about the quality of the yeast as such but its 'idiot proveness'.
personally i'd rather spend ten bucks on a 55ml smack pack and look after and get a few brews out of it.
once you now how to culture yeast the size of the cell count is not important but the health is the important thing.
The 55ml smack packs are what i use and love them, cheap and not as tempermantal as some would lend you to believe.
for $10 you only need to get three brews out of them to be happy.

go the little smack pack.
jayse
ps although i would like to get my hands on the wl burton ale.

 

[Hoops]

If you were going to make a few starters from either which do you think is better and why? or is it much of a muchness?

 

[JasonY]

Yet to try whitelabs as its not readily available near me ... at the end of the day I go for taste and performance of the yeast. Brand a, b, c who cares if it gives me the best beer for my wort then thats the one I want.

Fellow brewers recommendations of strains are a great source.

 

[Murray]

just started up a WL liquid yeast by making up a mini wort using a 2L coke bottle, then dividing the contents up equally. no probs.
my question is , what effect does the alcohol have on the stored yeast?
i have read somewhere that alcohol creates a harsh environment for yeast to live in- or is this not true?
any comments would be apreciated.

White Labs recommend storing yeast under beer, so I would assume the alcohol in the environment isn't a problem.

 

[Weizguy]

If U plan to get a few cultures from either style/brand, I'd say to base your decision on yeast qualities and yeast freshness.

Had a manky WhiteLabs a while back and it took 3 days to start fermenting at room temp. Pitchable? It may have been once. The saying states that once you make anything idiot -proof, someone will invent a better idiot. I may have abused the yeast. The brew shop may have abused the yeast. The supplier may have abused the yeast. What I observed was that it was 2 months old and very slow. It got contaminated and cleaned my drains.

 

[Linz]

It still followed the myth... 2 months old and activated on the 3rd day(Easter yeast).

It goes that it'll take a day for every month past made date to activate(Atleast for the wyeast packs)

What strain was it???

 

[johnno]

Hi there,
about 4-5 weeks ago i wanted to brew a APA clone. I had some WYeast 1056 starters in the fridge from April this year. Started it on Thursday and by Sunday it was at high krausen. Fermented the beer from 1054 to 1012 in about 8 days.
Beer is just 2 weeks bottled and is tasting great.

cheers