Wit Yeasts

[grunter]

i have just racked my first belgian style wit beer into the secondary fermenter and have noticed that the performance of the yeast (the white labs WLP400) has been quite remarkable eg:

it throws a very large head that has remained intact

upon racking from the primary fermenter i noticed that whilst there was a large head of foam and yeast on top there was virtually no yeast or sediment on the bottom of the fermenter. A true top fermeneter!! I have never seen this before and i have used a lot of yeasts.

It krausened overnight in the secondary fermenter, despite the ferm rate being quite slow, and erupted from the airlock requiring a hasty blow of tube to be installed (and a rapid clean up of the laundry before wife woke up)

Has anyone come across this sort of yeast behaviour before????

 

[nonicman]

Grunter, can't tell you why but with the first use of this yeast I had a simlair experience, the end result (all gone ) was awesome. The second batch using this yeast was more normal (still required a blow off tube during primary). Had simlair experiences of large krausen's from Burtons Ale 023 (which on one occasion also threw a hugh krausen after being racked) and from 380.

 

[JasonY]

I haven't used the whitelabs variety but so far I have done one brew with the wyeast equivalent and it too was very vigorous! I thought it was a dud as the smack pack was looking pretty slow but it took off like a rocket once in the fermenter. Will have to brew another one soon.

 

[grunter]

it is very interesting

it is 1.5 weeks into fermentation and whilst fermenting quite slowly but very steadily it is still blowing foam out the tube like there is no tomorrow.

cant wait to sample it

 

[MCWB]

I'm brewing a wit with WLP400 at the moment, and yeah, it seems rather active! Temperature control is an issue, it's gone up from 20C to 23C 48 h after pitching. I had a decent sized starter but still. there's a larger than normal amount of krausen.

I guess one of the reasons for this is the high proportion of wheat in these beers: for the same reason that you have good head retention, you're also going to get a krausen that's bigger and more persistent than other beers.

 

[grunter]

temperature control is a problem.....part today supposed to be 42 in sydney today. Fermenter sitting at 23 - 24 when i left this morning. I am a bit woriied.

At what temp am i likely to get off flavours in the beer??

I stuck fermenter in a basin full of water, wrapped it in a towel and put a fan on it in the hope of keeping the temp down. I really need a beer frdige!!!!!!

i am salivating thinking of the cold finished product in a glass with a creamy head of foam

 

[Bobby]

i brewed with this yeast recently, i kept it at 20c and it turned out a treat.

 

[Mikedub]

recently made a Witt with WLP400, its been on the bottle for 4 weeks now and still has an overpowering sulphur taste,
I'm not sure where I went wrong, fermented at 19, anyone else had this experience with this yeast or 3942

 

[DarkFaerytale]

in my experiance with these types of yeasts, they do not mind a little higher temps, usually i'll start high (24) and ramp down once fermentation starts, but have done things the other way as well. it'll throw off alot more unusual flavours, banana, clove and if your lucky, bubblegum.

Sulfer i have gotten from fermenting at lower temps as well. it *should* mellow over time in the bottle

i use wyeast, belgian wit and forbidden fruit but they should be similar if not the same

 

[Goldenchild]

I brewed a Belgian pale ale with WL 410 Belgian wit 2.
After harvesting and cleaning it still formed a Krausin in the bottles of yeast and lasted a week at fridge temperatures before dropping out.

Thought it was an infection at first but ended up reusing the yeast again and it was fine.
Definitely a very rowdy yeast from my experience

I have another Belgian pale on the to do list now and have the wyeast wit to use. Will post if I experience the same things.

 

[Nick JD]

Zombie thread - I find 3522 is a much easier yeast to make Wits with than 3944.

 

[Mikedub]

Zombie thread -

Yeah pretty proud of myself, nine years