WLP002 yeast

[Tricky Dicky]

I am new to homebrewing and am trying to brew a good English bitter with extract only. I've used the yeast from my Muntons Yorkshire Bitter kit and twice ended up with a 1020 FG after 12 days fermentation in a temp controlled fridge and very cloudy beer after cold crashing for 2 days. It seems then to take another two weeks to be reasonably clear. My question is would WLP002 yeast lower the FG and would it produce clearer beer under 2 weeks?

 

[Dan Pratt]

the yeast will floculate very well leading to a clearer beer, However the final gravity will not be better off as this yeast is a lower attenuater.

You can use a better attenuating yeast (US05) and then use finings to clear the beer

 

[hoppy2B]

I have found there are 3 basic things you can do to achieve a nice clear beer:

1. Use Nottingham Ale yeast (easy to find);
2. Dissolve half a teaspoon of gypsum in your water; and
3. Warm the fermentor up at the end of fermentation to encourage the yeast to finish up.

 

[Tricky Dicky]

I have found there are 3 basic things you can do to achieve a nice clear beer:

1. Use Nottingham Ale yeast (easy to find);
2. Dissolve half a teaspoon of gypsum in your water; and
3. Warm the fermentor up at the end of fermentation to encourage the yeast to finish up.

Do you add the Nottingham yeast straight from the packet and into the wort?

 

[hoppy2B]

I usually rehydrate the yeast in some water I have boiled and cooled in a lab bottle. I know that there has been discussion of late as to whether rehydrating is necessary. Some brands may not need rehydrating. I don't think it makes a difference in the end, just takes slightly longer to ferment if you kill half the yeast by pitching direct those brands that benefit from rehydration.

 

[stewy]

WLP002 is one of my favourite yeasts. You need to handle it well & you’ll get great results. It can finish off an English Bitter in 4-6days.
Ignore the advertised attenuation ranges of 63-72%. I consistently get 78% with 002.

Steps I take:

- make an appropriate starter
- oxygenate wort with pure o2
- 19C for 48 hours
- raise .5c every day until complete

This yeast is great in ESB. Also works amazing in IPAs/Pale ales/Porters/Stouts/Ambers.
-

 

[kyby]

Personally I would not be worried about the end product being clear. Not all that long ago I had a very murky looking ESB from a small pub. It was their own recipe that had been modifiied by the head brewer at Bridge Road brewing at Beechworth. They do special batches for quite a few pubs around that way. It was one of the best beers I have ever tasted and I'm not exaggerating. I am in the process of trying to get the recipe.