Wyeast 1728 -- Scottish Ale Yeast

[deebee]

I am brewing a Scotch Strong Ale with Wyeast 1728. Their specs say it will brew down to 13 and recipes suggest it brews better at lower temperatures. I have it going at 15 or 16.

The OG was 1070. When it is almost finished, I thought it might be a good idea to raise the temps up to 20 or so just to encourage the yeast to fully attenuate, in the style of a diacetyl rest though without the need to remove the diacetyl. A gentle swirl is also in mind on about day 4 as it is a high flocculator.

Wee Stu, I know you have brewed with this yeast a fair bit. Others too, it seems. What temps do you prefer to brew it at and if you brew low, do you raise temps to help the yeast out at the end?

Any general tips welcome.

 

[Ross]

Deebee,

I've always brewed at 17 to 18c - If brewing lower I would be bringing it up higher as you suggest for a diacetyl rest...

 

[jayse]

Hi deebee,
I brewed a scotch with that yeast last winter and it came up a treat.
Never got over 16c and for most parts was around 14c for most of the fermention but as you suggest you may do i also did, allowed it to come up to 18c for the very last bit.
Can't say if it made a difference but it did reach the correct attenuation i was after without a drama whatso ever.
One thing i did though was pitch all the yeast from a 80/ brew i did a couple weeks before.

I'll throw in a tip which come to me comparing my 'mcfarts ballshaven ale' to bellhaven was next time i would use very dark crystal malt.

have fun with it and i hope it all goes well.
Jayse

 

[deebee]

Cheers guys.

This was a bit of a mongrel brew to clear out some old stocks so I chucked in a little bit of crystal, chocolate and some melanoidin for fun mashed up with JW Trad and delicately garnished with 4kg of DME.

I also didn't like the low hopping in the recipes so chucked in 100g of EKG plugs at 30 and 5 mins.

 

[wee stu]

Deebee, yes I do use and like this yeast.
I like it because it has good temperature tolerance, is highly flocculent and responds well to high gravity ferments.
I have always tended to ferment it at the higher end of the suggested temp range, however, 18-24c. At higher temps it does produce noticeable, but pleasant, estery tastes.
I certainly don't think a short finishing period at the higher temp would do any harm.

I have a confession to make - I have never used it to brew a Scottish ale h34r:
Used it mostly for Belgian and English style beers.
In fact, since my degradation into all grain brewing, I have yet to brew a Scottish ale on my own :blink: .
Maybe I was worried that I could get typecast .

However, I think the time may be fast approaching to put one down.

slainte
stu

 

[deebee]

You? Type-cast?

Thanks Stu.

 

[deebee]

The cold snap in Perth the last couple of days has tested out the Wyeast claims for the temperature range for this yeast.

My frig is in the shed which gets warm in the day and cold at night. But it was really cold yesterday, I think the max was 15C. The brew had dropped to 14C last thing last night so I put a few longnecks of hot water in the frig and turned the thermostat up.

This morning when I checked, it was 13C and still giving a slow but steady bloob through the airlock. More hot water into the frig to get it through this cold day.

Pretty impressive for an ale yeast!

 

[wee stu]

Pretty impressive for an ale yeast!

[post="52087"][/post]​

given its provenance, would you expect anything less

 

[jayse]

Hey deebee,
Just wondering how you measure the fermenting wort temp.
I think those digi strips get worse as they get older and some i have are way out, especially if there is a great difference between the wort inside and the temp outside. Anyway to measure the temp now i pour a half pint off and measure with a temp probe. This method has proven to me to be a great way to go about it.
Not that iam claiming the temp you say it is is wrong, just posting how i go about making sure the wort is at the correct temp.

Good to here its ploding along so cold, lately i have been brewing at the bottom end of most yeast strains temp ranges even pitching at these low temps. I think the beers have been better for it.

Cheers Jayse

 

[deebee]

I don't use those digistrips any more. The temperature i measured is the temperature of the air above the wort inside the fermenter. I am presuming (wrongly perhaps) that the heating effect of the fermentation itself would be smaller at lower temps and also that this warming process would also warm the air in the fermenter above the krausen.

It must be pretty close to the wort temp.

 

[THE DRUNK ARAB]

Using this yeast in my current Scottish Porter <_< .

Talk about chewing through the sugars.

I have my fermentation fridge set at 18C, yeast was pitched (1/2 cup of slurry from a previous 80/-) on Sunday evening. Took a sample to measure gravity this morning at it is down to 1018 from 1052! Crikey!

The krausen has completely dropped out after just 3 days. Didn't realise it was such a high flocculator (bit like jayse really )

Do you other guys recall it floccing out so quickly? Just curious.

C&B
TDA

 

[wee stu]

1728 is a workaholic!, and with a healthy slurry from a previous brew nothing would surprise me

I am brewing am 80/- with the whitelabs WLP028 strain, now that is a very different yeastie. Glooping away very slowly at 16c, but getting there.

Will be very interesting to taste test this one.