WHITE LABS SUPER HIGH GRAVITY YEAST

[hiccup]

I'M TRYING THIS SUPER HIGH GRAVITY YEAST FOR THE FIRST TIME,....HOPING FOR A HIGHER YIELD FROM MY BATCH ,,...ITS ADVERTISED AS UP TO 25% ALC ........ANYONE ELSE EVER USED THIS IN A MASH? .....IF SO HOW WERE YOUR RESULTS?

[Bayou-Ruler]

I'M TRYING THIS SUPER HIGH GRAVITY YEAST FOR THE FIRST TIME,....HOPING FOR A HIGHER YIELD FROM MY BATCH ,,...ITS ADVERTISED AS UP TO 25% ALC ........ANYONE ELSE EVER USED THIS IN A MASH? .....IF SO HOW WERE YOUR RESULTS?

your yield will be higher as with any turbo, but the trade off is your quality will be lower.........................................

[Jimbo]

I'M TRYING THIS SUPER HIGH GRAVITY YEAST FOR THE FIRST TIME,....HOPING FOR A HIGHER YIELD FROM MY BATCH ,,...ITS ADVERTISED AS UP TO 25% ALC ........ANYONE ELSE EVER USED THIS IN A MASH? .....IF SO HOW WERE YOUR RESULTS?

your yield will be higher as with any turbo, but the trade off is your quality will be lower.........................................

amen brother. keep your mash in the single digits ABV (for AG's) or under 12% sugarheads and you cuts will be wider and the quality much higher.

[kungpo]

These two WL yeasts might be worth trying:

http://www.whitelabs.com/yeast/wlp078-n ... s=listings" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

http://www.whitelabs.com/yeast/z-wld71b ... s=listings" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

I've ordered some to see how they compare to bakers yeast.

[hiccup]

That wlp -078 yeast looks interesting.....I might see if that's in stock on my next trip to my supplier .....I'm still experimenting ,...haven't done this too many times . but have made some pretty descent whiskey I think so far,...always looking for ways to improve though, ..so all constructive criticism is welcome.

[wv_hillbilly]

There have been a couple of WL yeasts that have peaked my interest reading about them, but I've never had a problem with plain ole bakers yeast, and its a whole lot cheaper.

[Jimbo]

That 078 has a 15 degree higher temperature range than typical ale yeasts, prolly be a good one for summer time warmer ferments. Otherwise I love a good beer yeast for whiskies.

[chrisc69]

There have been a couple of WL yeasts that have peaked my interest reading about them, but I've never had a problem with plain ole bakers yeast, and its a whole lot cheaper.

if you split and refrigerate you yeasts should be able to get 10 lots out of 1 vial and they can be used like 5 to 10 times each after 5 they may start to work a little different but id keep going to the 10 that will have you doing 100 batches of 8 to 15 dollars depending on where you live just look into setting up a yeast bank alot of beer brewer forums have heaps of info on doing this

[kungpo]

That 078 has a 15 degree higher temperature range than typical ale yeasts, prolly be a good one for summer time warmer ferments. Otherwise I love a good beer yeast for whiskies.

Hey Jimbo,

What beer yeast do you use typically? And what kind of tolerances do they have? Will they handle 7-8% ABV ok?

[wv_hillbilly]

There have been a couple of WL yeasts that have peaked my interest reading about them, but I've never had a problem with plain ole bakers yeast, and its a whole lot cheaper.

if you split and refrigerate you yeasts should be able to get 10 lots out of 1 vial and they can be used like 5 to 10 times each after 5 they may start to work a little different but id keep going to the 10 that will have you doing 100 batches of 8 to 15 dollars depending on where you live just look into setting up a yeast bank alot of beer brewer forums have heaps of info on doing this

I appreciate the info, but as for now, I can get 2 lbs of bakers yeast for 4 bucks. Super cheap, and lasts forever.

[Jimbo]

That 078 has a 15 degree higher temperature range than typical ale yeasts, prolly be a good one for summer time warmer ferments. Otherwise I love a good beer yeast for whiskies.

Hey Jimbo,

What beer yeast do you use typically? And what kind of tolerances do they have? Will they handle 7-8% ABV ok?

Hey Kungpo, Typically use clean fermenting ale yeasts like US-05 or WLP001. But then I saw an interview with a single malt distiller in Scotland who said they'd love to use beer yeasts for the fruitier profile (they use to), and ferment longer for more fruity esters. But getting buckets of beer yeast from the local breweries, daily, proved too unreilable. And for economic reasons they cant push past 60 hours ferment times.

We have the luxury of using whatever is best, and taking as long as we want (There's people on here who say its 'laughable' to suggest distilleries wouldnt take as long as necessary to get the best flavor. I call bullshit. Lots of people talking straight out their ass on open forums. Read/watch everything and decide for yourself what you want to believe. So anyway, last few batches Ive been using a fruitier English Ale strain WLP023 Burton Ale Yeast, with very very good results. And I ferment out dry for 6-7 days.

For yeast pitching and harvesting, I collect typically 3 pints of sludge from the bottom of a beer primary. No frills, no slants, no yeast cleaning, nothing. I dump a whole pint of this sludge in my beer and whiskey ferments. Works perfectly. Never ever had an issue. You quickly build up a collection of yeasts, and yeast ends up being free this way. 3 pints x 10 generations before starting over is more batches of beer or whiskey than I need to get out of a $6 vial of yeast. I have 6 or 8 strains in my fridge, stacks of pints. Havent paid for yeast in years.

[kungpo]

That 078 has a 15 degree higher temperature range than typical ale yeasts, prolly be a good one for summer time warmer ferments. Otherwise I love a good beer yeast for whiskies.

Hey Jimbo,

What beer yeast do you use typically? And what kind of tolerances do they have? Will they handle 7-8% ABV ok?

Hey Kungpo, Typically use clean fermenting ale yeasts like US-05 or WLP001. But then I saw an interview with a single malt distiller in Scotland who said they'd love to use beer yeasts for the fruitier profile (they use to), and ferment longer for more fruity esters. But getting buckets of beer yeast from the local breweries, daily, proved too unreilable. And for economic reasons they cant push past 60 hours ferment times.

We have the luxury of using whatever is best, and taking as long as we want (There's people on here who say its 'laughable' to suggest distilleries wouldnt take as long as necessary to get the best flavor. I call bullshit. Lots of people talking straight out their ass on open forums. Read/watch everything and decide for yourself what you want to believe. So anyway, last few batches Ive been using a fruitier English Ale strain WLP023 Burton Ale Yeast, with very very good results. And I ferment out dry for 6-7 days.

For yeast pitching and harvesting, I collect typically 3 pints of sludge from the bottom of a beer primary. No frills, no slants, no yeast cleaning, nothing. I dump a whole pint of this sludge in my beer and whiskey ferments. Works perfectly. Never ever had an issue. You quickly build up a collection of yeasts, and yeast ends up being free this way. 3 pints x 10 generations before starting over is more batches of beer or whiskey than I need to get out of a $6 vial of yeast. I have 6 or 8 strains in my fridge, stacks of pints. Havent paid for yeast in years.

Thanks for that Chief. I already make beer and I use a similar process for saving yeast - I don't think I've bought a yeast for quite a while - my S04 has lasted at least 4 or 5 beers (and I use the same process as you - not too much fuss and it seems to work ok).

I'll try some saved S04 on my next AG batch and see how that compares to the bakers yeast (although I'm no connoisseur), although there are so many variables I don't want to confuse myself too much. It does however make some degree of sense to use something other than bread yeast if there are better alternatives assuming yield is not the most important criteria.

[MDH]

These two WL yeasts might be worth trying:

http://www.whitelabs.com/yeast/wlp078-n ... s=listings" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

http://www.whitelabs.com/yeast/z-wld71b ... s=listings" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

I've ordered some to see how they compare to bakers yeast.

I've just finished doing small test mashes with Quinoa.

I don't like the character that Lalvin 71B develops far into the ferment: It's a wine yeast for a reason, and the flavors it produces are extremely distinctive to wine.

[RNaka]

For yeast pitching and harvesting, I collect typically 3 pints of sludge from the bottom of a beer primary. No frills, no slants, no yeast cleaning, nothing. I dump a whole pint of this sludge in my beer and whiskey ferments. Works perfectly. Never ever had an issue. You quickly build up a collection of yeasts, and yeast ends up being free this way. 3 pints x 10 generations before starting over is more batches of beer or whiskey than I need to get out of a $6 vial of yeast. I have 6 or 8 strains in my fridge, stacks of pints. Havent paid for yeast in years.

Hi Jimbo,

Is there any difference in your method versus fermenting on the old lees? I'm deciding on what to do with a series of "scotch" batches I'm working on over the summer

Thanks

Reed

[Jimbo]

Sorry not following your question,. old lees from beer or whiskey? You mean just adding fresh wort or mash on top of the sludge in the bottom of the bucket?

[RNaka]

Sorry not following your question. You mean just adding fresh wort or mash on top of the sludge in the bottom of the bucket?

Exactly. Is it better to extract a pint from the old ferment and add it to the new wort or can I just add the new wort to the lees on the bottom of the bucket? Hope that makes sense.

I was thinking, (dangerous, I know), that continuing to use the old lees overtime may effect the product due to a buildup of dead yeast. Never been a brewer

I'm trying to maintain the same flavor profile over a series of 5 ferments of single malt for one spirit run at the end.

Thanks

Reed

[Jimbo]

you're thinking is correct Reed that's an awful lot of yeast a lot of it dead and it could throw flavors. A pint is already a huge starter more than really necessary. Although I've done sugar heads with spent bourbon grain where I dumped gallon and a half of sludge from the bottom of the Bourbon settling buckets on 25 poundsof grain full of yeast with 10 gallons water and 16 pounds of sugar and the result was great so??

[RNaka]

you're thinking is correct Reed that's an awful lot of yeast a lot of it dead and it could throw flavors. A pint is already a huge starter more than really necessary. Although I've done sugar heads with spent bourbon grain where I dumped gallon and a half of sludge from the bottom of the Bourbon settling buckets on 25 poundsof grain full of yeast with 10 gallons water and 16 pounds of sugar and the result was great so??

Thanks,

I'm not opposed to starting fresh with each batch. I know you like S-05 which is what I'll be using

[Jimbo]

Another thing too, not sure I was totally clear..... Im not a fan of saving and repitching yeast from whiskey runs. The malt is not pastuerized anywhere in the process so the lacto and other bugs are still there in the ferment. If you repitch that yeast your adding additional bacterial load to the new bacterial load on the new grain, and so on.

I collect all my yeasts off beer runs, because those are boiled before fermenting and sterile. But I have done it for AG (once) and of course Ive done it on the bourbon sugar heads repitching the grain, sludge etc. And been lucky so far.

If you collect and repitch whiskey yeast, give the jar a good sniff before you dump er in. Youll smell the funk if its off. This doesnt work so good with fruity estery yeasts like WLP023, they smell kinda funky even off a beer run. But you can still smell bacteria if youre careful and know what youre sniffing for.