Lately I’ve been going out to a local brewery to get all my yeast and Ive recently acquired their stout and brown porter yeast (Wyeast London ESB). Other than a stout or an ESB (already have those going) anyone brew anything good with this yeast?
I’ve used the London ESB for an English IPA and I pumpkin spiced ale before. Both turned out good, otherwise, i’d say any type of bitter or english style beer in general would be good.
I wouldn’t even limit it to English style beers…I’ve made some very nice American cream ale with it, as well as a faux O-Fest that fooled a few very discerning palates. It’s a great yeast, and can make a good variety of beers.
It likes repitching, it lasts through quite few generations, and it seems to be more alcohol tolerant than its published specs usually suggest (especially with a daily rousing).
In my experience, even hefty barleywines present no problems for this strain, if handled right.
Experimentation is strongly encouraged. Absolutely one of my top three choices for yeast.
1+ Definitely, my favorite yeast. Ferment in the low 60’s for clean flavors and in the upper 60’s for fruitiness. I use it for any recipe that calls for WY1056/WLP001/US05. It will also make the best Irish Red ale you ever tasted. I never won any competitions for an Irish red ale until I switched to 1968. Seems the judges love this yeast in Irish ale. It has consistently been my best scoring beer, usually mid to low 40’s.
I brewed a few batches with 1968, but just got so frustrated with trying to wash it, that I’ve kind of abandoned it. Anybody find a way to handle that process yet?
Makes a great Moose Drool clone.
Wow I’m surprised people are getting clean tasting ferments from this yeast. I tried the Fullers strain and found it was too fruity fpr my tastes. I’d been using West Yorkshire and having good results with it. I did love the way it dropped like a rock, made some nice clear beer with it.
I’m trying this out right now for my house APA yeast. I brew a fairly low gravity APA and WLP001 fermented too dry for me. WLP051 was nice, but it takes forever to drop clear. Figured I’d try something that drops like a rock.
I’m glad to hear you can get a clean ferment at lower temps with this.
I end up just bringing a fair bit of trub with the yeast, not really a way around that but it hasn’t caused me any issues after the 7 generations I’ve used it.
I too like it for my lower OG Pale ale, used it on my Mild and Bitter too. I like both London ESB and West Yorkshire quite a bit, seems to help keep some body in lower OG beers which I tend to brew a lot though it worked great in a bigger american IPA too. I’d agree on keeping the temps on the lower side to get a cleaner ferment. Easy to have super clear beer with little effort.
The way I handle it is to just skip washing/rinsing it altogether.
I’ve tried it, multiple times, and have compared the results…and concluded that it just isn’t necessary. If I were brewing commercially I might feel differently but on the homebrewing level, in my view, it is an unnecessary step. The washing or rinsing had no effect whatsover on either the performnce of the yeast or the quality of the finished brew.
As is standard with the other two yeasts I primarily use, I’ve taken 1968 through a dozen or more repitches (though these days I’ll usually stop at 8 or 9) by just repitching portions of the yeast cake… and the last batch was always as clean, as bright, and as good as the first.
Prof, what temp did you ferment at for the Fauxfest?
Not completely clean with this yeast but I like really like the yeast flavor and a little residual sweetness. I have decided that I really don’t like the flavor profile of 1056. IDK, if it is too clean but I think it just doesn’t have any “soul.” I have a batch going with Denny’s WY1450, for the 1st time, to see if this is more to my liking than 1056. If not then I will stick with 1968 for most American and English ales.
[quote=“The Professor”]The way I handle it is to just skip washing/rinsing it altogether.
I’ve tried it, multiple times, and have compared the results…and concluded that it just isn’t necessary. [/quote]
This is my feeling as well!
[quote=“The Professor”]The way I handle it is to just skip washing/rinsing it altogether.
I’ve tried it, multiple times, and have compared the results…and concluded that it just isn’t necessary. [/quote]
This is my feeling as well!
Do the lower attenuation levels of this yeast drastically change the profile of some of the more “clean” styles (APA, IPA, et…) that tend to call for 001 or 1056?
