White Labs yeast temp

[OrdinaryAvgGuy]

I'm using White Labs English Ale (002) and directions on vial suggest 70-75°F fermentation temps.

On the WL website they are suggesting an optimum temp of 65-68°F for this particular strain.

Any idea why the difference?

 

[Blitzkrieg]

70-75 is pitching temp, you keep it at this temp till fermentation starts then you drop it to fermentation temps. Says that right on the bottle...

 

[Yooper]

The label drives me crazy! ALL of the yeast strains say that, even the lager strains. It's "generic" (but usually incorrect) instructions.

Always go with the specific fermentation instructions on the website, for both White Labs and Wyeast. Some ale yeast strains have optimum temperatures as low as 60 degrees, so it pays to check!

 

[Blitzkrieg]

Well crap, I just pitched my first vial of white labs yeast 6 hours ago and followed the label... I thought they wanted us to start it high then lower to specific ideal temps...

 

[Yooper]

Well crap, I just pitched my first vial of white labs yeast 6 hours ago and followed the label... I thought they wanted us to start it high then lower to specific ideal temps...

Yes, that is what the label says. I think it's to compensate for not having enough yeast in the vial to pitch most beers without a starter, but it's not really best practice.

not much you can do now, except to put it where it will be at the correct temperature when it does start.

 

[OrdinaryAvgGuy]

Yes, that is what the label says. I think it's to compensate for not having enough yeast in the vial to pitch most beers without a starter, but it's not really best practice.

not much you can do now, except to put it where it will be at the correct temperature when it does start.

I was thinking along the same lines as Blitzkrieg due to the wording of the instructions. However, starting high and cooling to a lower temperature goes against conventional wisdom of starting slightly on the cooler side and allowing the temperature rise to the optimum range and then maintaining.

I had another White Labs vial (WLP013) laying around and it does appear to be a generic label with the same info, different name.

Glad I asked. Wouldn't want to screw up my first attempt at the infamous "Yooper's Oatmeal Stout". Thanks by the way!

 

[Blitzkrieg]

If it makes any difference the vial was pitched into a starter and the starter pitched into wort at the lower range of the vial label's temp range, which is equivalent to about the max temp from what the website says.

 

[PRE66_6TART]

...and more unnecessary confusion caused by White Labs' bad instructions on their labels. Just think of all the brewers out there who never consulted HBT and thought they were supposed to ferment their beer at 75. Or found out too late that lowering the temp by several degrees during active fermentation isn't always easy. How many more batches of beer have to be harmed before they suck it up and just admit up front that for best results you should pitch more yeast at a lower temp without making everyone seek out that info on their own?

 

[Blitzkrieg]

...and more unnecessary confusion caused by White Labs' bad instructions on their labels. Just think of all the brewers out there who never consulted HBT and thought they were supposed to ferment their beer at 75. Or found out too late that lowering the temp by several degrees during active fermentation isn't always easy. How many more batches of beer have to be harmed before they suck it up and just admit up front that for best results you should pitch more yeast at a lower temp without making everyone seek out that info on their own?

Ohhh, so the reason they are recomending we pitch at 70-75 is because they want to be able to say that one vial will do 5 gal when in reality it's usually underpitching? I guess that makes sense, but I didn't order the good liquid yeast to be underpitching thats for sure.

 

[PRE66_6TART]

Ohhh, so the reason they are recomending we pitch at 70-75 is because they want to be able to say that one vial will do 5 gal when in reality it's usually underpitching? I guess that makes sense, but I didn't order the good liquid yeast to be underpitching thats for sure.

That's what I think. They are compensating for the low pitch rate with warmer pitch temps, which is a totally backwards way of going about it. I think they think new brewers will be intimidated by making a starter but won't pay more for extra yeast so they put these ass backwards directions on the labels to sell more yeast to the newbies and let us figure out the best practices on our own.

I for one think that if they gave new brewers more credit and actually had better instructions on the package that they would sell more yeast in the end because people's beer would turn out better and more people would stick with the hobby, but what do I know?

 

[OrdinaryAvgGuy]

Has anyone actually emailed White Labs to inquire about the discrepancies in fermentation temps? I would be interested to hear their response.

 

[OrdinaryAvgGuy]

...and more unnecessary confusion caused by White Labs' bad instructions on their labels. Just think of all the brewers out there who never consulted HBT and thought they were supposed to ferment their beer at 75. Or found out too late that lowering the temp by several degrees during active fermentation isn't always easy. How many more batches of beer have to be harmed before they suck it up and just admit up front that for best results you should pitch more yeast at a lower temp without making everyone seek out that info on their own?

Brewers who consistently ferment their beer at such temperatures will likely not stick with the hobby for too long.. Unless of course they don't mind drinking beer with off flavors. :smack: