Franktalk
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I ordered this somewhat obscure yeast from the vault which White Labs purged this summer. It came during the hottest month of the year, and it was almost 80 degrees F when it arrived.
There is not much information on the internet about this yeast, so I thought I'd share my experience. I read many threads, some written by well-respected yeast-o-philes, that postulated that it was POF+, and that it may also contain the dreaded diastaticus gene. The result of this reading was that I didn't know what kind of beer to make with it. Should I make a saison?
I had become interested in it because coming from Manchester, it might turn out to be the much sought after Boddington's yeast. The consensus is that it is a top fermenting Northern English yeast. So, to make a long story short, I decided to brew a Newcastle Brown Ale clone from the BYO magazine. But, I made a vitality starter, and it didn't start within 8-12 hours, so I pitched some Safale 04 that I had on hand. I left the starter sitting, and, guess what? It started fermenting. So, when it fermented out, I crashed it and decanted it, and it seemed like enough yeast had been propagated for another batch,
Meanwhile, I looked for information about it on the internet and found nothing conclusive other than the White Labs description which states: A top-fermenting ale yeast that is traditionally good for top-cropping. Moderately flocculent with a clean, dry finish. Has a low ester profile and produces a highly balanced English-style beer. They also have a disclaimer about the diastaticus. I did; however, run across a blog by Scott Janish about a yeast experiment. He split a batch of NEIPA between Wy1318 and RVA Manchester, which he postulated might be the same as WLP 038. The RVA Manchester, according to him is the Boddie's strain.
So, I had some cryo hops from Homebrew Con which I thought would be perfect for a NEIPA, and I figured go bold or go home. So, I went for it.
Well, I tapped this experimental beer today, and though it is young, it came out excellent. I found nothing to suggest that this yeast is POF+. It is relatively clean, though it does not dampen either the malt or the hops. The hops, especially are shining brightly. It does have somewhat of a dry finish, like they say, but the FG was 1.012. It is not bone dry. All the flavors of the beer are very bright and crisp. I can make out all the malts, two-row, honey, flaked wheat and oats clearly.
I can't tell if the yeast itself is fruity because the Columbus, Citra, Amarillo, Simcoe, and Mosaic hops I used are creating a juicy fruit salad. What I can say, is that any flavors and aromas are certainly not clashing nor suffering from it.
So, my conclusion is that this yeast is NOT POF+ I do catch a subtle onion aroma, but I am sure that it's from the dry-hopped Simcoe. It could be the coveted Boddington's strain, or, at least, one of them. Certainly, it has all the attributes that would go into a hoppy, golden Manchester bitter ale.
What say you?
There is not much information on the internet about this yeast, so I thought I'd share my experience. I read many threads, some written by well-respected yeast-o-philes, that postulated that it was POF+, and that it may also contain the dreaded diastaticus gene. The result of this reading was that I didn't know what kind of beer to make with it. Should I make a saison?
I had become interested in it because coming from Manchester, it might turn out to be the much sought after Boddington's yeast. The consensus is that it is a top fermenting Northern English yeast. So, to make a long story short, I decided to brew a Newcastle Brown Ale clone from the BYO magazine. But, I made a vitality starter, and it didn't start within 8-12 hours, so I pitched some Safale 04 that I had on hand. I left the starter sitting, and, guess what? It started fermenting. So, when it fermented out, I crashed it and decanted it, and it seemed like enough yeast had been propagated for another batch,
Meanwhile, I looked for information about it on the internet and found nothing conclusive other than the White Labs description which states: A top-fermenting ale yeast that is traditionally good for top-cropping. Moderately flocculent with a clean, dry finish. Has a low ester profile and produces a highly balanced English-style beer. They also have a disclaimer about the diastaticus. I did; however, run across a blog by Scott Janish about a yeast experiment. He split a batch of NEIPA between Wy1318 and RVA Manchester, which he postulated might be the same as WLP 038. The RVA Manchester, according to him is the Boddie's strain.
So, I had some cryo hops from Homebrew Con which I thought would be perfect for a NEIPA, and I figured go bold or go home. So, I went for it.
Well, I tapped this experimental beer today, and though it is young, it came out excellent. I found nothing to suggest that this yeast is POF+. It is relatively clean, though it does not dampen either the malt or the hops. The hops, especially are shining brightly. It does have somewhat of a dry finish, like they say, but the FG was 1.012. It is not bone dry. All the flavors of the beer are very bright and crisp. I can make out all the malts, two-row, honey, flaked wheat and oats clearly.
I can't tell if the yeast itself is fruity because the Columbus, Citra, Amarillo, Simcoe, and Mosaic hops I used are creating a juicy fruit salad. What I can say, is that any flavors and aromas are certainly not clashing nor suffering from it.
So, my conclusion is that this yeast is NOT POF+ I do catch a subtle onion aroma, but I am sure that it's from the dry-hopped Simcoe. It could be the coveted Boddington's strain, or, at least, one of them. Certainly, it has all the attributes that would go into a hoppy, golden Manchester bitter ale.
What say you?