Recent problems with US-05?

[seymour]

If I ferment the wlp007 cool...there is little difference flavour wise to the US05...

I agree. Nottingham is even more similar to Chico.

...Correct me if I'm wrong here, but I think Stone use 007 in their IPA's.

True, Stone Brewing started out with a Whitbread-B derivative, but have since adapted it to their specific needs, so it's no longer exactly the same as White Labs WLP007. But to your general point, yes for sure, Whitbread-B is used to ferment many popular so-called American Ales.

[millmaster]

I've just had a look at a bottle of this "cloudy" brew from early November and it seems to have cleared nicely, so maybe I just needed patience. Taste test will come later, at the weekend

This is going to sound sarcastic, but I don't mean it to be:

Why are using boring ol' American Ale yeast anyway? This could be just the excuse you need to rediscover the superiority of all your English ale yeasts.

No offence taken - I suppose I could say I was trying to make "boring American Ale" at the time - without intending any offence - I was aiming for a british blonde style beer with a neutral yeast to let the hops ( er, may I say "boring ol' Cascasde" ) shine through, and what more typical yeast to use ?

I am still learning ( with the aid of the forum and all its contributors ) to use, recover and re-use a variety of yeast in a variety of brews and plan ( having seen a thread to that effect ) to try to recover some yeast from a couple of bottles of Chimay I bought in Belgium when I visited in September, just to see if I can. Not sure what to brew with it - a mild is in the plan, I havent heard of a Belgian mild so that might be it

[seymour]

...I am still learning ( with the aid of the forum and all its contributors ) to use, recover and re-use a variety of yeast in a variety of brews and plan ( having seen a thread to that effect ) to try to recover some yeast from a couple of bottles of Chimay I bought in Belgium when I visited in September, just to see if I can. Not sure what to brew with it - a mild is in the plan, I havent heard of a Belgian mild so that might be it

I'm intrigued. Please keep us posted on your experiment!

[Kev888]

For me US-05 has always been very slow to clear, even in the fridge - far slower even than the variety I use for wheat beer. I'm not the most fussy person WRT clarity and nor do I skimp on maturing time, but it started to get on my wick for the yeast to not be ready when the beer otherwise should have been.

It is very good at letting hops shine so I do still use it sometimes, especially when I don't have time to make starters. But IMO hoppy brews seem able to stand (and even benefit from) a bit more yeast character, provided the variety doesn't substantially compete with or mute the hops.

Cheers
Kev

[Jocky]

According to Chris White of Whitelabs, cleaner yeasts are generally less floculent (i.e. Dustier) than the more estery strains.

[Mr. Dripping]

A good dose of finings adjunct helps a lot with US05, I tend to use around 50ml in 20 litres. Get the beer as cold as I can and usually everything will drop out over 5-7 days. If I'm being really fussy, I will add 60-70ml of isinglass when I put it in the keg.
Sometimes even then you will get a little haze if the beer is heavily hopped; generally though, if you can cool the beer for several days to below the temperature you intend serving at you will have nice bright beer.

[YeastWhisperer]

I have experienced problems with US-05 throwing phenolic spice, which is weird because the parent strain is almost stupid proof. As far as I am concerned, S-04 is the most bulletproof dry strain.

[seymour]

...As far as I am concerned, S-04 is the most bulletproof dry strain.

It's definitely bullet-proof. What do you think of Nottingham, S-33, T-58, and Muntuns?

[YeastWhisperer]

It's definitely bullet-proof. What do you think of Nottingham, S-33, T-58, and Muntuns?

Nottingham is a solid strain as well. Nottingham is not as bulletproof as S-04, but it rarely misbehaves. I do not have experience with S-33 or T-58. I have not touched S-33 because it is allegedly the old Edme strain. I would rather quit brewing than go back to using that strain. The Edme strain is what pushed me to start culturing my own yeast in the early nineties. I have not used Muntons dry yeast in well over twenty years. I primarily use yeast strains that I maintain on MYGP (malt extract, yeast extract, glucose, and peptone) agar slants.

[zgoda]

In last months I had 1st unfinished fermentation with us-05. Not much, maybe 0.5-0.8 Plato but still got overcarbonation. The fermentation was going in perfect conditions, in well aerated wort and in optimal temperature. Was it related to your problems? Hard to say, it's living organism.

[swiggingpig]

My last 2 brews with US-05 just do not want to drop clear, one even had Magicol added but this didn't help much. Both also have an unusual flavour that I do not care for.

The last brew with US-05 was kegged, along with a couple of bottles, 27th September. Just checked and only the neck of the bottle has cleared.

I've also been using Malt Millers 'NBS West Coast Style Ale Yeast' so I'll probably stick with this for now. My experience is that it seems to take a extra couple of hours to get going and attenuates a couple % less than US-05 but I find it floculates well.

[Wonkydonkey]

I had problems with 05, in that it did not clear or it took a long time to do so. but I had been saving it from the previous brew and storing it in the fridge. I got that buttery taste as well, but this went away slowly. So I change my way , by leaving in the FV For 14 days. But sometimes it did not clear even if I left it for another 14 days in a pressure barrel. I put it down to my brewing practices, not using Irish moss etc.
I still have the half used packet in the fridge, which I sealed up, It may well be useless by now though.

But on another note, I''m going to do slants ( bottles came today, so I brought some agar today £5 for 50g which was better than £5 for 28g from infinity foods) so I will have ago and see if the 05 is still viable.

I have been reusing Irish ale yeast since not using 05, Which has been better IMHO. But I have still had some brews not clearing But they tasted fine.

Wonky

[millmaster]

I finally got round to tasting the pale ale I made a while ago and mentioned on here as not clearing. It has now cleared fine, but there is a "taste" to the ale I dont like much. I cant decide whether its a lactic acid flavour ( which would say infection ), a flavour from the hops ( Cascade about 1oz with 15 mins to go and 1 oz at flame-out steeping for 15 mins - I know some folk on here might say thats not enough to taste ! ) or whether its one of these phenolic/medicinal type flavours from the yeast mentioned earlier on the thread ( my mate said its a bit medicinal when he tasted it )

What ever it is, its not bad enough to make me throw it out, but it is enough for me to want to move to another brand of yeast for the next attempt

[fisherman]

Hi. Does anyone have the use by date on the 05 as I have 2 packs in the fridge. If the same date I will dispose of them. Cheers and thanks for any replies