Just wondering what people's experience with WLP500 Monastery ale is like. Specifically, I made a yeast starter with it yesterday and it was my first time using this yeast. I was struck by the fact that when I dumped the PurePitch pack into the starter wort, there didn't appear to be any yeast at all, just liquid. I have always had to squeeze the packets to get the creamy flocculated yeast out of them or shake the vial in the old glass tubes, but again this was pure liquid. I know this strain is low/medium flocculation, so that might have something to do with it. Also, my starter looked much darker in color after I pitched than it typically does. Think there was a problem with this particular pack, or is this par for the course with this strain?
I brewed an Enkel with wlp500 two weeks ago that I made a starter with. I too noticed the yeast was liquidy, but the starter acted normally for me. After pitching I had krausen within 12 hours. The only noticeable difference to me with this batch is my krausen is just now falling after two weeks, abnormal for a low gravity ale, but I underpitched for a 10 gallon batch.
