Tonight I made a starter for an upcoming brew this weekend that will use WLP007 (Dry English Ale). When I shook the vial to get the yeast into suspension I noticed that there was a rather hard (almost solid) plug of yeast that took quite a while to break apart. So I was wondering if anyone else has experienced this with this (or any other White Labs) yeast. I'm guessing that this was perhaps the result of a very heavy flocculation? Any ideas, comments, etc? I did go ahead an pitch it into the starter wort. FWIW, here is a picture after I shook it up, but before pitching. When I pitched it was still quite clumpy, but seemed to disperse into the wort.
Not really worried, and I did dump it into the starter. Just wondering if anyone else has observed this.
It's not because it's White Labs. It's because the strain is an extremely high floccer. Perfectly normal.
Like Vikemike said perfectly normal for a high flocc yeast. WLP002/WY1968 does the same thing. Starters (at least ones on a stirplate) end up looking like egg drop soup.
utahbeerdude - don't dump it, that's normal for WLP007. See my thread on HomeBrewTalk: http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/wlp007-out-suspension-clumping-after-24-hours-332703 I too was horrified that the yeast was cottage cheesey and rubberized. Check out this YouTube search too: http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=WLP007
Yeah, that's what it should be doing. This strain is kind of a pain in the ass to work with; But it's worth it, as it'll do basically the same thing in the fermentor. I made a starter on a stir plate with it once, and woke up to a bunch of chunks swirling around in the flask. It's a weird one...
I used that yeast a couple of weeks ago for the first time (best bitter). The beer was brilliantly clear after a week in the primary, and removing the cake was a real chore. I do like the beer!
A recent batch I made used this yeast. I had the same issue. Had to shake the crap out of it to get all the yeast into the starter. But the beer brewed up just fine. As others said, it's symptomatic of a flocculent yeast.
It had moderate fruity esters in my hands. Also a hint of diacetyl. I used a touch of roast in the grist for color, and the flavor is a bit more evident that I planned, but that's not the yeast's fault!
Maybe I should try it again but years ago I made 3 different beers with this yeast and thought they all sucked horribly. One beer I brewed turned out great, but it took a year of lagering to make it drinkable. But so many people like this yeast so don't just listen to me.
I think it's pretty neutral, too. It's been my standby for American Ales for a while now. When tasting decanted starter beer, I taste a subtle mineral-like flavor; but, it's always overpowered by any significant hops in a finished beer.
