WHC Bond

[NormanHurst]

Hello all - good to be back here. My brewing (and posting, and drinking) slowed dramatically last year with work and other commitments. My plan now is to brew one beer at a time, keep it simple, drink it and when 80% consumed, brew something else.

My last brew was back in November. A simple bitter with MO and two types of crystal with Fuggles and WHC Bond. My first brew with this yeast. The beer is absolutely fine but the batch carbonation was really slow. After 4 weeks, the beers were still almost flat. Now at 10-12 weeks, they are perfect.

Has anyone else noticed this with Bond?

I'm trying to decide whether my next brew - a simple English pale - should also be Bond as I like the flavours or whether I go back to my old blend of Nottingham x Windsor to speed up the carbonation (and thus consumption).

 

[Stu's Brews]

I've brewed with Bond (or 'British Pub Ale' as it's now called, presumably following some threatening letters) but not bottle-conditioned with it.

It is an aggressively high flocculator - I was shocked at how quickly it dropped out of suspension during fermentation (I have a conical so can easily take small samples on a daily basis).

I suspect what you're finding is that there is a scarcity of yeast left in suspension for a secondary fermentation. I know some breweries use specific bottle conditioning yeasts to get around this problem.

 

[starseeker]

I have used bond for my last two brews ,a Ruby Mild and a Milk Stout ,both of these have been bottle conditioned ,but i have to say within four to five weeks they were ready to go ,i am planning a Brown Ale next which i will also use Bond as i have really enjoyed using and drinking it ,

 

[matt.]

Sorry folks, I have my slow hat on today, what's Bond? A yeast

 

[Stu's Brews]

Yep it's a dried yeast from WHC. I believe it's from the Whitbread B (Dry) family.

 

[JockyBrewer]

Sorry folks, I have my slow hat on today, what's Bond? A yeast

WHC yeast now called WHC British Pub Ale.

Was called ‘Bond’ presumably because it was derived from White Labs 007 yeast.

 

[Caramel Ox]

WHC yeast now called WHC British Pub Ale.

Was called ‘Bond’ presumably because it was derived from White Labs 007 yeast.

Now that name makes more sense.

 

[MickDundee]

WHC yeast now called WHC British Pub Ale.

Was called ‘Bond’ presumably because it was derived from White Labs 007 yeast.

Haha, I had never realised that! Quite clever really.

When did they change it to Pub Ale? I used a sachet of it yesterday that I’d bought in late December and it’s still branded Bond

 

[Stu's Brews]

They changed it towards the end of last year but I think there's still plenty of packets out there with the old branding.

 

[Rakey]

They changed it towards the end of last year but I think there's still plenty of packets out there with the old branding.

At least another 3 months worth by my calculations.

 

[Rakey]

Hello all - good to be back here. My brewing (and posting, and drinking) slowed dramatically last year with work and other commitments. My plan now is to brew one beer at a time, keep it simple, drink it and when 80% consumed, brew something else.

My last brew was back in November. A simple bitter with MO and two types of crystal with Fuggles and WHC Bond. My first brew with this yeast. The beer is absolutely fine but the batch carbonation was really slow. After 4 weeks, the beers were still almost flat. Now at 10-12 weeks, they are perfect.

Has anyone else noticed this with Bond?

I'm trying to decide whether my next brew - a simple English pale - should also be Bond as I like the flavours or whether I go back to my old blend of Nottingham x Windsor to speed up the carbonation (and thus consumption).

What are you packaging into, how did you calculate the amount of sugar to carbonate?

If the yeast has worked to fully ferment out the brew I would be looking more at the bottles/keg/pressure barrel you are using than the yeast if its not carbonated.

 

[NormanHurst]

What are you packaging into, how did you calculate the amount of sugar to carbonate?

If the yeast has worked to fully ferment out the brew I would be looking more at the bottles/keg/pressure barrel you are using than the yeast if its not carbonated.

Packed into flip top bottles; batch primed with sugar calculated by ab online primary calculator.

The issue isn't the bottles didn't carbonate, just that they were slower than usual to do so.

The high flocculation rate was almost certainly part of it.

 

[Rodcx500z]

Don't forget, you have to shake it

 

[marshbrewer]

I thought Bond was just S-04? If it is, it isn't Whitbread Dry, that's an internet myth.

 

[MickDundee]

I thought Bond was just S-04? If it is, it isn't Whitbread Dry, that's an internet myth.

An internet myth that’s quoted on the Malt Miller website?

https://www.themaltmiller.co.uk/product/whc-dried-yeast-bond-11g-packet/

 

[Stu's Brews]

An internet myth that’s quoted on the Malt Miller website?

https://www.themaltmiller.co.uk/product/whc-dried-yeast-bond-11g-packet/

Was literally just typing out a post pointing to the same page

 

[marshbrewer]

Afraid so. If you look at the graphs where people have genotyped brewing yeasts, S-04 isn't very close to Whitbread Dry at all.

I have read that this is because it's source was a different Whitbread yeast, but have seen nothing to back that up.

 

[marshbrewer]

"Safale S-04 – Closely related to WLP006 Bedford (“Charles Wells”) and WLP013 London, even though internet tradition always called it a dry version of Whitbread B. It’s nowhere close to the Whitbread strains."

https://beer.suregork.com/?p=4030

 

[Appleton Brews]

Does its origin matter, surely the only thing that’s important is whether it’s good or not. I’ve not tried this yeast so I’m looking for guidance on whether to use it.

 

[Stu's Brews]

Afraid so. If you look at the graphs where people have genotyped brewing yeasts, S-04 isn't very close to Whitbread Dry at all.

I have read that this is because it's source was a different Whitbread yeast, but have seen nothing to back that up.

Maybe true for S-04, but this thread is about WHC Bond / British Pub Ale, which is reported as being from the Whitbread Dry strain.

Anyway as @Appleton Brews has said, the origin isn't all that important in reality. The key thing is that it's a clean fermenting, high attenuating and high flocculating English ale yeast. I personally really like it in things like a Golden Ale where you don't want loads of yeast derived esters.