Wyeast 1469 West Yorkshire Ale Yeast

[Saisonator]

I made up a starter with an overbuild from my last use of this yeast in September 2017.
I used a 3 litre flask to build 2 litres so I can save some back for future use.
The trouble I have with this yeast is how much escapes from the flask , it looks like more yeast is outside than is actually in the flask!
The only upside is it's going into a 1.036 mild.
I think I may well stop using this yeast as I can not reliably calculate how much yeast I will actually be pitching.
Fullers yeast is far more user friendly.
Can anybody recommend another good British ale yeast for bitters and milds that will not try and escape my conical flask. Preferably one I can culture from a bottle of ale.

 

[MyQul]

I've been using the Gales strain for my Bitters (I got it from a bottle of Gales HSB, bought from ASDA). Whilst I find the krausen can be thick, about two or three inches, It never gets more than that. It gives a lovely light fruity ester. I always find it attentuates to 75% on the nose

 

[Saisonator]

That sounds just the ticket, I have drank HSB in a few Fullers pubs and it's a really nice pint.
Seafarers is a really decent low gravity beer.

 

[MyQul]

I've never had HSB on draught but I really liked the seafarers the couple of times I've had it. I think I'm close to the final recipe for my house beer, a low gravity bitter using the strain

 

[Saisonator]

That sounds like a good plan, it will be interested to see how many generations will be true to the original.

 

[MyQul]

That sounds like a good plan, it will be interested to see how many generations will be true to the original.

I havent really taken any note of generations. I just 'yeast skavenge' to harvest (a tech I picked up from jims: 36 hours after pitching I use a turkey baster to collect 250ml of wort in a little lemonade bottle from just below the krausen. Then let it ferment out. Then put it in the fridge until I need it) It's a bit like top cropping, so I'm guessing I can go many, many gens

 

[Zephyr259]

I've had some similar issues with this yeast but not so dramatic, I have a stir plate but still give it a manual shake every now and then to break up the foam, didn't overflow on my last starter which was 1.5 L in a 2 L flask. Lovely yeast though, so I'm happy with a bit of hassle for now.

I liked Wyeast 1099 Whitbread Ale, brewed a brown ale, bitter and barley wine with it. First 2 were great beers, the brown was fermented on the cold side and it was reasonably clean which let the chocolatey malt flavours shine. I had temp control for the bitter and it had lovely fruity esters which weren't too dominant. The barley wine is in bulk storage just now, but it tasted pretty good after fermentation, a bit hotter than I'd have expected for 8.2% so I might have stressed the yeast a bit but it also could mellow a lot over the next few months.

@MyQul Do you build up the stored yeast in a starter before the next batch or just pitch direct if it's quick enough between brews?

 

[MyQul]

I've had some similar issues with this yeast but not so dramatic, I have a stir plate but still give it a manual shake every now and then to break up the foam, didn't overflow on my last starter which was 1.5 L in a 2 L flask. Lovely yeast though, so I'm happy with a bit of hassle for now.

I liked Wyeast 1099 Whitbread Ale, brewed a brown ale, bitter and barley wine with it. First 2 were great beers, the brown was fermented on the cold side and it was reasonably clean which let the chocolatey malt flavours shine. I had temp control for the bitter and it had lovely fruity esters which weren't too dominant. The barley wine is in bulk storage just now, but it tasted pretty good after fermentation, a bit hotter than I'd have expected for 8.2% so I might have stressed the yeast a bit but it also could mellow a lot over the next few months.

@MyQul Do you build up the stored yeast in a starter before the next batch or just pitch direct if it's quick enough between brews?

Yes. I do two step ups because the amount in the 250ml bottle is teeny, about 7ml-10ml. So I do a 300ml starter then put that in a 1L-1.3L starter

From what I can find out, Gales is a Whitbread B strain btw. So of you like 1099 you'll probably like the Gales strain

 

[Zephyr259]

Yes. I do two step ups because the amount in the 250ml bottle is teeny, about 7ml-10ml. So I do a 300ml starter then put that in a 1L-1.3L starter

From what I can find out, Gales is a Whitbread B strain btw. So of you like 1099 you'll probably like the Gales strain

Thanks for the info. might try your method and that yeast at some point. Whitbread B is WLP 007 or Wyeast 1098, 007 seems to be very well thought of online.

 

[MyQul]

Thanks for the info. might try your method and that yeast at some point. Whitbread B is WLP 007 or Wyeast 1098, 007 seems to be very well thought of online.

Its a very easy method to use. Just harvest more than 250ml (say 500ml-750ml) if you want to miss out the 300ml step and just put it straight into a 1L-1.3L starter