Yorkshire Ale Yeast -1469

[krispn]

Just got my grains and yeast in for an English IPA. I was thinking about using this yeast as I’ve not used it before but read some positive reviews - folks seem to really like it and use it as a house strain or secret weapon in their Bitters.
I’m gonna make sure and get plenty of O2 in before pitching and just wondering if folk who have used it have any practical tips?
I’m going to use my plastic brew bucket for this one so I can keep an eye on the krausen as I’ve read it can hang about for a while.
So basically any tips or advice as I don’t want to make too much of a fuss and I’ll likely top crop (never tried this before but it sounds like this would be a good strain to experiment with due to the lasting krausen).
I’ll aim to ferment at 17c for three or four days and then rise to 19/20c!

Thanks in advance.

 

[An Ankoù]

This is a top-cropping yeast used originally , I think, for open fermentation. It forms a very thick head very quickly. Make sure you've got [plenty of headspace in your FV. Don't rely on a blowoff tube as it'll probably block it. Once fermentation has started, keep the lid loose until it settles down.

 

[krispn]

Yeah I was thinking as it’s normally top cropped I’d be wise to try and follow that plan and work to the yeasts strength rather than my usual process (which I’m sure would be fine too judging by other users accounts of ‘pitch it and leave it’). I’m hoping to reuse this for a few generations so my plan is a Timothy Taylor Landlord clone next and after that some kind of Amber then a brown ale and finally a stout to see me over the Autumn and Winter months. This way I can try and get familiar with the strain and try it in a range of brews.

 

[foxbat]

I've used 1469 two or three times and it's an OK middle-of-the-road yeast. I really wanted to like it more than I did but I didn't get the reputed stone fruit esters from it even fermented towards the top of the range. Instead it was really clean. The stand out feature for me was how well it flocculated. The term "crystal clear beer" is bandied around rather too much but with 1469 that's exactly what you get.

 

[krispn]

The flocculation is one of the reasons I’m keen to try it. If it keeps malty flavour I’m not too concerned about the esters as I’m really keen to try it in malt forward brews. I’ve been doing a lot of juicy pale ales of late so time to try something different.

 

[krispn]

Pitched this yeast this morning before work (brewed last night but needed the temp of the wort to come down a little). I'll have a look and see what activity there is. The FV is fully closed but I'll leave it ajar as per @An Ankoù advice above. I'm looking forward to this brew - it's a Joker IPA clone based off their original recipe. I've little experience with English Ale yeast's so its all part of the learning!

 

[krispn]

Just wanted to update this thread as I progress through the fermentation

So a week in and the gravity has dropped from 1.053 to 1.018. I left the lid loose on the FV over this first week and have top cropped a few times (super easy to do - sanitised spoon, skimmed off about 40% of the yeast into a mason jar and topped with cooled, boiled water. I left it a couple of days and repeated the process) and gathered a good amount of healthy looking yeast for my next brew day. I bought a second pack of 1469 as I'd hoped to do a second brew last week but time got beyond me but looking at how much yeast I got I needn't have bothered as I should have loads - I'd say I have two brews worth here alone!

I have seen folk talk about 1469 being a bit slow towards the end of fermentation and it might need roused. I've bumped the temp up from 18c to 20c, sealed the lid and given it a swirl and I'll leave it be for another week at least before I check on it again. The sample I took has a big malty flavour and again going on the advice of others a few weeks conditioning post fermentation should bring out the best in this brew. Next up will be either a Brown ale or a stout.

@foxbat what styles did you use the 1469 in and other than the lack of esters did it compare to other English yeasts? I'm finding from the sample tube it's got a big malt forward flavour. It does remind me of TTL in that respect which is available local to me on cask so I have a point of reference for this yeast.

 

[foxbat]

@foxbat what styles did you use the 1469 in and other than the lack of esters did it compare to other English yeasts? I'm finding from the sample tube it's got a big malt forward flavour. It does remind me of TTL in that respect which is available local to me on cask so I have a point of reference for this yeast.

I used it in moderately hopped English bitters. The most recent was OG 1.044, 32 IBU using Northdown and EKG. It was perfectly good beer but clean rather than estery which did give me the opportunity to enjoy the Northdown hops. I think I could have brewed it with something like WLP007 or WY1728 and got a similar outcome.

 

[krispn]

I’ll be kegging mine this week so I’ll chip back in with a thought in a couple of weeks.

 

[Zephyr259]

I've been using 1469 for almost 3 years in various brews, I'd agree, it's pretty clean when fermented between 18 - 20c but makes a nice beer. I've decided to retire it for now to see what other yeasts bring and because I thought my strain was getting stressed and throwing off-flavours. Turns out I think my small fermenter has decided to hold onto some 3522 Ardennes between brews...

 

[stubrewworx]

I’ll be kegging mine this week so I’ll chip back in with a thought in a couple of weeks.

How did your beers go with this yeast?

I've just bottled my ttll, sample tasted promising. Over attenuated but I over pitched. No crazy krausen noted.

I didnt top crop but scooped 2 big spoons worth of slurry into my sam smith india ale. I took off immediately. Now day 3 the krausen is almost 100% that of the beer (11 batch, krausen to 20l line), thank god I use large fermenters.

 

[krispn]

How did your beers go with this yeast?

I've just bottled my ttll, sample tasted promising. Over attenuated but I over pitched. No crazy krausen noted.

I didnt top crop but scooped 2 big spoons worth of slurry into my sam smith india ale. I took off immediately. Now day 3 the krausen is almost 100% that of the beer (11 batch, krausen to 20l line), thank god I use large fermenters.

It was an ok brew maybe not quite what I was expecting but the yeast performed well. I have another pack which I’ll use in a TTL type brew but I’ve got a long list of what to be making next so not exactly sure when I’ll be doing it but it’s on the cards.

I’ve been using the Verdant yeast in my last couple of non lager brews and brewed a few German brews to take advantage of the cold weather and lagering potential! I see it happening in the Spring.

 

[foxbat]

It was an ok brew maybe not quite what I was expecting but the yeast performed well. I have another pack which I’ll use in a TTL type brew but I’ve got a long list of what to be making next so not exactly sure when I’ll be doing it but it’s on the cards.

Did it lack the character that it's touted to have because that was my finding. I'm wondering if it improves with re-use or if it needs a much more mineralised water than I brew with.

 

[krispn]

Did it lack the character that it's touted to have because that was my finding. I'm wondering if it improves with re-use or if it needs a much more mineralised water than I brew with.

I was making a brew which in hindsight should have been made with Notty yeast. I had maybe just a different expectation of what that brew should have turned out like. So overall it wasn’t a bad beer but just not what I’d aimed for. I recall thinking it could have had a bit more English character but I likely fermented it on the low side but in saying that the yeast worked in terms of attenuation etc but like I say I was maybe a bit conservative with temps. I’d defo push it a bit higher. Actually I was reading a very extensive thread on the yank site where a guy has been doing lots of brewing with English strains and has some advice on what he’s found works well for some specific strains in terms of riding temps and mimicing what some of the ‘source breweries’ are meant to do. I’ll maybe revisit that before embarking on my next brew with this 1469. I should add my top cropped yeast looked infected so that got binned but I have another pack I’ll build up with a starter. There’s so many yeasts that I’m hoping to settle on two or three to cover most styles but there’s always that what if I try... *this* strain!