San Diego Super Yeast

[jimrod]

I've raised the temp to 68-70 for the last 3 days and rousted the yeast 2X per day. I'm still getting bubbles from the blow off tube occasionally but the gravity is still 1.024. that's pretty sugary.

Do you think it is worth trying to pitch a different yeast? or pitch a champagne yeast?

[Joe Sr.]

Do you think it is worth trying to pitch a different yeast?

Perhaps.  If you do so, though, I would pitch a large active starter.

or pitch a champagne yeast?

I would recommend against this.  I've never liked the flavor impact.

[hoser]

I'd pitch an active oxygenated starter, approx. 1L of WLP007.  That should do the trick.

This method worked for me on 2 seperate occasions with WLP090 when I had a stuck ferment.  This is part of the reason I don't use this yeast anymore.  Too finicky, inconsistent, and doesn't always do what White Labs says it does.  Plus, it will occasionally throw off some diacetyl. I believe I have seen Neva Parker for White Labs pretty much say the same thing, and that it generally requires twice as much oxygenation as most of their other strains.

I would not use beano or a champagne yeast.

[jimrod]

I did take your suggestion and started a vial of wlp007 Dry English Ale yeast in one quart of starter on the stir plate for 24 hours. Then pitched and after 2 more days not one gravity point.

Does this yeast need more time or am I at terminal gravity now?

1.024 seems sweet for an APA.  I'm not sure what to do at this point.

[jimrod]

Beersmith says that my Apparent Attenuation is 66.0% and Real Attenuation is 53.2%

[zimaclone]

I used a 2L starter of 090 on a 1.084 double ipa, mashed at 149f and oxygenated, and it reached  1.010 in 4 days. Great flavor profile. It even made the best dry stout I ever had! I love 090!

[hoser]

I did take your suggestion and started a vial of wlp007 Dry English Ale yeast in one quart of starter on the stir plate for 24 hours. Then pitched and after 2 more days not one gravity point.

Does this yeast need more time or am I at terminal gravity now?

1.024 seems sweet for an APA.  I'm not sure what to do at this point.

Well, if an active starter pitch of WLP007 didn't touch the gravity, then I am afraid to say your beer is done

[zimaclone]

You could always pitch brett...

[Joe Sr.]

Could you not try something like a FFT at this point?

Pull a pint of the beer, add an entire packet of dry yeast and see if anything happens?

If you still have doubts, this should at least let you know if there beer has any further to go.

IME, when I've added fresh yeast to a stalled (or greatly slowed) fermentation, it has required LOTS of patience to get it to come down at all.

There is no harm in patience.

[Siamese Moose]

Check out some of the pro brewer forums on this yeast. There is widespread agreement that it should never be allowed to drop below 69°. In addition, do not ever allow the temperature to drop. If that first rush of fermentation heats it up, and then it cools as it slows, it will stall. If it were my beer, at this point I would crank the temperature to the upper 70°s and agitate the crap out of the carboy, and hope for the best.

[jimrod]

Re pitched a wlp 007 on top of the San Diego Super Yeast 7 days ago from a 1000 ml starter. Gravity dropped to 1.022 and I think its over. I did raise the temp to 70-72 for a few days but didn't matter.

Not happy with wlp 090, won't ever use that one again.

[Joe Sr.]

I think we all have one or two yeasts we will never use again.

I'll branch out now and then, but generally I stick with what I know works.

[erockrph]

I've never used this yeast, and I honestly don't know if I ever will based on what I keep seeing on the forums. It is amazing how polarized everyone's results with this yeast seem to be. Either a brewer absolutely swears by it and says it's faster and more flocculant than Chico, or it stalls out and they swear off ever using it again. Almost reminds me of WY3724 - I can't help but wonder if there's a trick to getting this yeast to work well.

[zimaclone]

I use this yeast on my 1.048 American dry stout (All-American ingredients). I mash a 151F and it finishes at 1.011 and drops bright and clear in 48 hours. I use wyeast nutrient, oxygenate, and pitch and ferment at 68F. The fermentation is extremely vigorous and produces a huge cake. The flavor is very clean and allows the malt and hops to really shine. I've brewed this stout with all-irish, all-british, and various combinations of malt and yeast origin-16 batches of stout in 2 years- and I keep coming back to All-American. I love it and so does everyone who tries it. I've tried it with wlp001 but it just aint the same.
I've brewed other styles with it and all have been great! But I have had it drop out early before I had a temperature controlled fridge to ferment in. It doesn't seen to tolerate much temperature fluctuation. I also seem to get better results if I overpitch slightly- say 25%. It's a finicky yeast, but very much worth it,  IMO.

[jimrod]

I mashed at 151F and used yeast nutrient, oxygenated with pure o2, pitched and fermented at 68F using my Ranco controlled refrigerator. I have absolutely no temp fluctuation. There isn't anything you did that I don't do.

I used 2 tubes of yeast and built them with my stir plate into a half gallon starter for 10 gallons of beer. If there ever is a next time and I don't think there ever will, I'll double the yeast. 

It is more than a finicky yeast, it's weak and unpredictable, unstable and unreliable. Not worth chancing another under performance. 6