Danstar Windsor

[erockrph]

FWIW, there has been quite a lot of discussion here on the UK forums regarding BRY97. Consensus is that it produces good beer with a clean profile, but the lag time on pitching can be scary long; I've had fermentations take 36-48 hours to fully establish, and that is quite frightening; particularly to an inexperienced brewer who is probably using dry yeast for convenience and reliability.

I like the flavour profile of BRY97, I don't find that to be variable tbh......but the lag time does put me off somewhat.
I've had fermentation underway in less than 12 hours from 1 week old top cropped BRY97. I've retained some of the same cropping and had this stored for a few weeks now in the fridge. I intend using this early in the New Year.....so it will be interesting to see how the starter and fermentation perform.

Please be sure to check back in and share your results. I'm curious to hear myself.

[narcout]

I don't use dry yeast very often, but I haven't noticed any flavor inconsistencies with US-05, though I always ferment it in the mid to low 60's.

I know some people claim to pick up a peach flavor from it, but if it's present, I'm not able to pick it out.

[dmtaylor]

I got a peach flavor in my cider from Notty.  But it faded quickly.  Never experienced it with any US-05 beer.  A certain other hippie around here has perpetuated this myth...     Sorry, man, just calling it as my experience dictates.  And I'm probably wrong.

[unclebrazzie]

I brewed a Scotch (Old Chub clone) which I fermented with Windsor. Spent almost 5 months in secondary with the airlock only just now having stopped. Primary was over in a week; dropped from 1.071 tot 1.020. But ever since it was in secondary, it kept on bubbling slowly but steadily. Almost half a year later, SG is down to 1.060 so unless I've had a stowaway in the carboy, that Windsor ate all my beer.

Tastes like a timid Speciale Belge now.

[klickitat jim]

1.006 right?

[Joe Sr.]

1.006 right?

I can't see Windsor doing that.  1.016, sure. 

[unclebrazzie]

1.006 right?

Right. Typo 

[morticaixavier]

1.006 right?

Right. Typo 

sounds like an infection to me. especially given your belgian flavor reference

[Frankenbrew]

Windsor yeast will attenuate further if you give it chance. The first 2-3 days are very vigorous and many people think it's done.
You really need to give this yeast 10-14 days to completely attenuate.

+1
I had a weird experience with Windsor. I used it in an Irish Red last spring. It fermented quickly and then seemed done at 1.020. It tasted okay and Irish Red is malty rather than hoppy, but I was disappointed with the low ABV. Anyway, I'm not one to dump beer--I believe that even bad beer is better than no beer--so I put it aside in the keg until I had unused tap. I also figure that many choices are a good thing with regard to beer. When I vented the keg, it erupted with foam. It seems that it had fermented down more as it sat in storage. I degassed a sample, and it read 1.010. So my conclusion is that it needs some time to ferment out completely. I didn't seem to taste much different than it was at 1.020, but it had a little warmth than it had after the first fermentation. Although it seems to ferment out very quickly, give it some time and you may get a few more gravity points lower.

[unclebrazzie]

Bump.

Brewed a batch of bitter last weekend.
90% pale, 10% CaraBelge for a 1.047 OG wort.
Pitched 2 packs in 45 liters.
Took off like a Shark-riding Raptor's RPG.
Two days later, SG was down 1.011. That's 76% attenuation.

I'm leaving it to settle (beer was very very cloudy) and will rack to secondary next weekend. Then it'll go into the cellar until bottling time, early may.

[unclebrazzie]

Re-bump:

how'bout using Windsor in a barley wine? I've planned a 1.120 OG barley wine next weekend, which I could dump onto the cake of the this bitter. Should make for a pretty lively yeast, I reckon. Just not sure how well Windsor holds up to a potential 12% abv...

[dmtaylor]

Re-bump:

how'bout using Windsor in a barley wine? I've planned a 1.120 OG barley wine next weekend, which I could dump onto the cake of the this bitter. Should make for a pretty lively yeast, I reckon. Just not sure how well Windsor holds up to a potential 12% abv...

Very dangerous.  Your result of 76% attenuation is very anomylous.  Using Windsor in a 1.120 wort is sure to give you a final gravity >1.040 unless maybe you add a ton of sugar and mash low for many hours or overnight, and even then... I would not recommend trying this.

[alestateyall]

Mixing Windsor and Nottingham yeasts is supposed to be a great combo. I can't speak for how such a mix might work in a Barley Wine.

[unclebrazzie]

Very dangerous.  Your result of 76% attenuation is very anomylous.  Using Windsor in a 1.120 wort is sure to give you a final gravity >1.040 unless maybe you add a ton of sugar and mash low for many hours or overnight, and even then... I would not recommend trying this.

I was thinking the same thing on the way home yesterday. I think I like this yeast for low abv beers, but for a monster brew in excess of 1.100, I'm thinking it will chicken out too early and leave me with malt syrup with a splash of booze.

[dzlater]

Last Sunday I brewed the Oat Malt AK Mild from here http://www.experimentalbrew.com/content/session-beer-day-recipe-bonanza-14-recipes-you-brew
I pitched about a cup and half of Windsor I collected from an ESB, that was maybe in the fridge for three weeks+/-?
My og was 1.039.Fermented at 64f.
Took a reading today it's at 1.013. 68% attenuation.
Sample tasted good, smelled a bit like sulpher.
I might let it warm up for a few days or I might just start chilling it, haven't decided yet. I plan was to bring this to big brew day so I might try and stall on kegging it, just so I don't drink it all before then.
I do think this is going to be a tasty beer.