[Northern_Brewer]

White Labs certainly seem to have been having real production problems this year. One imagines that the diastaticus thing at the very least prompted a whole lot of cleaning that might have disrupted things a year ago, but it seems to have been ongoing since then - seasonal/Vault strains coming out late, wholesale orders not being filled completely, that kind of thing.

I've not been aware of Wyeast having the same problems, but I (and the people I talk to) don't use them so much. One could imagine that in both cases, all their energy would go on keeping the "core" strains available, but the others might get put to one side for a bit. Put it this way - if they don't keep WLP001 and 1056 going to commercial breweries then they no longer have a business, homebrew 1028 doesn't matter so much.

[Robert]

Put it this way - if they don't keep WLP001 and 1056 going to commercial breweries then they no longer have a business, homebrew 1028 doesn't matter so much.

1028 isn't just a homebrew boutique product though.  It's the house yeast at Great Lakes in Cleveland,  a fairly substantial regional brewery.  But perhaps commercial brewers have advance contracts which would further divert a limited supply from the homebrew market?  Just guessing.

[Northern_Brewer]

Presumably a brewery the size of Great Lakes do all their yeast work in-house rather than buying in fresh pitches? I'd assume they have their own yeast that started out as 1028 but has evolved away from the Wyeast version?

Regardless, there's a whole heap of kit that is only used for yeast for the homebrew market (packaging etc) and that all needs qualifying before it can be used. If they're struggling with the basics, then the homebrewers will go to the back of the queue.