Brewcaster J's Edinburgh Experience

[bburen]

In hearing the results of the Brewcaster Challenge, J's beer was noted for having a hot alcohol flavor. I used the Edinburgh for my Winter Warmer and had that with a nice warming note down the gullet (and liked it for that matter). Is this similar to what some of you have experienced as well?

Prost,

B.

[Ozwald]

Not at all. My one experience with it was an insanely slow ferment resulting in a thick, smooth, malt-bomb flavor. Very rich & accented the chocolate malt flavors more than anything else. The only reason I haven't played with it again is that I used it on my ESB recipe which I can usually keg after 2 weeks & with 028 it wasn't even at fully terminal at that point. Neva pointed out that it can be really finicky at lower temps. Under the microscope it looks very strange as well, creating more chain-like groups instead of the clusters I'm used to seeing. It's a very interesting strain indeed, but I'm not completely sold on it yet.

[BeaverBarber]

I've only ever used the Wyeast variant of that yeast, and I don't remember any hot alcohols either. I do remember thinking that it was a slow performer, a little bit of a pain to use, and it wasn't quite as neutral as advertised so I haven't gone back to that yeast strain. I imagine it's one of those strains that hang around the shop for a while. Maybe a brand new strain would've given different results.

[cdburg]

Not at all. My one experience with it was an insanely slow ferment resulting in a thick, smooth, malt-bomb flavor. Very rich & accented the chocolate malt flavors more than anything else. The only reason I haven't played with it again is that I used it on my ESB recipe which I can usually keg after 2 weeks & with 028 it wasn't even at fully terminal at that point. Neva pointed out that it can be really finicky at lower temps. Under the microscope it looks very strange as well, creating more chain-like groups instead of the clusters I'm used to seeing. It's a very interesting strain indeed, but I'm not completely sold on it yet.

I had a similar experience. The yeast took almost 3 weeks to get to the FG that 001 reached in about 7 days. I really liked the results, but the time it took was crazy. I emailed White Labs, and they responded that it was slower than something like 001, but shouldn't be terribly slow. Not sure how to explain it...

The Wyeast version, in case anyone is wondering, I've found to be completely different. It finished much more quickly, but I found it to give an almost smokey flavor to the beer (to an American Pale Ale). I did not like it at all in that beer.

[Ozwald]

Not at all. My one experience with it was an insanely slow ferment resulting in a thick, smooth, malt-bomb flavor. Very rich & accented the chocolate malt flavors more than anything else. The only reason I haven't played with it again is that I used it on my ESB recipe which I can usually keg after 2 weeks & with 028 it wasn't even at fully terminal at that point. Neva pointed out that it can be really finicky at lower temps. Under the microscope it looks very strange as well, creating more chain-like groups instead of the clusters I'm used to seeing. It's a very interesting strain indeed, but I'm not completely sold on it yet.

I had a similar experience. The yeast took almost 3 weeks to get to the FG that 001 reached in about 7 days. I really liked the results, but the time it took was crazy. I emailed White Labs, and they responded that it was slower than something like 001, but shouldn't be terribly slow. Not sure how to explain it...

The Wyeast version, in case anyone is wondering, I've found to be completely different. It finished much more quickly, but I found it to give an almost smokey flavor to the beer (to an American Pale Ale). I did not like it at all in that beer.

Same here. The flavor was great, but my ultimate conclusion was that it wasn't an enough of an improvement to warrant the extended time (I brew more like a pro-nano than an experimental homebrewer & keep my taps flowing consistently whenever possible). I really want to revisit this strain & possibly re-open my barrage of yeast experiments with it, but until I've got a few backup kegs of all of my regular recipes & can afford the fermenter space, it'll stay on the back burner. It's definitely on my mind & I'm just waiting for when the opportunity presents.

[cdburg]

Same here. The flavor was great, but my ultimate conclusion was that it wasn't an enough of an improvement to warrant the extended time (I brew more like a pro-nano than an experimental homebrewer & keep my taps flowing consistently whenever possible). I really want to revisit this strain & possibly re-open my barrage of yeast experiments with it, but until I've got a few backup kegs of all of my regular recipes & can afford the fermenter space, it'll stay on the back burner. It's definitely on my mind & I'm just waiting for when the opportunity presents.

If it would ferment faster (higher pitch rate, later generation or something), it would be an awesome house yeast. As I experienced it, and it sounds like you did as well, it's WAY too slow to turn around beer at the rate I prefer.

[Ozwald]

If it would ferment faster (higher pitch rate, later generation or something), it would be an awesome house yeast. As I experienced it, and it sounds like you did as well, it's WAY too slow to turn around beer at the rate I prefer.

I had a chat with Neva about it a few months ago. Keep it at or above 67. I haven't tried it yet, but she was saying that it really doesn't deal with cooler ferments well at all. 001 might grumble a little bit, but you can ferment that sucker from the low 50's up into the high 70's with proper conditioning. 028 just says fuck you & puts most of it's cells on strike. Like I said, I'll do some experiments with it in the future, but those warmer ferments just don't work with my recipes very well. I doubt it'll ever become my house strain just for that.

[Lewybrewing]

I've had really good success on the 3rd or 4th generation of WLP028. The 1st gen was really slow, but it makes a fantastic beer. It works really well in a low ABV Pale or Session beer.

Normally I ferment at 63 for all my ales. With 028 it does take a long time compared to 001 or 007. So with 028 I still start at 63 then ramp up on the 2 day vs the 4 or 5th on a normal ale yeast.