White labs makes some very nice yeast strains.  In fact, I just made a starter of WLP 099, a Super High Gravity Ale Yeast.  Can’t wait to see what that does.  At any rate, I’ve used this yeast for four generations of beers, which gives me a decent handle on how the yeast seems to work.  With this yeast, I used it for a Belgian double, trippel, quadruppel and a starting yeast for an extreme imperial stout.  This yeast is a work-horse and can simply handle quite a bit of sugar/ethanol.  Here is my experience with this particular strain.

First, let me tell you that I wanted to get four uses out of this strain, so I had high hopes.  Many of you know how expensive yeast can be when it comes to brewing at home.  I figured that after moving to secondary I could put the new wort on top of the same yeast cake.  Another benefit was having higher pitching rates of yeast to start with, which came in handy with some of the bigger beers.  Save money, no starters?  No brainer.

As I said, I brewed four beers with this yeast strain.  A dubbel, tripel, quadruppel and a huge imperial stout.  I’ll give the details in the order of brewing, which is the same as listed above.

Yeast Type: White Labs WLP 500 Trappist Yeast.

Among the Trappist Yeasts that I’ve seen, this one is of the more common variety.  White Labs puts their yeast in tubular vials, which can be held at room temp from 3-6 hours before pitching the yeast. Obviously, I only had to do this with the first beer I brewed.

Yeast Uses: The character of this yeast is typically meant for a Trappist style of Belgian strong type beer. However, it performs well for most higher ABV brews.  Perhaps using it as a finishing yeast for a stuck fermentation would be a very good use.  Just make sure that you don’t want a fruity beer as this will give a lot of esters.  Of course, below 65 (F) will translate into less fruits and a slower fermentation, but you can deal with the esters in that manner.

Yeast Attenuation: 75-80% is what White Labs gave.  All my fermentations were in this range with my tripel attenuating at a slightly higher rate.  Here is a list of my beers and the OG and FG for each:  Dubbel 1.090 –> 1.014, Tripel 1.098 –> 1.014, Quadruppel 1.138 –> 1.036, Imperial Stout 1.236 –> 1.122. Obviously, the stout didn’t attenuate to 75-80% because the yeast stalled at that point.  The yeast truly was a workhorse that didn’t want to quit.

Yeast Lag: As I said, the yeast didn’t want to quit…but it also didn’t want to start.  This is, by far, the longest lag time that I’ve had on a yeast.  I suppose a starter might have got me going better.  If you purchased this yeast, please don’t be shocked if it takes up to 48 hours to get moving.  I’ve found that a lot of Trappist Yeast are thorough but very slow in their process.  Don’t be discouraged by the time lag.  I now expect it with some of the Trappist strains.

Overall Performance: I used this yeast in four beers and couldn’t be happier.  My ABVs reached all the way to 15%, which is the given threshold of this yeast.  I would expect the same next time.  Building the yeast with other beers or a starter would be advisable if you intend to achieve the threshold.  The character of the yeast is unmistakably fruity and even touched by a vegetable tone and minerals.  I would advise using this for big Belgians especially.