WLP037 Yorkshire Square Ale Yeast

I've made a bit of a hit brewing a slightly more hoppy TT Landlord clone with this yeast, the only yeast to use for Yorkshire beer in my view. The yeast behaves a little differently to the more well known English yeasts, but learning to handle different yeasts is part of being a real brewer. I also like it in Porter. Now if only I can also get close to Black Sheep...

Made OG 1.049 Brown ale. Used 2 liter starter for 12 gallons. Vigorous top fermenter at 69 degrees F. Great tasting beer with lot of similarities to Sam Smith's.

Short summary: if you want a truly fine Nut Brown Ale, this is one of the two best yeasts I've found (the other being WLP-007) for a Nut Brown ale. But it WILL need a bit of aging (see below). When I brewed this one, while it was in the fermenter, I thought I smelled some "bad" smells (medicinal, or close to it). When I sampled it (from the hydrometer tube) at kegging, I tasted what I'd smelled, but by that point, had already read online that this yeast will initially produce this aroma/flavor, but with a bit of age (5 days in the case of my nut brown), it fades into the background and becomes a flavor contributor, instead of a detriment. And that is EXACTLY what it did. This nut brown has a combination of flavors from the grain (which this yeast seems to really emphasize), the yeast (a LOT of complex esters with flavors I don't even KNOW how to describe, including a fantastic nutty character), and hops to balance it all out. But, based on previous brews, in my opinion, the 037 is critical in this balance, as its flavors really pull everything else together. I am now debating on using this yeast for my oatmeal stout, which has ALWAYS been done with Brewtek CL-170. Ahhh, decisions, decisions.... :-) Very nice yeast, but remember, patience! Oh, one other thing. HIGHLY flocculent. When this yeast stops (and drops out), it stops about the same way a car does when it hits a 200 ton concrete wall. It started up (6 gallons with a 300mL starter, started from slant-->10mL-->300mL) in roughly 12 hours from pitching the yeast, and ran at full speed until it finished, at which point it stopped cold and flocculated out literally overnight. Wonderful yeast....

WOW! What a fantastic yeast! This one should be in the regular line up. I cannot think of a better yeast for quality English style ales. In my case, I was trying to get a yeast that would help me replicate a Samuel Smith Oatmeal Stout... It was PERFECT! I just wish the yeast was available more often than 2 months out of the year.