1968 tips & suggestions?

[bazookazilla]

I added a pack of US-05 to help out. My OG came out much higher than I had expected at 1.080. I added O2 for almost 2 minutes then pitched my starter and the rehydrated pack of US-05. I will post results when I have some.

[Charlie]

Yeah, a Wyeast 1968 starter looks like a snow globe when it's finished. You will see pretty much the same thing with WLP-007, and particularly with WLP-002.

[beer_crafter]

My tip for using 1968 is to keep it warm. I've had some strange results when fermenting it in the 60F range. keep it around 68.

[bazookazilla]

So far it's off to a good start. It was a little bit slow to start but by the next morning it was going strong. I started at 66F and now I have it raised to 68F and it seems to be going well. I also swirled the fermenter around for about 10 secs or so when I got home from work tonight.

[bazookazilla]

I had very good results with my first batch using 1968 and equally good results repitching for a second batch. I am thinking about repitching for a third batch and am trying to decide what to brew. Any recipe suggestions??

[BDawg]

I'd do a nice Robust Porter, English Style as opposed to American-
Bitter with Challenger, late hop it with Fuggles. EKG seems to get too vegetal, IMO, especially with the roast.
Or maybe a Northern English Brown?

[bazookazilla]

Very interesting. I have had some porters turn out very well in the past. I have some cacao nibs in the pantry I have wanted to use for a year or so. Maybe this is when I break them out! I'm sure they're not getting any better with age...

[bazookazilla]

I'm finally sampling the second batch with 1968 and it absolutely SMACKS of bananas. It reminds me of Golden Monkey or Kwak. I am assuming this is yeast driven. I used the exact same malt bill but I increased the hop bill quite a bit. I don't get any banana character in the first batch.