Wyeast for doppelbock?

[whoateallthepies]

Been very happy with the WLP838 lately. According to this site that is equivalent to Wyeast 2308.

If you have a stir plate I would suggest stepping it up to a big starter.

My current process for lagers involves stepping up to a 3L starter. Then once the starter has grown the yeast and is fermenting, I crash chill it in a cold fridge. Decant off the liquid on brew day, then add another 3L of chilled wort to get the yeast fired up before pitching into the rest of the wort in the fermenter. I seem to get pretty good attenuation that way.

[scotchpine]

Honestly I think almost all of them could go that high if you treat them right. The WLP 830 / Wyeast 2124 is a pretty solid workhorse strain, and I haven't used many other lager strains.

The important thing is making another lager first, or you're going to have to do like a 3-4 gallon starter just to get enough yeast. Just baby the shit out of every aspect of fermentation, and it will probably work out great.

I am in the camp of not yeast washing. I just make sure not to get too much crap into the fermenter so the yeast harvest is fairly clean. Most homebrewers don't repitch more than a couple times and I don't think there is enough build up of trub or dead yeast in that time to make it worthwhile.

I hope this fits here, cause you mention repitching. I was wondering if pitching on top of the primary cake of a batch with 2lbs honey in it, would affect the ferm or change the flavor profile of the second batch. Last year, I pitched a wee heavy onto the prim cake of a spiced winter warmer. Some of the spice character carried through, especially the clove. Not sure if honey would have any affect though?

[ajdelange]

For the last Bock I made I used the 2487 Hella Bock strain not because I was making a Hella Bock but because that's what my LHBS had in stock and he assured me I'd like the result and he was right. This stuff is delicous and the yeast qualities are part of it. I used my standard 10% starter in an 18.67 OG wort and the yeast went 71% ADF (RDF 58.1%) for 7.44% ABV (which is plenty for me) and left a nice, full bodied 7.8 °P TE. Tasting this as it ages and rounds out (brewed in March) has been an interesting and pleasurable experience.

[Chupa LaHomebrew]

Honestly I think almost all of them could go that high if you treat them right. The WLP 830 / Wyeast 2124 is a pretty solid workhorse strain, and I haven't used many other lager strains.

The important thing is making another lager first, or you're going to have to do like a 3-4 gallon starter just to get enough yeast. Just baby the shit out of every aspect of fermentation, and it will probably work out great.

I am in the camp of not yeast washing. I just make sure not to get too much crap into the fermenter so the yeast harvest is fairly clean. Most homebrewers don't repitch more than a couple times and I don't think there is enough build up of trub or dead yeast in that time to make it worthwhile.

I hope this fits here, cause you mention repitching. I was wondering if pitching on top of the primary cake of a batch with 2lbs honey in it, would affect the ferm or change the flavor profile of the second batch. Last year, I pitched a wee heavy onto the prim cake of a spiced winter warmer. Some of the spice character carried through, especially the clove. Not sure if honey would have any affect though?

I don't wash my yeast but I also don't like the idea of using an entire yeast cake. Almost always this is pitching too much!
Check out the mrmalty.com pitching rate calculator and pitch appropriately, your beer will thank you for it.
I'm not sure that I would repitch form a beer that already used 2 lbs of honey in it, but it might be OK. Thoughts from other brewers? I wouldn't worry about the honey flavor but I would worry about the yeast not performing as well since it had a nice dose of simple sugars to get lazy on. It might work out just fine, but theoretically it's not ideal.