From one of the few remaining Trappist breweries remaining in the world, this yeast produces the distinctive fruitiness and plum characteristics. Excellent yeast for high gravity beers, Belgian ales, dubbels and trippels.
Attenuation: 75-80%
Flocculation: Medium to low
Optimum Fermentation Temperature: 65-72°F
Lower temperatures (under 65) will result in less fruity and more earthy beers.
Alcohol Tolerance: High
A yeast starter must be made when using White Labs Yeast
Reviews provided by White Labs:
" ... produced a great tasting beer"
By: mark
Date: April. 24, 2011
Beer Brewed: Belgian Blond
Comments: Very good results. Fruity flavours and taste come through to the beer. OG 1.072 down to 1.1010 in 7 days produced a great tasting beer.
"It has the banana aroma ... "
By: David
Date: Dec. 15, 2010
Beer Brewed: Old Ale
Comments: Starting Gravity: Don't know, didn't check it. Based on calculations it was 1.075 or so. I had a lag of about 48hrs also. After that it went nuts for a couple days. I've been keeping it between 70 and 75 degrees. It has that banana aroma everyone is mentioning. It's not a spot on banana aroma, but that's no doubt part of it. This is only its 4th day in the primary. Can't wait to taste this stuff.
"I'm looking forward to drinking this beer"
By: Resto3
Date: Oct. 26, 2010
Beer Brewed: Belgian Black Ale
Comments: What lag time....?? I used a 1 gal starter 4 days ago. My og 1.076, Mashed at 152* for 75 min and batch sparged. 15.75# of grain and 1/2 pound of honey. I use a whirfloc tab 15 min to go and yeast nutrients at 10 min to go. Oxygenated with oxygen. Pitch yeast at 2:00 PM, nice Krausen and bubbling away by 7:00 PM. I'm looking forward to drinking this beer. Fermenting at room temp 68-70*F.
"The flavor is genuine"
By: Dennis
Date: March. 23, 2010
Beers Brewed: Belgian Dubbel
Comments: Took a good 30 hours from vial pitching to krausen, so be prepared to wait. Got about 72% attenuation at end of fermentation period. Doesn't seem to be a hardy yeast, but the flavor is genuine. I'd recommend at least 2 vials for a standard batch.
"I am expecting good things"
By: Jason
Date: Jan. 17, 2010
Beers Brewed: Belgian Tripel IPA
Comments: This was my first time using the WLP500 strain. I did not use a starter but I did double pitch (i.e. used two vials). OG of the 5-gallon batch was @ 1.094. It had a lag time of ~48 hours to get fully started (fermenting at room temp @ 66-67 degrees), but once it did, it went to work! I took a SG reading today (7 days in primary), and I was already at 83% attenuation! I'm going to leave it in the primary for a little while longer, along with aging it a bit in secondary. I am expecting good things.
"Give it a go!"
By: Dick
Date: Aug. 31, 2009
Beers Brewed: Belgian Golden Strong Ale (BJCP 18D)
Comments: This was my first use of the WLP500 strain. I prepared a 1.5 liter starter using 2 vials of WLP500. The gravity of the starter was around 1.035, and I let it propagate on a magnetic stir plate for 48 hours before crashing the starter in the fridge overnight. After warming to room temp, I decanted the starter and pitched into a 1.085 wort at 68 degrees Fahrenheit. The primary fermentation lasted 3 weeks at 70-75 degrees room temperature. Upon racking to secondary, the gravity was 1.010! That's an attenuation of about 87%, and an alcohol content (ABV) of about 10%. This is a beast of a yeast! The beer is still settling, and I anticipate a good result. Give it a go!
" ... burly yeast"
By: Joseph
Date: June 24, 2009
Beers Brewed: Belgian Ale
Comments: This was some burly yeast! The OG was 1.083 and FG was 1.015. Lots of head space and a blow off tube are necessary for the primary. I don't have temp control and the air temp in my kitchen got a little higher than I expected, 75 degrees. There were lots of banana and clove smells. It smelled great but I was concerned that I would ruin the flavor profile I was intending, fruit dominating the honey and spices. After 2 months in the secondary, I kegged it today and it tastes wonderful. Definitely better than I expected without temp control. I will use this again.
" ... I will definitely use it again."
By: Michael
Date: May 8, 2009
Beers Brewed: Abbey Dubbel
Comments: Great yeast, I will definitely use it again. I fermented at room temp which was usually around 60-62 degrees, with one or two days up near 68. The beer is fruity with a mild banana aroma/flavor. With an OG of 1.052, the yeast achieved 73% attenuation after just one week and finished at 81% after 3 weeks. Beer begins to clear after 2 weeks, and is slightly hazy after 3. For a more clear brew, a 4+ week fermentation or a fining agent is needed.
" ... came through perfectly."
By: J Rossetti
Date: July 13, 2008
Beers Brewed: Belgian Tripel
Comments: Lag time for this brew was 14 hours, but once it got started it just didn't want to quit. I started out at 65F and dropped to a low 60F for a longer fermentation. Fermented for 49 days at a steady 60F raising the temps for the last 3 days to 65F. Started at 1.083 to end at 1.015, that's what, 80% attenuation? The beer today (5 months after bottling) still has a slight banana scent, but gloriously underlined by a nice woody-clovey-fruity aroma that is pure heaven if you're into belgians. This yeast is pretty tolerant, I put it through a lot to get what I wanted, and it came through perfectly.
" ... exactly what I was looking to produce."
By: TJ Vitolo
Date: May 29, 2008
Beers Brewed: Belgian Dubbel
Comments: Fermented at 67 with the intent to raise towards the end to increase fruit characteristics. However at 67 the fermentation aroma was heavy with banana and plums so I kept the temperature steady. Kegged after 10 days in primary and 21 days in secondary. Fruit flavor was so strong that friends of mine were requesting the "Banana Beer." Because it was 10.1% ABV I let it sit for 4 months. Fruitiness had completely mellowed by that time. The beer, at the end, was exactly what I was looking to produce. A strong St. Bernardus Prior 8. I will try to ferment lower than 65 next time with lower ABV Belgians; however, hands down, this is the yeast you want to use if you want an authentic tasting Belgian beer.
" ... an amazing yeast."
By: Dirk Beaulieu
Date: Sunday, Jan. 28, 2007
Beers Brewed: Belgian strong golden and strong dark
Comments: This is really an amazing yeast! I brewed the strong golden first, aerating with oxygen and using the White Labs yeast nutrient and pitching a starter in warm wort. Fermentation started within 6 hours and continued for just about 5 days. I keep carboy in unheated kitchen so the heating pad keeps it at 72 degrees. It finished out at 1.006 (I know-a little too low for this beer) which caught me by surprise. My plan was to rack the golden off and pour the Belgian dark on top of the yeast. I had vigorous fermentation within 2 hours and it was so strong that it blew out the airlock so I had to rig a blowoff tube into a bucket of water and this continued for 12 hours. Again I was surprised because it finished at 1.006 so I monitor it carefully. Even though it is young, it has a delicious fruitiness which I attribute to both the yeast and warm fermentation.
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Versatile and very nice yeast for trappist variations
I'm completely sold on the White Labs yeasts and have never had any problems with any of them. 1.5 days before brewing, I took my WLP500 yeast and made a 1L starter, which I split between Tripel and Dubbel recipes. The yeast tore through both of these quickly and efficiently, with my Tripel hitting 7.6% ABV. The Tripel was very clean with a nice hint of fruitiness, probably my favorite batch of all time. The Dubbel gave me the plum/raison notes I was after and was a great compliment to the Tripel, giving me some variety to chose from. I'm going to be revisiting the WLP500 soon to see what other great brews I can come up with. Highly recommended.