Homebrewing Blog and Resource

The hobby of homebrewing beer

WLP940 Mexican Lager Yeast Strain

Read An Article – Try a Yeast Strain

After reading an article in Brew Your Own magazine (BYO), I was convinced that I needed to use the WLP940 strain for my harvest lager.

From the “out of stock” messages on many of the big online homebrew shops, I am guessing many others wanted to try to use this yeast as well.

Thankfully, Rebel Brewer not only had the yeast in stock but had a great selection of malts too. I was able to buy my whole recipe from them and they shipped my order pretty quickly – less than a week after I placed it.

The article described the results of a homebrewing club’s experiment to figure out which yeast stain is the best for brewing a German Pilsner. The Mexican lager strain got very high marks.

It produced a beer that had a strong and pleasant hop flavor and finished dry and clean. These descriptors are exactly what I want for a harvest lager. It’s not a German Pilsner but the end results match up with my thoughts.

Not Intuitive

Do you think that the White Labs site agrees with the article’s assessment of the strain. Looking at the Style Performance Rating on their site for the WLP940 strain, it should not produce a great example of a German style Pilsner. What I do see on the White Labs site is the high marks for this strain in its ability to make a great American amber lager, which is really what the harvest lager is.

Reading the manufacture’s ratings of the strain versus the outcome of the homebrew club’s experiment, one is reminded that “all this beer stuff” including yeast performance are quite subjective.

I still think it will make a great harvest lager.

The Brew Plan

If the Mexican lager yeast does what I think it will do and I can enhance my brewing water with some gypsum, I can get a crisp, dry, and pleasantly hoppy lager. I have plenty of homegrown hops to help the cause but I think the yeast will be needed to do a good job to showcase them. I am hoping to get the brew going this weekend. Stay tuned for the results.

Brew on.

Previous

Belgian Easter Beer Recipe

Next

Culturing Belgian White Ale Yeast

4 Comments

  1. Herb

    ” Rebel Brewer…shipped my order pretty quickly – less than a week after I placed it.”
    RB advertises on their front page ‘same-day’ or ‘next day’ shipping, so less than a week isn’t ‘pretty quickly’ IMO.

    I ordered from them for a while but Every. Single. Order. had problems (ordered a boatload of whole grain, order shows up milled; stale yeast, shorting weights, flimsy packaging split open in transit). Like some many other on-line home brew supply shops, RB has lost its edge.

  2. Chris

    I just sampled my Oktoberfest lager which I used WLP940. Very clean and tasty. The sample was taken on day 13. I am doing a D-rest but I don’t think I need it. I pitched it at 46 F and let it rise to 52 F where it stayed until day 13. My best lager so far. My LHBS in Toronto always has this yeast in stock. My history of making lagers using other yeast strains isn’t very good, so I am going to stick with 940 for awhile.

  3. I received my order in a shorter turnaround time than I have experienced with Northern Brewer/Midwest Supplies/More Beer using their cheapest shipping option.

    My order wasn’t flawed and I am sorry that yours have been in the past. The yeast was a bit old but they had it in stock and I revived it with a starter.

  4. That’s great to hear, Chris. So far so good with my lager. The WLP940 is giving off some sulfur smells but it is fermenting well.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Powered by WordPress & Theme by Anders Norén