WLP002 - something wrong???

[Hoppyland]

For a long time, my only yeasts have been Brewlab slopes (Yep, I only really go for British style beers, although these new citrusy USA & NZ hops have me captivated....)

Anyway, I thought it was time to branch out, so I ordered a tube (vial?) of White Labs WLP002 English Ale Yeast. Hmm.... OK, not too radical a departure then, I guess.....

It arrived close to its best before date - end of 2015 - but seemed reasonably lively (I did make a starter from it, as I was suspicious about vitality). However, the beer it produced is horrible. By this, I mean that I'm guessing it's highly phenolic. To me, it tastes like antiseptic - similar to a few continental beers that I bought but couldn't drink. My beer was fermented at 18-20C, no higher, and the conditions for producing the starter and fermenting the brew were exactly the same as my normal, trouble-free, practice. So, what's wrong??
1. No way was the fermentation temperature to blame
2. Could it be that a secondary fermentation of a wild yeast has caused this? The smell was apparent from an early stage, and it is the only one of my brews in the new house I'm renting to have developed this character - before or since
3. Is it likely that the yeast, towards the end of its shelf life, and experiencing who-knows-what conditions in transportation and storage, had deteriorated/changed in some way?
The experience has really put me off White Labs yeasts - but I feel this must be a misplaced suspicion otherwise they wouldn't be popular.
All thoughts most welcome!!! :)

 

[Hoddy]

I had this problem with a WLP001 that was right at the end of its shelf life (my fault for not getting round to using it)
I think if it's not stored super correct then the yeast has a tendency to mutate and its health drop rapidly (yeast in a vial/pitch packet drops 27% viability in 4 months) so by the time you get it, it really isn't feeling good. And by doing the right thing (putting it in a starter) you've just allowed the unhealthy yeast to multiply.

I have learnt to smell my yeast before pitching (you can smell unhealthy yeast) and to never buy any liquid yeast that's more than 6ish months old.

 

[rodabod]

The Fullers strain is an absolutely excellent yeast.

I wonder if you had very few viable yeast, and ended up straining them extremely, despite having a starter.

Personally, I'd never risk using questionable yeast. It just isn't worth it.

 

[Hoppyland]

I wonder if you had very few viable yeast, and ended up straining them extremely

Difficult to comment on viability, because I've never used this type of yeast before, so I've no direct comparison to go by. However, whilst it did produce a decent starter, it was certainly not much quicker to get going and bulk up than one of the Brewlab slopes I normally use - and these must have hugely smaller cell numbers. I guess this suggests that viability was indeed pretty poor. Certainly, the conditions in the starter and subsequent fermentation should not have stressed the yeast.

 

[trueblue]

Used this yeast for many years with no problem. Phenolic taste tends to be from infection either because of chlorine or lack of rinsing after sterilizing.