Originally I was thinking of S-23 here, but I’m aware that Denny has not ever had success with it, and even goes as far as saying it is the worst yeast he has ever used (4 times as I recall), so now I’m thinking of S-189. I think that W-34/70 is likely to be a bit too clean for the style. Any other suggestions?
NOTE: None of the LHBS companies near me (which means within ~50 miles one way) carry Mangrove Jack yeasts.
In the past I’ve exclusively used WY2001 for this style, but in my retirement years I’m trying to simplify things, and I’d like to see how well a dry lager yeast will perform.
S-189 is the best dried yeast I have tried so far. I like it better than W-34/70. I found S-189 to add a certain slight sweetness. In future I might mash longer to try to balance this out. But it is squeaky clean, lets all the malt shine through loud and clear, at least at cold ~50 F temperature.
I still want to try S-23 sometime, just to see what it does. Haven’t tried it yet.
Thousands of variables. I remember initially enjoying W-34/70. I just didn’t like the way it aged after a few months. But that was likely my own fault, oxidation or whatever. I should give it another try sometime soon. And/or Diamond which I think is approximately the same thing.
Couldn’t agree more. Man 34/70 has let me down every time I’ve used it. It has been a long time since I’ve used dry. My beers are not as good, probably just me.
Our experience is quite different. Other than a long lag time (36 hours), this yeast has proven to be very good. A clean and neutral flavor profile. No diacetyl, sulpher, or other off flavors at all.
Doesn’t surprise me. They also couldn’t reliably distinguish a difference between s-23 and 34/70. What are we supposed to conclude? To me it says use 34/70 if you have tried the others and like it best.
Some folks are experienced tasters and some are not. I am trained and realize a lot of my shortcomings. Even so, I may be unable to reliably distinguish between two dry lager yeasts. But I can say I have had questionable results with M84 Bohemian. Maybe it is just a couple data points and the packets were not properly cared for before I received them, I just don’t know. YMMV, cheers!
The results are that both experienced and non-experienced beer tasters could not reliably identify the different samples. I would bet that applies to the population at large.
The surprising thing to me is the brewer could not distinguish between the samples after proper aging.
From Fermentis: W-34/70, this famous brewer’s yeast strain from Weihenstephan in Germany is used world-wide within the brewing industry.
I’ve only read of one who used S-23 and was happy but it was not from this forum. She was from HBT in the warm lager thread. If I recall correctly she took it to several generations and was pleased with it.
When the mfr puts it in the ‘fruity’ category in a venn diagram of its yeasts, I’ll believe them (and not use it).
So it doesn’t matter which strain we use if the end results are the same according to Brulosophy? Like others have said numerous times, it’s one data point…