Choosing a house yeast

Hey,

I’m at the point in my brewing where I want to find a “house” yeast that I can use for the majority of my brewing. What do you guys use/recommend? I brew mostly american styles. For the wheats/belgians etc ill just buy new yeast.

I use WY1450 for pretty much all of my American styles.

Would you say its your… favorite?  :o

It depends on what you want out of your house strain. For me, if I were looking to have a house American Ale strain I’d try a bunch of yeasts that aren’t 001/1056/US-05 and decide what one works the best in my usual recipes. In particular, I’d try them each in an IPA and a Porter to make sure they cover both hoppy and dark beers.

Not that there’s anything wrong with Chico, but if I’m going to pick a house yeast I would like to get a house character that’s different than 90% of the other beers out there. I’d probably settle on one of the cleaner English strains like WLP013 or WLP007. I’d want to get some character from my house strain.

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I need to try 1450 in an APA or IPA, Denny. I love it in American Brown, Porter and Stout.

I like 1056 because its alcohol tolerant and applicable to any American style. There’s a reason its so popular among homebrewers and craft breweries.

Since its so popular, its always available and super fresh from the LHBS.

If you don’t make many high ABV beers, WLP002/WY1968/S04 is perfect for most American and English styles (also ciders), plus it clears super fast (if you’re always bumping up against a deadline). Very low esters around 64F (think FW Union Jack), but ester profile is nice for bitter/mild. I’ve had diacetyl issues with it once or twice, but not since I started slowly raising temp after high krausen (kind-of diacetyl rest).

I guess it’s tough to call 1056 a ‘house yeast’ per se, because of its clean character. But the clean character is exactly why I like it so much for American styles. I don’t like anything getting in the way of the malt and hops in American styles. I save the esters, phenols and other yeast character for brewing European styles (where appropriate).

S-04 is WLP007, not WLP002.  I would like to see WLP002 offered in dry form.

I asked white labs which yeast of theirs would be closest or equal to s04 and they said 002

Would wlp017 be the closest? Whitbread? Seasonal strain.

What qualities are you looking for in the beer? That makes a big difference.

This is mainly going to be for american styles. The main thing im looking for is clean fermentation. I’m not as concerned about flocc since i keg/gelatin usually. Ill most likely be using the yeast for APA/IPA/IIPA/Blonde ales

I use 1968 in my high ABV old ale with great success.  I’ve also used it in an imperial stout.  It’s regularly taken both these beers from >1.09 to <1.02.

Treated right, it does just fine with high OGs.  Big pitch, good aeration, good fermentation temps.

I totally agree…it makes outstanding hi-test ales.
It’s among my top 3 favorite yeasts.

my main go-to yeasts are:

  1. The Survivor-–my house strain, origins unknown, in use since the 1980s  (started as a multi-strain; I let then let them slug it out for close to 2 dozen successive repitches and then plated it.  god only knows what I wound up with after at least 25 years of mutation, but it works great in my setup for a wide variety of beers)
  2. WY 1968
  3. ECY “Old Newark Ale”  (becoming a real favorite over the last couple of years)

honorable mention:  dry s-04, but only when I’m in a hurry or doing a spur-of-the-moment brew session.  not bad at all for what it is.

I really like 1272. Good performance, high flocculation, and the ester profile works well in both hoppy and malty American/British-style ales. I can really ramp up the esters with pitching/fermentation temperature too, which can add some nice complexity to something like a mild or porter.

I’m a big fan of 1469 for the same reasons given here, but more on the British side. Fermented low it can be very clean for American styles, but with a nice malt character.

If you’re looking for something that tastes like the craft beer you buy then the chico strain is probably where you want to start because that is what a lot of breweries use. You may decide you want something with more character in which case you are getting excellent recommendations on alternatives. I would stay away from picking something from a limited release unless you plan on keeping a culture rolling in your home. Last thing you want to do is fall in love with a strain you can’t find.

This will be one that i harvest the slurry from the previous batch. I would like something slightly more complex than the chico strain. Maybe ill try out that best of both worlds strain from white labs.

I’ll give +1 to 1272. I’ve used it several times - it’s clean @ ~ 64F, a degree or two warmer and there’s a soft, mild fruitiness. Sounds like what you might be after. It is reputed to be the Anchor Liberty strain.