Looking for your opinions on your favorite ale yeast when brewing an American Pale Ale. I don’t brew ales often enough to have a solid choice.
I have an affinity to using dry yeasts but am considering using liquid for this. Its cold enough that I won’t worry about getting ruined yeast ordering online.
I was leaning towards US-05 or WL-001 and possibly WL-051
My recipe is simple. 2 row pale, 6% C-60 and 5% victory malt.
Hops will be El Dorado @ 60,45,30
Wai-iti @15,10,5 & knockout.
Maybe 1 or 2 dry hoppings.
I use Mangrove Jack’s M36, Liberty Bell Ale in most of my APAs, as well as many other styles. It produces very mild fruity esters when fermented at 66F and flocculates much faster than US-05. I usually get it from Williams’s Brewing, Yakima Valley Hops or RiteBrew.
I do occasionally use Nottingham or BRY-97 with good results as well.
This package of yeast followed me home from one of the local home brewing supply shops last weekend. I went to grab a package of Imperial Urkel and snagged a package of Wyeast 1450 as well for good measure.
there was a very good description someone wrote in the 1450 thread thats active. it intrigued me and im really tempted to try it. looks like a lot of people are using it right now.
It seems like US-05 isn’t getting a lot of love on this forum lately, but I’ve used it dozens of times in APAs and it makes a great beer. WY1056, WLP001, and WLP051 have all done me well in this style, too.
I would have to say, favorite yeast for APA would be Nottingham.
Typically though, with a very hoppy beer, I will just use whatever yeast I have laying around. The yeast is not super critical when the beer is buried in hops. I do the same for porters and stouts. I will usually have either Notty, US-05, or S-04 laying around. Also S-189, great lager yeast, and I would not be adverse to using lager yeast for an APA (or APL). This style is all about the hops. Yeast is an afterthought. Unless you want hazy… but that’s another story.
I don’t find 1450 to be terribly far from a good Chico ferment in an APA. Both are clean and dry and let the hops shine. 1450 is less finicky than US-05 for sure.
Plus I don’t understand why 1450 is rated by Wyeast as low flocculation when it seems to clear really fast for me.
I’m one that likes US-05 but it seems to be the read headed step child because of the “peach thing” that some people get from it. I guess I’m lucky and my palate is not as sophisticated.
I don’t understand either. When it was passed to them, I gave them What I thoughtm of attenuation, temp range anD flocculation. They didn’t use my info.
I’m using Wai-iti hops for flavor and aroma. Their description has peach and apricot aromas. Just wondering if using US-05 might be a good pairing, assuming I can pick up the “peachy” thing.
i dont think its a matter of “sophisticated” or not, its probably simply different taste buds or different tasting focuses. i don’t think there are strata of abilities here, though there probably are a very few “supertasters” here, by random genetics.
i’d use s05, but i like it best when it has a lot of heavy specialty malts to cover up its taste. not my favourite anymore.
I do not like US-05 at all. In fact, after trying S-04, US-05, and now W-34/70, I can honestly say that Fermentis will never receive another dime from me, indirectly as it is when purchasing yeast at the retail level. If I have to use dry yeast, it will be BRY-97. I have a couple of packages of Lallemand Verdant IPA and Voss that I am reserving as backup, but I am not a fan dry yeast. Dry yeast has definitely improved since the bad old days, but it is still a compromise to me. I am not wasting six hours of my time to a compromise yeast unless my liquid or cultured yeast culture goes south.
I have about 10 packs of dry yeast in the fridge. But, recently I started reusing slurries. I ordered one pack of 1450 and another of Omega Mexican Lager. I am on my 4th generation of both and loving them. I do a 1 liter SNS starter for each pitch. The price is right too.
My original plan was to order new liquid yeast before it gets hot, March here, and then reuse until late fall when it’s cool again. But, it’s been going so well with these two yeasts I am not sure I want to change.
