Santa brought me a chest freezer for Christmas, so its time to start brewing lagers in earnest. I’m going to focus on malty German styles like Märzen and Dunkel to start. Anyone have any recommendations for a lager yeast for these styles?
For those the WLP-833. I have done a Munich Dunkel split with 833 and 835 to see how those compare. The 833 is said to be the Ayinger strain. The 835 is “lager X” which rhymes nicely with Kloster Andechs. Both of those make very good Dunkels, so I decided to split the batch.
For German Pilsners I am fond of good old WLP830.
FWIW WLP833 is really good. I’ve used it for Vienna, Ofest, Dunkel, and Schwarz and been really happy with it. Currently growing a starter for a Dbock. Not sure on the Pilsners but I intend to experiment with a CAP on it this winter.
I use 833 for my CAP. Got that tip from Jeff Renner, the Godfather of CAP.
I have Wyeast 2206 strain and the Budejovice strain going at the moment, but favorite - that’s a tough one. Perhaps 838 South German Lager by White Labs…
WY2206 for malty stuff. WY2278 for German pils.
I’ve tried most of the WYeast lager strains and find #2124 Bohemian Lager to be our go to strain. Don’t let the name fool you it is a pretty versatile strain that can help make malty rich beers as well as light hoppy ones as well. It is similar to the strain Chuckanut Brewing uses (they use Weihenstephan 34/70)to create their award winning lagers. I’ve got a starter going right now that we plan to pitch into a German Pils wort.
I really like the pilsners & marzens I make with 2206 and 2124.
WL860 Munich Helles limited release is nice when available as well.
I really like the Augustiner strain. BSI sells it and I got a sample from a brewpub a while back and keep it on a slant.
The WLP-860 is also rumored on the internet to be the Augustiner strain.
My favorite readily available strain is Wyeast 2124. I use it on Pilseners, American lagers, Dunkels, Schwarzbiers, and Bocks. I do like the seasonal 2487 for Dunkels as well.
My favorite lager yeast is 860. But not out until March. So there are a lot of good suggestions above. I like 2206 and 2278.
Dave
I speculated about it on another forum when it was first announced.
I’ve compared the BSI strain and WLP860 side by side and they gave different results for me. Of course they could have been the same source strain, just like how 001, 1056, and safale-05 all give slightly different results
Pick one yeast and learn it.
2124 for me for all lagers.
Even made great Alt fermenting it at 60F.
I like 2112.
What about WLP800 (Pilsner) and WLP840 (American)? Any good? I am also new to lagers. I just bought the two above yesterday.
2112 is also quite nice.
When I got my dual control freezer going I tried WY American lager and bohemian and wasn’t happy. I’m certain it wasn’t the yeast, buy something I hadn’t learned yet. But my last try with 2112 was stellar.
Those who like 2112, at what temperatures are you pitching/fermenting?
I chilled my starter and my wort to 55°, decant and pitched. Kept at 55° till done, which amounted to 28 days.