I tend to brew once a month 5 or 10 gallon batches and I’ve started to reuse yeast with some success. I feel like I could save a ton of money by narrowing down the yeasts I use to a few different strains and then making most batches with those strains. A couple batches a year I would probably use different yeasts where I want to try or make something special/different. Is anyone doing this already? What yeast strains do you use?
I’m thinking I could do most everything with 1056, 1318, and 2206 or another lager yeast. I usually brew IPAs (NEIPA & West Coast), Pales, Lagers (Czech Pils, Oktoberfest), and Stouts. I rarely brew hefeweizen or beligan beers. I’ve only brewed 1 of each in the last few years.
i have 3 house strains that i brew everything with wlp830 for pils,dortmunders, 1056 for stouts,pales,ipa’s and 3278 for my yearly sour, i just started trying out kveik hornindal which is good but 830,1056 and 3278 is pretty much all i use now
My go-to strain is Bry-97. …but I don’t repitch that often. I use it as one trip yeast in 90-95% of my beers.
I selected it because it attenuates well, it clears fantastic, it gives me a blank slate taste-wise, gives me a one week turn around, and I can ferment low to mid 60(s) so I’m not working that old fridge I ferment in too hard.
Many have experienced really long lag times with Bry-97. I also used to experience this frustrating lag until I found very predictable results by using the pitch rate calculator on the Lallemand site. When the proper pitch rate recommended by the mfr is used, I routinely see 16 hrs +/- 2 hr lag. Rarely is one 11g pack recommended. My 5 gal batch 1.05x beers usually call for somewhere closer to ~14g. I store the yeast cold and vacuum sealed.
However, you couldn’t go wrong with W34/70 (and it’s liquid equivalents) either. It’s very versatile (it can ferment cold or warm) with some of the same characteristics above.
I like Diamond Lager for lagers, Bry-97 and MJ M44 for clean ales, and MJ M36 for ales that benefit from yeast character (primarily my American amber ale and bitters).
Re: Diamond Lager. I bounce between that 34/70 and occasionally MJ M76. No real reason but I am currently gravitating toward the Diamond lager.
Nobody will be surprised to learn that WY1450 is one of my staples. I’ve recently also started using and banking WY1217 West Coast IPA yeast. Diamond lager is my usual lager yeast these days. I tend to keep WY3522, 1762 and 3787 around for Belgian styles.
For me, where I live liquid yeast of WY and WL is really expensive, but there some labs doing the reproduction for like 6 dolar, but for now is fermentis US-05, MJ M54 Californian Lager, still have some of this on the frigde, but after this one gonna end the use of this yeast, kveik voss, like the US-05 is a awesome yeast to use in american pale to red style, M36 Liberty Bell Ale and M84 Bohemian Lager, gonna be my good lager yeast. Maybe this gonna change the next 5 months, gonna ditch the M54, and add some others like some liquid strains and add the lallemand yeast, like diamond and windsor, and if I like the M15 empire ale yeast, gonna keep that too.
I don’t have a LHBS nearby with convenient hours, and my brewdays are often short notice, so I stick to dry yeast whenever possible. S-189 is my preferred lager yeast, and US-05 is for most ales (haven’t had a chance to experiment with Lalbrew NEIPA yeast yet, but plan on it soon). If I could only have 2 yeast strains, those would be mine.
That said, I keep a packet or two of several other strains around for experimentation. I use Winsor + Notty for English styles, but still like liquid yeast way better. I also keep Lalvin D47 for cider and 71B for mead. I use BRY97 in ales from time to time as well.
I’m getting brave when re-using yeast. My last couple of beers I used yeast for a third time. California ale, Conan and British V are the current ones in my rotation. (not counting my wrangled wild yeast)
+1 on WY1450. I have found it to be very clean, appropriate for many styles and more than a bit forgiving if you happen to jazz up your pitch and ferm temps. :-[ My only issue is that my LHBS only carries WL for liquid so I have to get 1450 on-line and that means I won’t brew with it in the warmer months. Were that there was a Dry equivalent!! Denny, can’t you do something here?
I have found US-05 to be a great fallback to have on hand when I need to break the glass in case of emergency. But I don’t usually plan recipes with 05 in mind.
I don’t reuse yeast at this point, though I might get started with that in the future.
White Labs 028 scottish ale yeast in pretty much anything that isnt a lager or a saison. Its clean but complex, accentuates malt and is a low sulfur and diacetyl producer and floccs reasonably well. At lower temps it really slows down towards the tail end of fermentation, which is beneficial to me since I prefer to spund my beers and it gives me a longer window to transfer my beer to the keg. I dont understand how this yeast isnt more popular
I brew a lot of American styles and some British styles. My house yeast is WY 1272, ferment at 60F-62f for clean American styles and warmer 66F-68F for the Brits, witch adds lite fruitiness. This yeast clears very nice, better than WY1056 and hits 78% apparent attenuation almost every time unless I make a less fermentable wort on purpose.
US-05 is what I’ve used the most, everything I used to brew with M-54 I now do with 05. For lagers I mostly use 34/70. I almost always have harvested 05 & 34/70 on hand and sometimes juggle my planned brews in order to use a harvest before it gets too old. I just recently started doing some spit brews between 05 and Bry-97, the jury is still out on those beers. I’ve been trying different yeasts on my ESB, so far Windsor, London ESB and 34/70 [by accident] but still prefer it with 05, I haven’t tried Notty yet but it’s on the list. Probably 75-80% of my brews are done with harvested yeast [unless I’m exbeerimenting] so reducing the number of types of yeast I use means fewer jars in the fridge & less wrangling to keep everything fresh enough to remain viable.
I’ve been brewing on average 20 - 5 gallon batches per year for the past few years, I’ve settled in on maybe two yeast strains for particular styles, but enjoy trying other yeasts that I’ve not used in the past. Not interested in harvesting yeast, so no cost savings in it for me.
@erockrph, I’ve used the Lalbrew NEIPA dry yeast with my standard NEIPA recipe and it rocked, I would not hesitate to use it again.
My 2 cents on house yeasts though is that when a craft brewer uses the same house yeast on ALL of their IPA’s, they all taste the same even though the malt bill and hop bill are different. I get cost savings, but I enjoy tasting creativity more which leads me to drinking more.
From my experience that’s true for some craft brewers as well, at least to the extent that all their beers will seem to have a common thread taste-wise.
I am trying this with Wyeast London III (the “juicy” yeast, though I like it for dark beers), Imperial Joystick (great all-around American ale strain) and White Labs Ceske Budejovice lager yeast right now. Eventually, I will likely also do it with Imperial “Pub,” as I like having that around. Even with these guys saved in little jars, I still find myself reaching for BRY-97 and US-05 because they are so damn convenient.
As far as house yeasts, I don’t have many currently as I’ve always switched my yeast up. But lately I’ve really been wanting to get a really consistent process and list of ingredients that I use and just brew the beer I like instead of making something “that sounds good at the time” and then it not turning out and having 5 gallons of something I don’t really enjoy on hand. Kind of done with that. I’m trying out S-189 for the first time in a pilsner right now. That may become my house lager yeast if it’s as good as everyone says it is. Otherwise, I’ve always liked 34/70/the liquid variants. I wish there was a dry version of WY1450, like someone else said. That yeast is awesome. Otherwise, I’m using US-05 for most ales, Irish ale yeast for UK styles and Omega Hornindal kveik for the same ale styles but for the dead of summer.
I am similar. Over the last year or so I just been brewing 4-5 recipes I like over and over. I have brewed yellow beer then amber beer then yellow beer then amber beer, …
For yellow it’s mostly Pilsners. I am loving CAPs right now. I mix in a blonde ale occasionally. I like Diamond Lager and 34/70 yeast for these. I want to come up with a good Dortmunder.
For amber it’s APA, American Ambers, and bitters. I mix up the hops for variety. I also vary yeast here. I have used BRY-97, MJ M44, Lallemand Kölsch, and MJ M36. I like all of these. I am using the new CALI by CellarScience right now.
What I find is I always like these beers. I can get variety elsewhere 1 pint at a time. I hate when I have a batch full of mediocre beer because I really don’t like the style or I built a bad recipe.
Sounds like I need to get my hands on 1450. I sadly have not tried that yet. I’m learning I need to try a few more yeasts before I really get settled in on what to use on a regular basis.
I think it is always good to have a few packets of dry yeast around too. Its always good to be able to brew a beer together at last minutes notice with what ingredients you have around.
