Is there a yeast that can be used across the range of English Pale Ales to American Ales to say a Kolsch?
For the English side of the spectrum I would want pleasant esters. For the American and Kolsch end of the spectrum I would want little to no esters.
I would hope to just vary temp to control the ester profile.
I live in a small town without a LHBS so yeast is always my biggest problem. Having a house yeast that I propagated for many batches would help tremendously.
PS. I have thought about American Ale yeast, Pacman, and Edinburgh/Scottish Ale yeast. But I am not sure any of these will give good esters at higher temps for a English pale ale.
And control your pitch-rate.
https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/forum/index.php?topic=18394.0
Another possibility is Cry Havoc. It worked for Charlie Papazian after all.
My house yeasts are 2112 and 1728. Can run them side by side at 55°. Warm up the 1728 for more ester
I like Wyeast 1945 which is a Northern Brewer exclusive. Great in stouts, old ale, and can ferment clean at low temps for American pale ales. I haven’t tried it in a Kolsch though.
WLP007 would be a good option, or even WY1968. Ferment warm for an English ester profile and cold for a clean ferment. A lot of US breweries use an English yeast (Stone, for example), but have pretty clean beers because of how they control their fermentation.
The other option is dry yeast. They keep a long time in the fridge, so there’s no big worry in keeping a stockpile. I always keep US-05 and S-04 on hand for short-notice brewdays.
Nope - there are strains that will work for American and British styles, but I’m a believer in a Kolsch strain for a Kolsch. Nothing else produces that character IMO. I’ve heard of WY1007 and others used for Kolsch, just don’t get why you would. I’ve used WY 1098 for British and American ale styles - it’s a workhorse attenuating yeast. Go cool (~60-62F) and you get American neutral - much like 1056/001/05. Matter of fact Stone supposedly uses it for AB. Go 66-68F and you’ll get some esters for Bitter. Or underpitch and you’ll get some esters.
Thanks, everyone. Lots of good suggestions.
In response to some questions:
I do stick pile dry yeast now but I’ve only had consistently good luck with US-05. With other dry yeasts I have had good luck and bad. Maybe user error though.
How warm do you have to go with 1728 to get esters? I have used the white labs equiv. at 67F and it was very clean.
1945 and wlp007 seem to have huge ranges. Thanks.
Maybe Kolsch was a bad choice of words. On the extreme clean side I am thinking faux lager. Not sure if that makes a difference or not.
Is it possible to keep two or three yeasts on hand? I’m 45 minutes from my LHBS, but I also don’t like to buy yeast, so I usually have WLP001 Cali, WLP007 dry English, and WLP320 American Hefe on hand. I ran into a sale, so I just re-upped with fresh after having my others in circulation for several months.
I typically brew with US-05, but when I use a liquid yeast I typically brew 2-3 successive batches from low gravity to high. I try to stash away a bottle or two of the lowest gravity beer I made with that yeast. If I want to grow up a pitch, I’ll harvest from the low-gravity beer and step it up until I have a full pitch ready. I’m sure it’s easier to just go to the LHBS for a new vial, but this is one way to have access to those yeast strains (especially if it is a limited-edition strain).
I’ve been doing two batches per yeast vial lately. One small then one big. But if I had a house yeast and could always use the last batch’s slurry then I would have more freedom on what size beer to brew when.
I have thought about having two house yeasts. That’s probably more practical.
Look into harvesting. You can get several batch sized slurries and store in Mason jars in the fridge. Throw them in a starter a handful if days befire brew day and you’re golden!
I’m always looking to cut costs. It started by buying bulk grains and hops. But probably the biggest cost cut per brew was not spending $8 on yeast per batch!
I haven’t really harvested before. Lately I fill a 2 liter bottle with slurry and then pour part (whatever Mr Malty tells me) of that slurry into the next batch at pitch time. That is extremely easy and works well.
That works. I rinse my yeast. I’m not sure if it’s worth my time or not, but have had success. I like your method and might need to try it out.
I think that can be done pretty reliably with any ale strain that doesn’t have any out-of-balance characteristics… Ringwood would still throw diacetyl, Nottingham would be a little apple-y, etc.
All it should take is a higher pitching rate (I go to something like 1.0-1.2 million/mL-°P) and dropping the temperature into the high 50s for pitching and the first day or three, after which it can be warmed into the 60s (room temp even) for the diacetyl rest. I’ve brewed a few medal-winning “lagers” doing this with both Chico and Fuller’s strain. Being a yeast racist, I preferred brewing with the 1968.
To fill the 2L I stick my auto siphon tip down in the slurry and just pump the slurry into the bottle. It takes about 10 pumps but the bottle fills up well.
With Mr. Malty I estimate it is thin slurry (as thin as the tool allows).
It’s not a real precise method but I generally err on the side of over pitching.
I like it at 55°.
Maybe for English and American, but kolsch is very different. I can’t think of a yeast appropriate for the first 2 that would also work for kolsch.