Perfect Pils - Classic German Yeast (5D)

Ingredients
1

Getting ready to brew a German Pils for competition.
Here are my yeast choices.

  1. Diamond Lager
  2. S-189
  3. W-34/70

While Diamond has been our go to favorite, what do you think about S-189? We have never used it before.
W-34/70 has been used in the past with good results.

Which of these 3 yeasts would make the best 5D beer?

2

I’ve used S-189 for years.  It’s a very good yeast and has made some good pils for me, but I think of it more for maltier, fuller bodied beers. If this beer is for you and you want to experiment, go fir it.  Otherwise I’d say Diamond.

3

Thanks. The beer will be for us, but the primary consideration is competition. We will brew up 10 gallons.
Diamond it is!
Thanks again!

4

10 gal. is the perfect opportunity for a test.  Split it and pitch each yeast into half.

5

Thank you for the suggestion. I will do that, S-189 / Diamond.
Great idea!

6

I don’t know how well it would do in a competition, but I’m currently drinking a pilsner that used S-189 and I’m pretty happy with it.
I also went with hersbrucker instead of mittlefruh and am happy with that choice also.

7

That way you can decide for yourself rather than going with someone else’s opinion

8

Huge fan of Diamond for German style pils. Recently brewed with Morebeer Berlin, S23?, and was pleasantly surprised. Was a batch of hoppy helles, Pilsner malt/3% carahell/large whirlpool addition of strata. The hops and esters are amazing together and the there’s this incredible soft malty thing going on. Maybe a touch to fruity for German pils but nice alternative to mix up the lager yeast choices.

After all the negative reviews I’ve read about S23 I was sure surprised by the results!

9

Never tried S-23. We have done very well in competitions with W-34/70 and Diamond.
As I have said, Diamond has become our go-to daily-driver yeast. It’s performance has been nothing short of spectacular.

Per Denny’s advice, I’ll split up the next batch, S-189 & Diamond. The best one will go to the competition.

10

I know lots of people like S23, but I’m not one of them.  I made the worst pils I’ve ever made with it. It was so weird that IO sent some to John Palmer to laugh about.

11

I have split most batches recently, including a S-189 vs. Diamond split.  I love S-189 but I love Diamond even better.  They are similar but Diamond has the edge.

Keep on splitting.  Cheers.

12

This will be a first for us, splitting up 10 gallons. Looking forward to the results. Curious about the S-189. Diamond is sooooo good, that we have not had a reason to make any changes.
But there are 4 very fresh packages of 189 in my fridge, so here we go!