I have read a lot of criticism over the years about S-23 for its fruitiness. Even Fermentis says it yields “fruitier and more estery lagers”.
But I recently pitched it in a Czech pils and Oktoberfest. No fruitiness or esters, just really, really good lager character. My pitches were 1st-gen liquid from a friend who owns a brewery and pitches only dry 500g bricks. I grabbed a couple harvests from the cone.
This is a great strain. What am I missing about it?
I don’t hate it… but I don’t love it either. I’d rather use just about any other lager strain on the market than this one. Personal preference. If it was really cheap or free, then of course I would take and use it, and make it work.
Simply based on experience, as your opinion is also.
I’ve used it from time to time, with good results, but only in maltier/darker lagers (e.g., maibock; schwarzbier), so I’m not personally aware of how it presents in a pale lager where fruity character might be more easily detected.
I suspect three things could be going on here - 1) different folks have different personal preferences and sensitivities; 2) some impressions might be the result of bad fermentation practices; and 3) we are a hobby of folks with strong opinions, and strong opinions get turned into inviolable truths as a result (“crystal malt bad!” “light American lagers bad!” “S-23 bad!”).
Now I kinda want to try S-23 in a pale lager, at least a small batch. I don’t often do split comparisons, but maybe I will for this round!
For my part, I don’t care for W-34/70, but that’s just my personal preference!
I have tried it multiple times with different fermenting profiles thinking that was mishandling or pushing the yeast outside it’s natural parameters. The results were always the same, super fruity for a lager and I hated the beer.
I know some people have great luck with it and report no fruitiness, so if that’s the case I would like to know what I’m doing differently to get the results I have gotten from S23. I would like to try it in a fruity IPA, I think that might work well.
You’re pitching liquid yeast as opposed to dry. Maybe that has something to do with it.
For sure, everyone’s palate is different and preferences are personal. But I have never encountered such a disconnect between a strain’s characteristics on paper vs. what I actually taste. It would be like using 3068 in a hefeweizen but then tasting no clove or banana. I’d be scratching my head in that scenario as well.
In my and my friend’s lagers, S-23 presents almost identically to 2206 (which I love and know well). I don’t think it’s dry vs. liquid, as he only pitches dry.
what would be interesting is some kind of standard test to do with a yeast for olfactory and/or tasting purposes like the malt tea testing
would probably just be something like 200g DME in 200g water with a small amount of hops and pitc the whole packet, and after a few days you just open it and breathe it in. you could line up a bunch of samples of yeast
i just got home from work after a long week… idk
I have a keg of Schwarzbier on tap that used S-23. 1st time using it in all these years due to all the negative press. As mentioned above, I understand it’s better in dark beers so I gave it a shot. The beer turned out fantastic.
Proof that you should try things and decide for yourself
I used it once and got passion fruit flavored pilsner. So I never used it again. It might have been my fermentation temperature (the low 40s), but with other options available, I never saw a reason to use it again.
I started brewing in the early 2000’s. It only had negative reviews so avoided it. My mate started brewing after covid and brewed a lager with it. It was fantastic to me, and not fruity to my taste buds. I use it for most of my lagers now. Have a low alc summer amber lager fermenting now with it.
To me it has a mild euro lager appropriate ester/character that i find nice.
It’s a commercially available yeast strain, so there are clearly plenty of breweries who use it with success.
Interestingly, i have never liked 34/70. I tried to, but never liked it.
thanks - any comparable beers to describe the mild euro lager taste? i kinda know what you mean im just trying to scry details
@BrewBama any notes about the beer tasting?
It seems rational that most homebrewers would not want to try a yeast that is almost universally reviled in online reviews. Most homebrewers don’t have the luxury of experimentation like I (and you?) do.
This is the first I’ve ever read where anyone (besides me) said it was a good yeast. Admittedly, people who are very experienced brewers have not have a good experience with it.
So I’m puzzled why some have had good luck with this strain and others haven’t.
I have this beer entered in 2 competitions. I’ll post the judge’s comments because I am biased since I brewed the beer. They don’t know me, how I brewed it, ingredients, fermentation, etc so stay tuned.
I will say this: I think it’s a damn good beer. 
I’ve had excellent beers brewed with S-23. Many years ago, chumley sent me a version of my BVIP recipe made with it, just to tweak me. It was likewise great. Any time I mention my poor results with it, I also try to mention the good results. But let’s face it…the good and bad comments are about equally balanced. I’m definitely not gonna tell people not to use it, but I’ll definitely mention the mixed results. I’d love to find someway to figure out why and why not, but there are so many variables I wouldn’t know where to start.
i know - i have to say i have never ever tried:
S-23, S-33, WB-06 and any dry saison yeasts and others as well even though they are classic yeasts. you can guess why these 3 - even if youve heard or experienced good things about them
I just used S-33 and Windsor in a side-by-side experiment for my latest batch. I’m not sure I can taste much difference. They are both great.
Just a data point, may not be relevant. After i tried my mate’s lager, and loved it, i got some to try, but my fermentation fridge started failing, and can really only maintain 14-15c as the coldest temp. I was worried, as i normally would ferment lagers 10c. It was great, and i’ve now done 3 maybe 4 at 14/15c with no issue, in fact, i really like them.
Another data point/anecdote. I just kegged the current lager, it seems to drop like a stone, super clear going into the kegs.
FWIW, several people have said they get better results with S-23 at warmer temps