Selecting yeast for a recipe?

[fredthecat]

@Joe_Beer

MoreBeer: "WLP013 London Ale Yeast is malty, dry and provides a complex, oakey ester character to beer. " 
This sounds super interesting for a pale ale recipe I have. Would you say the “oakey”-ness is quite pronounced, or just barely subtle?

i tried it in two dark beers and the oak-like ester (not an equivalent in taste for actual oak in beer) was noticeable at all times. i feel like maybe i didnt make beers that were perfectly thought through or the right match with this yeast but they weren’t my favourite IMHO because of that distracting taste element. i know a lot of people love this yeast though so just my 2 cents. i would try it again some day myself in a paler beer

@erockrph

@fredthecat

i know it may seem like a re-tread, but its years and years on now. any of you well experienced guys have any other favourite yeasts?

i know some of the ones regulars here say they use frequently already.

My brewing schedule is often erratic, so I tend to favor dry yeast so I can stock up and keep a supply on hand for whenever I need it. That being said, i do have a few fave liquid yeast strains:

I’ve been playing around with WY1762 as a house yeast strain over the past year or so, and for the most part it works great for malty styles. Even though it is technically a Belgian strain (supposedly Rochefort), my experience is that it is a fairly clean ale strain. It works great in English styles, and will even work in lagers with a big pitch and fermented cold. The only time I’ve gotten any esters out of it was when I was using old slurry that I hadn’t stepped up in an adequate starter. Otherwise, it’s clean as a whistle and make a great blank slate.

When I want a more flavorful English yeast I prefer WY1469, WY1968/WLP002 or WLP013. Windsor works in a pinch as a dry yeast, but the liquid ones have more flavor expression in my opinion.

i don’t brew hefe’s too often, but I prefer WY3638 over 3068. There’s a bit less banana and there’s a hint of vanilla and cinnamon in the phenolics that I enjoy.

I don’t brew Belgians often, either, but whenever WY3864 gets released I typically brew 2-3 batches with it. It has a great plummy thing going on that works really well in dark Belgian styles. It also plays nice with American hops in an Amber ale type recipe.

I’m also a big fan of WY3711/Belle Saison. Beers I brew with it remind me of dry white wine. One of the best brews I’ve ever made was a saison using 3711, Gewurztraminer wine must, and Nelson Sauvin hops. I scored a Gewurz wine kit from my LHBS’s going-out-of-business sale, so I will finally be brewing another batch this spring.

im tempted re: the recommended saisons (drew on exp brewing mentions them a lot), but i am unwilling to use diastaticus yet. some day perhaps. good notes on the rochefort yeast, unfortunately my main supply source has WLP540, the equivalent and its very easy to google and find that it is a yeast with frequent stalling issues and unpredictability. but i do love the idea and still may try it some day. i know you have been using it as a general ale yeast, its just clean? sort of reminiscent of a cali yeast then?

@pv

I plan my brews well in advance and I also harvest yeast from starters.  I keep a bank of 5 or so yeasts in 16oz flip top bottles in the refrigerator.  Right now I have:

Wyeast 1056 American Ale
Wyeast 3864 Canada/Belgium Ale
Danstar Nottingham Ale
Safale W-34/70 Lager
Wyeast 3068 Weihenstephan Weizen
Wyeast 1318 London Ale III

These keep me covered for nearly any brew day I have planned.  I find it pretty inexpensive to use a little malt extract to make a starter to harvest from and have enough for fermentation rather than buying a new yeast every time.  I try to keep costs down, so this works for me, and my palate is not refined enough to distinguish between two similar yeasts.  I have a lot of other brewing processes to work on that will make a bigger difference than fretting over two different Chico strains.  If I were trying to reproduce (clone?) a specific beer, i might try to get that particular yeast.  I like these yeast because they get me in the ballpark and seem to always make beer.

whats nottingham for just wondering? the rest are solid choices, and im asking in this thread becuase i do want to settle down on some regular yeasts. i just bought 2 sealable fridge jars i intend to store some yeast in as well. ones for WLP833 once im done with it.

also re: 2 suggestions for WY3864 - lol, i dont know how i feel about unibroue and about their yeast nowadays. at their best it is excellent, on the homebrew level i bet the yeast would be even better if it wasnt pushed to the extremes like i believe they do to it. some brews of theirs it feels like they must finish their fermentation at 100F

[pv]

@fredthecat

whats nottingham for just wondering? the rest are solid choices, and im asking in this thread becuase i do want to settle down on some regular yeasts. i just bought 2 sealable fridge jars i intend to store some yeast in as well. ones for WLP833 once im done with it.

also re: 2 suggestions for WY3864 - lol, i dont know how i feel about unibroue and about their yeast nowadays. at their best it is excellent, on the homebrew level i bet the yeast would be even better if it wasnt pushed to the extremes like i believe they do to it. some brews of theirs it feels like they must finish their fermentation at 100F

I like Nottingham for its relatively clean fermentation through a wide temperature range.  My biggest interest was its 14% alcohol tolerance.  I make a few pretty big beers and when bottling, this gives me a little security.  I have pushed some yeasts in the past to carbonate big beers, and they either took a long time, or never seemed to get to the right carbonation level.  It might not make a huge difference, but I have not had that issue with Nottingham.

I understand about Unibroue, loved their beers 15 years ago and just haven’t seen them around where I have lived.  I am not into searching high and low for a particular beer, and I usually only drink what I make.  I had a good run with making belgians (6 re-pitches) using Wyeast 1214 Belgian Abbey, but when I saw WY3864 came available as a limited release, I got a pack to see if I liked it better.  So far, I have made a Dubbel (Maudite-like?) and a Golden Strong Ale.  I have a Tripel and Imperial Wit planned in March.  I probably would have been just fine with WY1214 or another belgian strain.  Maybe I’ll try something different after I use WY3864 6 or 8 times.

[Joe_Beer_1 (Joe_Beer)]

@fredthecat

i tried it in two dark beers and the oak-like ester (not an equivalent in taste for actual oak in beer) was noticeable at all times. i feel like maybe i didnt make beers that were perfectly thought through or the right match with this yeast but they weren’t my favourite IMHO because of that distracting taste element. i know a lot of people love this yeast though so just my 2 cents. i would try it again some day myself in a paler beer

Could be your beers were find and it’s just not your thing. I’ll put it on my todo list and give it a whirl. Only way to know for sure. Thanks for the info!

[erockrph]

@Joe_Beer

@erockrph

When I want a more flavorful English yeast I prefer WY1469, WY1968/WLP002 or WLP013. Windsor works in a pinch as a dry yeast, but the liquid ones have more flavor expression in my opinion.

MoreBeer: "WLP013 London Ale Yeast is malty, dry and provides a complex, oakey ester character to beer. " 
This sounds super interesting for a pale ale recipe I have. Would you say the “oakey”-ness is quite pronounced, or just barely subtle?

To me, that ester is there but it blends in pretty well. I think I like this yeast because I grew up on Harpoon, and this is allegedly pretty close to their house yeast strain. The flavor is a close match for me. I get the same oaky character from Windsor and WLP037, and I think it’s the lowest in WLP013 out of those three.

@fredthecat

@erockrph

My brewing schedule is often erratic, so I tend to favor dry yeast so I can stock up and keep a supply on hand for whenever I need it. That being said, i do have a few fave liquid yeast strains:

I’ve been playing around with WY1762 as a house yeast strain over the past year or so, and for the most part it works great for malty styles. Even though it is technically a Belgian strain (supposedly Rochefort), my experience is that it is a fairly clean ale strain. It works great in English styles, and will even work in lagers with a big pitch and fermented cold. The only time I’ve gotten any esters out of it was when I was using old slurry that I hadn’t stepped up in an adequate starter. Otherwise, it’s clean as a whistle and make a great blank slate.

When I want a more flavorful English yeast I prefer WY1469, WY1968/WLP002 or WLP013. Windsor works in a pinch as a dry yeast, but the liquid ones have more flavor expression in my opinion.

i don’t brew hefe’s too often, but I prefer WY3638 over 3068. There’s a bit less banana and there’s a hint of vanilla and cinnamon in the phenolics that I enjoy.

I don’t brew Belgians often, either, but whenever WY3864 gets released I typically brew 2-3 batches with it. It has a great plummy thing going on that works really well in dark Belgian styles. It also plays nice with American hops in an Amber ale type recipe.

I’m also a big fan of WY3711/Belle Saison. Beers I brew with it remind me of dry white wine. One of the best brews I’ve ever made was a saison using 3711, Gewurztraminer wine must, and Nelson Sauvin hops. I scored a Gewurz wine kit from my LHBS’s going-out-of-business sale, so I will finally be brewing another batch this spring.

im tempted re: the recommended saisons (drew on exp brewing mentions them a lot), but i am unwilling to use diastaticus yet. some day perhaps. good notes on the rochefort yeast, unfortunately my main supply source has WLP540, the equivalent and its very easy to google and find that it is a yeast with frequent stalling issues and unpredictability. but i do love the idea and still may try it some day. i know you have been using it as a general ale yeast, its just clean? sort of reminiscent of a cali yeast then?

I just did a careful tasting of my most recent Brown ale that I used 1762 in, looking for any kind of contributing flavors from this yeast, and I couldn’t pick out any esters or other flavors that I couldn’t otherwise attribute to the malt, hops or invert. I’d say it is reminiscent of WLP007 (a clean British ale yeast), but it tends to enhance malt flavors more so than hops. There is something about British ale yeasts (even very clean ones) that just taste different than something like Cal Ale or lager yeasts. I’ve read that it’s possibly from n-propanol production, but that’s as far as I’ve gone down that rabbit hole.

@fredthecat

also re: 2 suggestions for WY3864 - lol, i dont know how i feel about unibroue and about their yeast nowadays. at their best it is excellent, on the homebrew level i bet the yeast would be even better if it wasnt pushed to the extremes like i believe they do to it. some brews of theirs it feels like they must finish their fermentation at 100F

Just keep in mind that WY3864 may have been initially sourced from Unibroue, but since then it has been maintained by Wyeast. It would not be subject to any of the quality control issues that Unibroue may be having. I ferment it at 68F, and the results are great.

FWIW, 3864 is STA1+, so if you’re afraid of the diastaticus boogeyman (and I don’t feel that you should be), then be aware.

[fredthecat]

@erockrph

I just did a careful tasting of my most recent Brown ale that I used 1762 in, looking for any kind of contributing flavors from this yeast, and I couldn’t pick out any esters or other flavors that I couldn’t otherwise attribute to the malt, hops or invert. I’d say it is reminiscent of WLP007 (a clean British ale yeast), but it tends to enhance malt flavors more so than hops. There is something about British ale yeasts (even very clean ones) that just taste different than something like Cal Ale or lager yeasts. I’ve read that it’s possibly from n-propanol production, but that’s as far as I’ve gone down that rabbit hole.

i made 2 beers with wlp007 and agree. i felt like it wasnt what i expected, since i wanted more malt, but the hops were brilliantly displayed. it should almost be categorized as an honourary chico.

@fredthecat

also re: 2 suggestions for WY3864 - lol, i dont know how i feel about unibroue and about their yeast nowadays. at their best it is excellent, on the homebrew level i bet the yeast would be even better if it wasnt pushed to the extremes like i believe they do to it. some brews of theirs it feels like they must finish their fermentation at 100F

Just keep in mind that WY3864 may have been initially sourced from Unibroue, but since then it has been maintained by Wyeast. It would not be subject to any of the quality control issues that Unibroue may be having. I ferment it at 68F, and the results are great.

FWIW, 3864 is STA1+, so if you’re afraid of the diastaticus boogeyman (and I don’t feel that you should be), then be aware.

good to note, thanks. some day lol, just not… now