Hello all!
I inherited some older brewing supplies including a short book “Brew it Yourself” by Leigh Beadle. All his recipes include Superbrau as a yeast, even for the lager type beers. I was curious what is the current best all purpose yeast to make ales and lagers. I would assume it is not California common. Thanks!
I’d say either Saflager 34/70 or Lallemand Diamond Lager.
Thanks!
No one yeast will be proper for every beer but if you have a few beers within a range that are your bread and butter you can adopt a go-to strain and branch out for the occasional special beer.
Just go thru the mfr of choice catalog and select based on what your limitations or desired characteristics are such as attenuation, flocculation, flavor contribution, temp range, whatever.
Then try a couple three or four brews with each on your short list and see what you like best.
I did what I am recommending and landed on a strain that allows me to use my old fridge without overworking it, gives a neutral flavor, ferments in about a week, and clears brite. …but those are my requirements. You may may different requirements.
I use my go-to for everything from Cream Ale, Blonde Ale, Golden Ale, American Pale Ale, Amber Ale, California Common, Brown Ale, IPA, Scottish Ale, Porter and Stout. I have even snuck a faux lager or three in with it as well.
Have fun finding yours!
im gonna guess and say edinburgh ale yeast from white labs?
LOL. Nope.
Bry-97 from Lallemand.
I forgot to mention ease of storage (vacuum sealed and refrigerated), pitch (no starter — just measure and pour), and cost (~$4.50 per 14 gram pitch).
Wow, thanks for the great replies. I received this old book by Leigh Beadle from 1978 and he swears that you can make all these wonderful beers with just a slight variation few ingredients: Superbrau or Munton & Fison malt extract, corn sugar, Hallertauer hops, Superbrau yeast, Burton Water Salts with/or without 1/2 whole grain uncrushed crstal malt. I also read an article about this guy in my Smithsonian Magazine in june (https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/charlie-papazian-sparked-americas-craft-brew-revolution-180974877/) and it discussed basic brewing in the 70’s.
So, after a few all grain sessions in the garage this summer, I was tired of the heat and the insects and decided to try un-hopped malt extract recipes in the kitchen. I also was able to get two cans of Muntons Amber Malt Extract for $20 at my LHBS. My Beadlebrew Amber is now bubbling away. I only substituted ph balancer for the water salts and Safale-05 for the yeast.
I didn’t know how to insert a file here so I shared a google drive link to a scan I made of the book, if anyone is interested: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1i99ziROgxodwm3l2CvWuTZYy1Q1oIYzB/view?usp=sharing
Though we stand on the shoulders of those who’ve gone before us, new knowledge has advanced us past that foundation.
Yeast processing and selection in particular has advanced tremendously lately.
While I also believe many beers can be produced by manipulating a few ingredients, many cannot and require unique ingredients and/or processes.
I would only use that book as a treasured reference to base a recipe on, not as a go-to guide to follow with strict adherence.
If the pH balancer you mention was 5.2, skip it. It doesn’t work. It’s unnecessary for extract.
I agree that you can make a variety of beers by just changing a few indgredients. Some well known breweries do that.
A book from 1978 would not be my go to. The exception would be if I was curious as to how homebrew tasted back then.
The uncrushed crystal is a new to me technique.
Please let us know how this turns out.
5.2 is basically useless for all grain too. I tried one bottle of it and never saw any change at all, good or bad.
Paul
Yep. I just rajj across a nearly full jar of it when I was cleaning up the brewery. Used it 3 times and that was enough to figure out itnnwas wprthless and actually detrimental to flavor.
Yea, I tried 5.2 Stabilizer way back when without having a pH meter (flavor issues noted) and then thought I could use it up as a Burtonizer in English Pale Ales, but I agree that the flavor just came off “too alka seltzer like”. I tried dialing it back, but by then it was in my head and I didn’t use it again.
As to extract brewing, I have had some wonderful partial mash and full extract beers that I didn’t know were extract brewed until I commented on how fine they tasted. One is a braggot that my LHBS makes (it is a cidery and winery, so it can’t make straight beer, but the braggot fits the rules somehow.)
I have judged several BOS rounds that were won by extract beers.
I’m in a living situation where all-grain is not an option and am very happy with the extract beers I’m brewing. There’s a real good selection of extracts available these days for brewing just about any style. See “Extract Exploration” in the current issue of Zymurgy.
Like dried yeast, I think extract brewing has a bad reputation based on outdated information.
I also think it’s because it’s mainly new brewers who use extract. I think the lack of experience makes more difference than extract itself.
I agree with Denny. If one reads the publication at this link: Lager Yeast Comes of Age - PMC, one discovers that W-34/70 is the prototypical Frohberg lager yeast strain and Frohberg yeast strains grow best at 22C (72F) due to having lost a substantial amount of the genetic admixture from S. eubayunus that provides cold tolerance. That is why W-34/70 is so forgiving.
That was the state of amateur brewing when I started in early 1993. One has to remember that an amateur brewer had limited options during that period of time. I have stated many times that my aversion to dried yeast is due to the bad experiences I had with dried yeast when I first started out in this hobby. The dried yeast cultures back then could best be described as survival yeast cultures. They are the main reason why I know so much about yeast today. All I can say is that the bar was pretty darn low.
Here is a link to an add in the back of Popular Mechanics from June 1979 for a home brew kit that uses Superbrau Yeast.