Yeast strain choices

I'm going to order this weekend, as I need to restock my yeast.

I'm hoping to branch out from my "crutches", as I tend to reach for the same chosen strains over and over and over.

I tend to use WLP001 for American style beers that lean toward hops, Denny's Favorite 50 (Wyeast 1450) for many other American beers, and Wyeast 1335 for English IPAs and such.

I'm staring at both White Labs and Wyeast's sites, and just can't decide on how to get out of my rut. See, I like those strains but I really think I need to try something else, especially for British style beers.

I was thinking of WLP002 for my house English strain, but I don't think I've ever made an English IPA with this strain and wonder if it'll be what I'm looking for.

I used WLP041, pacific ale yeast, in the past and I liked it at moderately low temperatures so that could be another choice for British beers (and some American ones that I want some esters in).

I've been thinking about San Diego Super Yeast (WLP090) since I like WLP001 so much, and I was thinking that would be a good possibility.

What are your experiences? I make mostly IPAs, hoppy ambers, APAs, and a few English beers; then an occasional cream ale or kolsch-style beer, a few stouts, a few American browns. I use and reuse the yeast a few times, to make it more economical.

Otherwise, I order fresh yeast for my lagers and oddball beers.

I use S05 for quite a few beers, but don't like that it's fairly low flocculating for me. I do not like S04 much.

I rather like 1272 (American Ale II) for pale ales and IPAs. I've used 1728 (Scottish Ale) in a porter and a stout and thought it worked out quite well.
Don't have much experience with english brews. Good luck finding something exciting! Maybe try harvesting something interesting from a unique bottle-conditioned strain?

My go to English yeast is Wyeast 1469 West Yorkshire. It has a great ester profile, attenuates well and flocculates quick. I do like WLP002 but I used it for so long I kind of got tired of it.

For my American styles I have been using WLP028 Edinburgh lately. Quite clean and it's not Cal ale which I am also a little tired of.

I've only used the San Diego Super Yeast (WLP090) once, on an IIPA. The beer came out great, very well attenuated. I'd be curious to know your opinions of the yeast compared to the WLP001. I personally don't brew a lot of IPAs although I plan to, so I'm not able to compare it to a WLP001 version in a side by side.

I have some experience with Super San Diego. It's not a bad strain to work with and actually reminds me a heck of a lot of WLP001 except that it's slightly more attenuative. I brewed a pretty nice rye IPA with it at last use and i've been happy with the results. WLP007 English Ale II might be a strain you can try. It's a house strain that Stone brewing uses on most of their ales. It's very clean and highly attenuative (about 10% according to White Labs over 002) and it has a monster fermentation time. IIRC, I think it can handle ABV's up to about 12% before it craps out.

I've had great brews with Nottingham, works quickly, didn't add much flavor just a tiny bit of tartness and glues itself to the bottom of the bottle, so it's great for any beers where yeast isn't the star.

I like WLP002 for draught English Bitters, but I wouldn't like it for an IPA, or any bottled beer.

I like Wy1028 (this is NOT the same as WLP013) and WLP023 for English IPAs, and the 023 makes an interesting Bitter as well.

-a.

hillhousesawdustco said:

I rather like 1272 (American Ale II) for pale ales and IPAs.

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This ^^^^^


I also really like 1318 for porters/stouts.

Thanks for the input!

It doesn't sound like anybody has any ideas for the replacement for Denny's Favorite 50 (WY1450), so I'll stick with that.

I still haven't decided on the English strain, though! I am making an English IPA next week, and I'm leaning towards AJF's recommendation of 023, as it would make an "interesting" bitter as well. That doesn't really sound like a ringing endorsement, but it does intrigue me! The description talks about fruit flavors of apple and pear- and that sounds good as long as it's subtle.

I really like WLP007 as a strain for both US and British ales. Just ferment at a higher temp for more esters. If you keep it in the 64°F range it is at least as clean as WLP001 in my opinion. Highly attenuative and highly flocculant.

If you're looking for a separate English strain, my homebrew club recently did a yeast experiment with a mild. Wyeast 1187 (Ringwood), 1968/WLP002 (ESB), and 1275 (Thames Valley) were the best received IIRC.

Yooper said:

I'm going to order this weekend, as I need to restock my yeast.



I was thinking of WLP002 for my house English strain, but I don't think I've ever made an English IPA with this strain and wonder if it'll be what I'm looking for.

I used WLP041, pacific ale yeast, in the past and I liked it at moderately low temperatures so that could be another choice for British beers (and some American ones that I want some esters in).

Otherwise, I order fresh yeast for my lagers and oddball beers.

I use S05 for quite a few beers, but don't like that it's fairly low flocculating for me. I do not like S04 much.

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Sounds to me like you already use a few you trust.... but if it was me and I wanted to try some different yeasts I would brew a 11 gallon batch and split it in half and ferment each with a new yeast.

I mean you know what you expect from your current house yeasts so just go for it. Brew as usual and see if you can detect any difference.

I do this with Hefeweisens all the time to have some subtle difference between the two kegs...

DPB