Yeast Matched with Style

[Ppeg34]

Being a college student home brewer, I like to pinch pennies where ever it is possible. One of those places is yeast. Yeast washing saves me a very significant amount of money over the course of many beer batches. I was hoping you guys could suggest what yeast strain is the best for each particular style.

I would want to compromise on different yeast strains for each of these categories:

Stouts and Porters

All IPA's
(maybe one yeast for IPA's and Pale Ales if possible)
Pale Ales

Brown Ales to Amber Ales

Wheat Beers

Lagers/California Common/Kolsch Beers

If you think of any other good compromises I would gladly take those as well.

Thank you so much in advance for sharing your wealth of home brew knowledge with novices such as myself.

 

[merkinman]

You could do your Stout, Porter, IPA, Pale, Brown, and Amber with the same yeast. I would choose an English or American strain you like the best (Wyeast 1056, 1028, 1968, Whatever American II is, etc,)

The wheat would have to be a wheat strain, naturally.

The Lager / Kolsch, ? California could all be done with the same strain, and I would recommend Wyeast Urquell if you do not have temperature control.

 

[MalFet]

Being a college student home brewer, I like to pinch pennies where ever it is possible. One of those places is yeast. Yeast washing saves me a very significant amount of money over the course of many beer batches. I was hoping you guys could suggest what yeast strain is the best for each particular style.

I would want to compromise on different yeast strains for each of these categories:

Stouts and Porters

All IPA's
(maybe one yeast for IPA's and Pale Ales if possible)
Pale Ales

Brown Ales to Amber Ales

Wheat Beers

Lagers/California Common/Kolsch Beers

If you think of any other good compromises I would gladly take those as well.

Thank you so much in advance for sharing your wealth of home brew knowledge with novices such as myself.

It's all well and good to try to keep your yeasts simple, but the groupings you have proposed here don't really make sense. There is often more variation within a style than between styles.

For example, American IPAs are typically made with something like WLP001, whereas a British IPA would use WLP002. American stouts are again 001, and British stouts again 002. On the other hand, for some styles a specific yeast is essential: saisons, cal commons, hefes. Other yeasts are extremely versatile and will cover an extremely wide variety.

Maybe start with a single yeast that you plan to use for just about everything and then branch out if you start to find it limiting? If you like american beers, the Sierra Nevada yeast (WLP001, Wyeast 1056, US-05) is great. For British beers, the fullers yeast (WLP002, Wyeast 1968) is pretty versatile. Rogue's Pacman is also extremely versatile (Wyeast 1764) and does well in a wide variety of temperatures.

 

[Pappers_]

I've discovered that I really like White Labs' Edinburgh strain and use it in a variety of beers. Adjusting the ferment temperature, I can use it for a variety of American styles.

 

[mpruett]

I'd say that you really only need one yeast strain for all that, because most American ales and wheat beers are brewed using wyeast 1056, and you can brew it relatively cool for a lager-ish character for California Common and lager clones.

Then, once you have that down, and you want to branch out, I'd get one of the German hefeweizen yeasts, and then finally, if you have temperature control, get something like wyeast 2124 / Saflager 34/70 for lagers (it's a great general purpose strain).

 

[Ppeg34]

I don't really know why I had a perception that there would be a good compromising yeast for each of the styles.

If you take a step back and think about this example:

There are sweet stouts and dry stouts and the most dominating factors for flavor profile in this example are malt and hops.

The biggest factor in this example pertaining to yeast is attenuation. This can be controlled by things like mash temperature, fermentation temperature, and by the amount of yeast you pitch, not necessarily what type of yeast you use (although they can also affect these things).

So assuming these to be true: Is it a good idea to brew different styles with the all around wyeast 1056 until I find I become limited by the yeast as opposed to my brewing methods?

As a side note: This forum is awesome. I really believe more information is available on this site on brewing good beer than there is anywhere else in the world.

 

[MalFet]

I don't really know why I had a perception that there would be a good compromising yeast for each of the styles.

If you take a step back and think about this example:

There are sweet stouts and dry stouts and the most dominating factors for flavor profile in this example are malt and hops.

The biggest factor in this example pertaining to yeast is attenuation. This can be controlled by things like mash temperature, fermentation temperature, and by the amount of yeast you pitch, not necessarily what type of yeast you use (although they can also affect these things).

So assuming these to be true: Is it a good idea to brew different styles with the all around wyeast 1056 until I find I become limited by the yeast as opposed to my brewing methods?

As a side note: This forum is awesome. I really believe more information is available on this site on brewing good beer than there is anywhere else in the world.

Sure. On p. 56 of Chris White's book "Yeast" there is a table offering suggestions for brew pubs wanting to maintain 1, 2, 3, etc yeast strains. Think of it as a "most diversity for your buck" list. The order goes:
1) Cal Ale (1056, wlp001, us05)
2) German Hefe
3) German Lager
4) English Ale
5) Irish Ale

I strongly disagree with some of the choices (Irish before Belgian? Blasphemy.), but it's a reasonable way to think about it. Pick a neutral strain and run with it.

If you want to make something special, pick up a smack pack and see how you like it. Better yet, do half a batch with the smack pack and half with your house strain. If you decide that strain is unique enough that it's essential to your production, it's time to expand your operation. If you find yourself managing more types of slurry than you can handle, it might be time to consider freezing.

Remember, some styles will do better than others with an neutral strain. Neutral ale will be great for stouts, ipas, pale ales, etc., but I'm not sure I'd want to make a hefeweissen or a belgian that way.

FWIW, if I had to pick a single house yeast it would probably be pacman, though the Sierra Nevada yeast would be a close second.