Mixing Yeast strains
- Thread starter BeerWomb
- Start date
Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:
starrfish
Well-Known Member
"basic brewing radio" podcast did a topic on this don't know link but... worth a look one will dominate other unless they are compatible.... more info needed.
will post link if i can find it... somewhere on my ipod (free pod cast thru iTunes)... will give name:
Here's what I found:
12/10/09 mixing yeast and... (pod cast from basic brewing radio) all that shows up on my iTunes list.... should get you enough info to find full podcast.
will post link if i can find it... somewhere on my ipod (free pod cast thru iTunes)... will give name:
Here's what I found:
12/10/09 mixing yeast and... (pod cast from basic brewing radio) all that shows up on my iTunes list.... should get you enough info to find full podcast.
I meant a guideline to mixing dry yeast strains. I guess wet yeast too, but I'm only on my 5th batch. I consider myself a good brewer because I have done 5 batches with success, both taste and quality.
I want to learn the basics of brewing, yeast pitching, and fermentation before I move on to complex stuff like partial mash and mashing with whole grains.
I want to learn the basics of brewing, yeast pitching, and fermentation before I move on to complex stuff like partial mash and mashing with whole grains.
Well generally when mixing strains is an experiment, unless someone has done those two specific strains before. If you're using dry yeast, I would rehydrate them together and pitch and see what happens. You'll either get a mix of the profiles of the two yeasts, or one will dominate the other. I don't see this being useful with dry yeast as there are so few types and styles that you're likely not going to get enough variation to notice much difference. With liquid yeast you'd be able to mix and match many different styles, but I would only use strains you're familiar with already so you know what to expect from each strain individually before they are combined.
With only 5 batches under your belt, I'd say hold off on trying this for now until you're further along. I don't mean to discourage experimentation, but I feel it's always better to learn and keep it simple until you're very comfortable with one style of beer or type of yeast and THEN start screwing around with changing things. Too many variables changed at one time means you don't know what affect each variable has by itself.
With only 5 batches under your belt, I'd say hold off on trying this for now until you're further along. I don't mean to discourage experimentation, but I feel it's always better to learn and keep it simple until you're very comfortable with one style of beer or type of yeast and THEN start screwing around with changing things. Too many variables changed at one time means you don't know what affect each variable has by itself.
If you do a yeast blend, you can generally get away with it on the first brew - for the most part the yeast flavors will both sort of show up, but might also be kind of muddled together. But if you re-use that yeast you will start to get one strain dominating over the other.
For a repeatable flavor blend, try splitting the batch and fermenting half with one yeast and half with the other, and blending the two beers together in order to highlight the flavors you want highlighted.
For a repeatable flavor blend, try splitting the batch and fermenting half with one yeast and half with the other, and blending the two beers together in order to highlight the flavors you want highlighted.
