Looking for a book about yeast. Mostly interested in which strains will produce what profiles under different settings. Also, interested in harvesting yeast. Didn't find much in way of specific reviews of Jamil's book "Yeast: The Practical Guide to Beer Fermentation." Would this get me started?
Yeast book
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Kaz
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Good overall text on Yeast biology, handling, re-use etc. It won't give you the flavor profiles under different settings. It will explain why some yeasts produce different flavors under different circumstances.
doctorRobert
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I was hoping Jamil would have more on the flavor profiles of the yeast, but he doesnt go too much into individual yeast strains. Still have to rely on hbt searches and the manufacturers website.
BrewThruYou
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I thought the book wasn't very useful to a homebrewer. Lot of technical jargon and no real practical lessons.
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I am reading it now. Almost through with it. The 2nd chapter is a brutal read. WAAAAAAY too much science for me. I think it's a good book, but it could have been written in a 1 page....CONTROL TEMPS AND BE CLEAN...that pretty much sums up the whole book if you are not a biologist.
littlelord
Well-Known Member
yeah the book is super interesting but it is heavy on the science... so don't get it if you're not interested in learning about yeast biology.
PseudoChef
Well-Known Member
If you are wanting to learn about yeast, you need to learn about the biology behind it - after all, it is a living organism.
Also, you can't explicitly write a comprehensive guide on yeast and flavor profiles because there are such widespread differences in brewers' systems and palates, that what one tastes will be different from another. There are too many variables in brewing for this to be a feasible guide.
Also, you can't explicitly write a comprehensive guide on yeast and flavor profiles because there are such widespread differences in brewers' systems and palates, that what one tastes will be different from another. There are too many variables in brewing for this to be a feasible guide.
The yeast style guide and yeast strain guide on the Wyeast site are good resources to start. An excerpt from 1272:
"...Ferment at warmer temperatures to accentuate hop character with an increased fruitiness. Or, ferment cool for a clean, light citrus character...." They list different yeasts for different styles, and the descriptions are fairly helpful in selection.
On the White Labs site there are user reviews of many of their products, some of which get into taste profiles.
There are yeast washing and harvesting tutorials here on this site and elsewhere, of course.
Not exactly a book, I know, but worth some reading for those that haven't looked recently and aren't looking for biology....
"...Ferment at warmer temperatures to accentuate hop character with an increased fruitiness. Or, ferment cool for a clean, light citrus character...." They list different yeasts for different styles, and the descriptions are fairly helpful in selection.
On the White Labs site there are user reviews of many of their products, some of which get into taste profiles.
There are yeast washing and harvesting tutorials here on this site and elsewhere, of course.
Not exactly a book, I know, but worth some reading for those that haven't looked recently and aren't looking for biology....
PoppinCaps
Well-Known Member
Sorry to wake this from the dead, but what I am hearing is that there is no definitive work on yeast biology, propagation, controlling flavor profiles, etc -- written by/for the homebrewer?
I'm a believer that yeast is the most important part of achieving the beer you want, followed closely by the other 3 parts. I know there are others out there with me. While the information on this forum and others scattered all over the interweb are excellent sources of general information and personal experience, I think it would be great to have one place where someone getting into brewing, the intermediate brewer and advanced alike can all browse data and share their experiences about very particular aspects.
I guess I'm talking about a Wiki of sorts, but I think it has to start with a backbone of data. Call it an outline, organized scattering of methodical semi-scientific methods/results, whatever. Like PseudoChef said, this particular aspect of brewing is so bound to science/biology that you can't avoid it. However, what if it was presented in such a way as to give the reader only as much as they want to? I'm thinking an online book, maybe a newsletter, that is continuously updated with personal experiences and experiments, where after some time it turns into a source of information only as detailed as the reader wants.
For example, the section for the life cycle of the yeast cell may begin with an overview of population growth - lag, exponential, stationary phases - tied to how this relates to your beer. If you want to know how glucose is broken down at that point, why yeast prefer one sugar to another, things that affect it and what you can do as the brewer, the reader can click on that and learn as much as he/she wants.
I'm still looking for that golden book about yeast culture and how it affects your beer. Lots of texts exist about brewing in general, ad nauseam, but none that I'm aware of that gives the homebrewer the ability to fully understand and use their brewing fungal prowess.
If anyone here is still following me (I'm kind of writing stream of consciousness), what I'd like to hear is two-fold:
1) What sources on homebrew (or not) yeast culture out there are the ones you most often use or are the most helpful and why, and
2) What kinds of information are missing. For example, I read a lot about how to properly propagate yeast starters, based on what historically has worked in the past. What I don't see is data, strain-specific or not, saying that yes, 1:10 dilution of starter to wort will give you the quickest fermentation without lag time, or based on X number of replications using 1.030 wort with a stirbar allowed to grow for 24 hours leads to a cell density between 180-210 million cells per ml. Without the stirbar, you can expect X # of cells. You know where I'm going. The information is out there and in your brewing notes. We just need to organize it.
I'm a microbial biotechnologist by education and training, so I'm not just putting this out there for someone else to take on. I'm more than willing to organize the effort. This forum has such a vast amount of information floating around its servers and all of your beer soaked grey matter, let's find out if something like this is needed.
Let's hear your thoughts.
I'm a believer that yeast is the most important part of achieving the beer you want, followed closely by the other 3 parts. I know there are others out there with me. While the information on this forum and others scattered all over the interweb are excellent sources of general information and personal experience, I think it would be great to have one place where someone getting into brewing, the intermediate brewer and advanced alike can all browse data and share their experiences about very particular aspects.
I guess I'm talking about a Wiki of sorts, but I think it has to start with a backbone of data. Call it an outline, organized scattering of methodical semi-scientific methods/results, whatever. Like PseudoChef said, this particular aspect of brewing is so bound to science/biology that you can't avoid it. However, what if it was presented in such a way as to give the reader only as much as they want to? I'm thinking an online book, maybe a newsletter, that is continuously updated with personal experiences and experiments, where after some time it turns into a source of information only as detailed as the reader wants.
For example, the section for the life cycle of the yeast cell may begin with an overview of population growth - lag, exponential, stationary phases - tied to how this relates to your beer. If you want to know how glucose is broken down at that point, why yeast prefer one sugar to another, things that affect it and what you can do as the brewer, the reader can click on that and learn as much as he/she wants.
I'm still looking for that golden book about yeast culture and how it affects your beer. Lots of texts exist about brewing in general, ad nauseam, but none that I'm aware of that gives the homebrewer the ability to fully understand and use their brewing fungal prowess.
If anyone here is still following me (I'm kind of writing stream of consciousness), what I'd like to hear is two-fold:
1) What sources on homebrew (or not) yeast culture out there are the ones you most often use or are the most helpful and why, and
2) What kinds of information are missing. For example, I read a lot about how to properly propagate yeast starters, based on what historically has worked in the past. What I don't see is data, strain-specific or not, saying that yes, 1:10 dilution of starter to wort will give you the quickest fermentation without lag time, or based on X number of replications using 1.030 wort with a stirbar allowed to grow for 24 hours leads to a cell density between 180-210 million cells per ml. Without the stirbar, you can expect X # of cells. You know where I'm going. The information is out there and in your brewing notes. We just need to organize it.
I'm a microbial biotechnologist by education and training, so I'm not just putting this out there for someone else to take on. I'm more than willing to organize the effort. This forum has such a vast amount of information floating around its servers and all of your beer soaked grey matter, let's find out if something like this is needed.
Let's hear your thoughts.
kappclark
Well-Known Member
I learned alot from Chris White's book on yeast ... made me think alot more about quality and viability.
StMarcos
Well-Known Member
A lot of irrelevant information. The whole back of the book is a lab manual for staining etc., an requires chems that most homebrewers will never obtain. The charts for stepping up starters are written assuming you don't use a stir plate. I would think that most peeps reading the book would be using stir plates. It's like they went for the really basic, skipped over the middle ground, and then discussed advanced. There were a lot of useful tidbits and I did learn some things, but I feel that the book was not consistent and could have been a lot better. Sterile technique is covered much better in Stamet's mycology texts. I still recommend the read, especially if you can borrow a copy.
