Favorite Yeast for brewing Real Ale

[obscure]

The reason I asked is that,as mentioned,lots of breweries use dry yeast.
I'm keen to try liquid but I've no where near tried enough dried and not got the facilities to store yeast from liquid pitches..which makes it easier in the wallet!

I tend to shy away from liquid yeast for similar reasons to yourself they are more expensive and need to be stored cold, and I find on the whole dried yeast give good results, But I will concede that on the occasions I have a fondness for Wyest London Ale, I‘ve also used Omega HotHead in a few batches of bitter and found it works rather well. In lower gravity bitters I do think that the yeast can make a real difference, and it can be worth the premium.

I’ve also being looking over my credit card statement and thinking if I am willing to pay £3.80+ for a pint of cask ale in a pub why an I getting so worked up over the prospect of paying £7-£8 for a vial of yeast that will make 18 pints (I do 9L batches).

 

[Clint]

Yeah cost wise it isn't that bad really I suppose..
What sort of dates come on liquid yeast? Do you always have to make a starter?

 

[obscure]

Yeah cost wise it isn't that bad really I suppose..
What sort of dates come on liquid yeast? Do you always have to make a starter?

I tend to order Liquid yeast from Malt Miller, as one they are in Swindon so in pre COVID times if I ordered using Royal Mail it would arrive next day almost with our fail and two they give a best before date on each listing.

The Wyest 1469 Yorkshire Ale I plan to order shortly has a best before date of 16/03/21. Personally I do not bother with a starter but I make small batches (the batch of Yorkshire bitter I plan to make with this will have about 11L in the fermentor) and I mostly do lower gravity beers which is probably how I get away with it.

 

[foxy]

Yeah cost wise it isn't that bad really I suppose..
What sort of dates come on liquid yeast? Do you always have to make a starter?

According to White Labs there is no need to make a starter, but it doesn't hurt if you do. The dry yeast will last for years where as the liquid yeast does have a shelf life.
I bought a 500 gram brick of SO4 just weighed it out as I needed it, still performed right up to the last sprinkle over about 2 years.

 

[Drunkula]

The dry yeast will last for years

Yeah, I've got packets of s-33 that are six years old and still work but I kept them in the freezer when I got them, which was 4 years ago. I had the huge packets of yeast you get with Winebuddy wine kits be absolutely dead at 2 years out of date, though.

 

[RockTKaz]

I’ve had the best results with MJ M42 New world strong. Really brought the hoppy flavours out in a galaxy pale I did recently

 

[Covrich]

I find it very interesting how divisive CML yeasts are.

Some think they are brilliant, whilst many including myself think are are really bad.

I wonder if it is a palette thing? I have only treied real ale american pale and Kholsh first two which I tried a few times to be fair were really poor the last one was borderline acceptable. I just find a certain very unclean falvour with every one of there yeasts that is very consistent.

ALmost to the point where I would say I spend a lot of time making All Grain and those yeasts almost reelgate it to a cheap kit, something I have neevr had with any other yeast brand ever.

Okay so I find Gervin notty ect a little bland and I feel it surpressed flavours but its still pretty good and gives a good finish.

I must have a weird palette lol

 

[MickDundee]

I find it very interesting how divisive CML yeasts are.

Some think they are brilliant, whilst many including myself think are are really bad.

I wonder if it is a palette thing? I have only treied real ale american pale and Kholsh first two which I tried a few times to be fair were really poor the last one was borderline acceptable. I just find a certain very unclean falvour with every one of there yeasts that is very consistent.

ALmost to the point where I would say I spend a lot of time making All Grain and those yeasts almost reelgate it to a cheap kit, something I have neevr had with any other yeast brand ever.

I find them hit and miss. Their California Common yeast is great, and I really liked their kolsch yeast, but the American Pale and Real Ale I really didn’t like.

I haven’t tried their new range of “premium” yeasts yet but I have their Pia to use when I get on to doing my American IPA (in about 2-3 brews time), it seems to be well liked by the forum for hoppy beers.

 

[Cwrw666]

Yeah, currently using CML American pale and it's ok but not a patch on their CML 5.

 

[bobukbrewer]

I have never used anything other than SO4 and SO5 and I prefer SO4.

 

[Fatty]

I'm a bit fascinated by such strong opinions, both positive and negative, regarding S-04. Reminds me of the great sparkler debate. Sparkler or no sparkler on your home-brewed real ale?

 

[marshbrewer]

S04 has a distinctive, tart, taste that I find I can't get on with; I have detected it in commercial ales only to find later on that the brewery use it. I can't stand the taste, although find it conditions out eventually, but it takes an age.

I quite like some of the CML yeasts, but have yet to find a dry yeast I like as much as Mangrove Jack's Liberty Bell.

 

[trueblue]

I'm a bit fascinated by such strong opinions, both positive and negative, regarding S-04. Reminds me of the great sparkler debate. Sparkler or no sparkler on your home-brewed real ale?

SO-4 is just so bland, may as well buy supermarket Carlin or John Smiths and save 4-5 hours making wort.

 

[ColinGee]

St Austell (from a bottle of proper job).

Genuinely tasty in a huge range of styles. Have brewed bitters, ipa, golden and I’ve even just done a kolsch with it (at lower temp). Does really well at room temp as well as in a ferm fridge

I'm thinking of harvesting from a bottle of Proper Job. How did you do it?

 

[ColinGee]

I've used MJ Empire to good effect in darks. Seemed to impart really rich flavours.

 

[An Ankoù]

West Yorkshire and Ringwood yeasts, for example, come in for a lot of praise yet they are entirely different. I wonder if our choice of yeast is related to the kinds of bitter/pale ale we're used to drinking: up North, darn Sarf or Londin. Just a thought.

 

[ColinGee]

I’m a big fan of the Mangrove Jack M44. I’ve been using it for the last year or so exclusively for any pale ale that I’ve made. It took a few days for there to be any airlock activity first time round but it flocculates like a dream so I harvested some. Every batch of beer since has taken off within a few hours of pitching and the beers have reached terminal gravity in 3 or 4 days. I also like the peach/apricot esters that it throws out. It complements the hops that I’ve mainly been using (Hallertau Blanc, Cashmere, Mandarina Bavaria and Endeavour). It’s also hop forward without muting the flavour of the grain bill.

I’ve brewed over a dozen beers now from this one £3 packet and still got a few jars of harvested yeast for future batches. I can’t praise the M44 enough.

Having used MJ Empire to good effect I've been thinking of trying M44 and Liberty Bell, will definitely now!

Interested in harvesting, how do you go about it?

 

[Maxonian]

Having used MJ Empire to good effect I've been thinking of trying M44 and Liberty Bell, will definitely now!

Interested in harvesting, how do you go about it?

When I syphon the finished beer off into my bottling bucket, I add a pint of boiled water that’s been cooled to room temp to the leftover slurry. Then I give it a good swill around to get all the yeast in suspension (some yeasts like the M44 stick like toothpaste to the bottom of a bottling bucket) and then pour this into jam jars. If I’m feeling lazy I’ll just store these jam jars straight in the fridge until I need them for a brew but if I’ve got the enthusiasm then I’ll leave them for 30 minutes so that the heavier, dead yeast as well as any hop matter or trub can settle out of suspension. Then I’ll pour the top layer of liquid containing the fresher yeast into another jar, label them up and store them in the fridge. Hey presto, lots of free yeast.

On brew day morning, I’ll take one or two of these jars out of the fridge, decant the top layer of liquid and then leave it to slowly get up to room temperature. When the mash is complete, I’ll run off a pint of wort and cool this to room temp in the fridge. When the wort and the yeast are the same temp I add them together with a pinch of yeast nutrients and give it a shake. By the time I’ve finished the boil and crashed the wort to pitching temp, this starter will be ready to pitch and a few hours later the airlock is always bubbling away.

I hope this helps you. Everybody has different methods for everything, including harvesting but this has been my approach for the last 3 years and it’s served me well.

 

[Surfingobo]

Pour off your bottle of proper job carefully after refrigerating, much like a bottle of home brew keep the last few ml.

Put bottle back in fridge with a tin foil cap until ready to harvest but within a day or two.

Mix 5g of DME with 100ml boiled water and allow to cool, pour in dregs (i normally buy and use four bottles as that’s what is on offer at Tesco!)

After 3 days add another 10g DME and 100ml preboiled or pottable water

After another 3 days I do 50g in 500ml, after 3 days it’s good to pitch into 10L of 1.050 ish wort. Step it up again if needed

 

[Wiener Blut]

I've been brewing with S-04 for 9 years and it was my go-to yeast until recently, along with Wilko Gervin. I then realised it was taking something away from the beer, I do think it has changed. Never got on with the Crossmyloof yeasts, I bottle all my beer and merely looking at a bottle seemed to stir up the yeast in the bottom, it's so mobile.

MJ Liberty Bell is my new favourite, packs solid in the bottom of bottles eventually and let's the flavour really shine through.

According to this chart S-04 and Liberty Bell are the same strain. And on the few occasions I've used either of them I had the same problems of low attenuation and high acetaldehyde that had to age out. Might just be a coincidence though.

Never had those problems in my bitters using London Ale III (current favourite) or Lallemand Windsor (a pain to clear). I like Notty in crisp golden ales in the summer, but probably wouldn't use it in a bitter. Unfortunately there aren't that many English strains available here in Austria, I'll have to order some.