How important is the yeast?

[trueblue]

can I ask why? Haven’t used it before but was planning to on a English pale ale next. Shop didn’t have Fresh liquid yeast So went for dry. I’ve found Us05 to be as good as liquid equivalents so thought I’d give 04 a go too.

My dislike goes back many years. For many years I only used yeast cultured from bottles of Worthington white shield but in the 1990s they stopped brewing it for a while. Pre-internet my only source of ingredients was a local shop and the only yeast he stocked was SO-4. After a few months of producing boring insipid characterless beers I gave up brewing altogether. I did still visit the shop as he would sell draught beer to take away so when he started to sell Nottingham and Windsor several months later I returned to brewing and around a year liquid yeast became available.

 

[dillz2003]

I kind of "discovered" liquid yeasts this year after sticking to the same few dried varieties. I was previously in the camp of " its all about the malt and the hops" and "no way am I paying 8 quid for posh yeast"

With the liquid yeasts I overbuild a DME starter and keep some for the next batch. What I've been doing though is tasting the starter liquid to understand what taste a specific yeast brings to the party when the malt is identical. It's quite an eye opener actually having a tasting session where the only variable is yeast. Yeast starters aren't that nice but it does help you understand the flavours.

Now I use both dried and liquid depending on what I want to achieve.

 

[Edison]

I need to start doing both of these things!

 

[Drunkula]

Because I do lots of split batches it's easy to tell the difference. If I'm drinking something from different batches then it's easy to see how you could think there isn't a difference.

Think about what you want from brewing. Having the same old bitter again and again is not for me. It's about adding more and more pieces to the internal Lego brewery.

Somebody I know just thinks you need ekg, fuggles and Nottingham and that should be enough for anyone and i think oh just die, you old *******. He's actually a few months younger than me. He's just forgotten what being alive was like.

 

[AdeDunn]

I kind of "discovered" liquid yeasts this year after sticking to the same few dried varieties. I was previously in the camp of " its all about the malt and the hops" and "no way am I paying 8 quid for posh yeast"

With the liquid yeasts I overbuild a DME starter and keep some for the next batch. What I've been doing though is tasting the starter liquid to understand what taste a specific yeast brings to the party when the malt is identical. It's quite an eye opener actually having a tasting session where the only variable is yeast. Yeast starters aren't that nice but it does help you understand the flavours.

Now I use both dried and liquid depending on what I want to achieve.

I tasted the starter from Imperial Pub once, was ruddy delicious! It's Fullers strain, and drops like a brick when finished too. Never actually got around to using the yeast sadly....

Because I do lots of split batches it's easy to tell the difference. If I'm drinking something from different batches then it's easy to see how you could think there isn't a difference.

Think about what you want from brewing. Having the same old bitter again and again is not for me. It's about adding more and more pieces to the internal Lego brewery.

Somebody I know just thinks you need ekg, fuggles and Nottingham and that should be enough for anyone and i think oh just die, you old *******. He's actually a few months younger than me. He's just forgotten what being alive was like.

Sounds like somebody who would enjoy living in the West Midlands. A lot of the brewers here think that beer should consist of pale ale malt, a tiny bit of black malt, fuggles for bittering, EKG for aroma/flavour and done.... Then they just vary the quantities of each for different styles of beer.... lol Very boring, and yeah, I keep trying to like beers with fuggles in, and keep failing as they taste like somebody put soil in them to me..... Earthy and metallic.

For a long time, my go to for English styles was MJ Liberty Bell as it was so dependable, dropped out nicely but didn't stick to bottles very well. Good fruity flavours from it though, made a really convincing Hobgoblin Gold clone with it once for example. Then I discovered Omega Hothead Ale (Stranda strain Kveik) which dropped out like a brick and stuck to bottles like glue, and could either be totally neutral at 20-22 degrees C, or add tropical fruit flavours up to about 30 degrees C or so.... Used it for everything for quite a while, just varying fermentation temperature (via pitch temperature and using blankets) to vary results. Kinda gone back to basics this time around, trying out some more dried yeasts.

 

[Cwrw666]

Somebody I know just thinks you need ekg, fuggles and Nottingham and that should be enough for anyone and i think oh just die, you old *******. He's actually a few months younger than me. He's just forgotten what being alive was like.

Or maybe he's just found his perfect ingredients.

 

[Slid]

I find myself asking this question often.

I've been brewing 11 years with a variety of yeasts, and despite all the advice, I really can't tell the difference between them taste-wise. I tend to pick them based on how much they firm up in the bottom of bottles, just used MJ M36 Liberty Bell for the first time and it's disappointed me because it's left quite a hazy beer.

I used Liberty Bell for the first time earlier this year and then re-used trub in two more. I was also unimpressed by the haziness and the rather peppery taste, but the haze cleared and the pepperiness mellowed to nice estery taste that seemed more in keeping with English beer styles than my usual US05.

So I suggest leaving it for 3 months and try again.

 

[Cptn_Needa]

Somebody I know just thinks you need ekg, fuggles and Nottingham and that should be enough for anyone and i think oh just die, you old *******.

That’s actually the plan for my next Brew

edit: I am adding honey too at the end of the boil

 

[foxy]

Yeast is like any other ingredient, its liked or not liked, I love CN-36 for a nice dry finish, but SO4 can bring something in something else, yeasts bring out different characters to the beer, never ever write any off.

 

[Baz Chaz]

Funnily enough I'm experimenting with yeast ATM, when I started brewing (we're talking late 70's) there wasn't a lot of variety available, from what I remember, local brewshop in the market only had a couple of choices!

I'm trying Kveik voss, New England and Verdant yeasts, together with different hops, some very interesting beers appearing, very impressed with the results. To be honest, think tastes have changed a bit over the years as well, mine certainly have since been travelling a lot over the years.

 

[Drunkula]

That’s actually the plan for my next Brew

I'm guessing you won't be completely closing yourself off from anything else if you like it and expect that everyone should do the same?

If anything else happens to exist in the brewing world - hops, grains, methods, will you whip your head to the side like a toddler in a high-chair presented with a spoon full of peas if there's mention of them?

Fuggles, missionary and Bisto on thee boiled tataturrs is all a man neeeeds. Doggy fashion is for foreigners and perverts and there'll be none of that under this here rooof.

My fictional exaggerating of his monologues is even making me angry because they're too real.

 

[Cptn_Needa]

Fuggles, missionary and Bisto on thee boiled tataturrs is all a man neeeeds. Doggy fashion is for foreigners and perverts and there'll be none of that under this here rooof.

I’m definitely a foreigner