Which Yeast to use as House Yeast

[private4587]

Hi everyone I am looking to use liquid yeast and I am looking to use it as a house yeast. My question is which one, I am looking to brew mainly bitters, porters and stouts. would i get away with on or would i need a mixture. I have currently a wyeast 1469 which i used for a TT landlord and I am going to rebuild it to use on a TT best bitter

 

[Sadfield]

Brewing mainly bitters and dark beers using a house yeast is pretty standard practice amongst 'Traditional' British Breweries. So I would suggest brewing a Bitter recipe with a variety of yeasts and choose the one that you like best. The differences between yeasts will be more noticeable in the Bitter than the darker beers. Stouts are a bit more forgiving when it comes to yeast selection.

Selecting a house yeast only becomes a bit more tricky when you start to cover more hop forward American styles and malty, yeast forward UK styles with the same yeast.



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[-Bezza-]

Perhaps consider using two different strains together to get something a bit more unique?

 

[ACBEV]

I brew most of my beers with Wyeast London Ale III. Its very good for all English type beers...

Originating from a traditional London brewery, this yeast has a wonderful malt and hop profile. It is a true top cropping strain with a fruity, very light and softly balanced palate. This strain will finish slightly sweet.

 

[Zephyr259]

I've brewed a London porter with the West Yorkshire yeast (bit geographically challenged...) and it was lovely. A milk stout fermented with it is conditioning now and I plan to brew a bitter in the next week or two.

I had good experience with Wyeast 1099 Whitbread Ale, made a tasty brown ale which was quite clean fermented at 18c, lovely fruity bitter at 20c and a barley wine which is 2 months into bulk conditioning.

 

[trueblue]

Whitelabs WLP002, English, will cover all British strains, drops like a stone so always produces clear beer. My favorite yeast, it's never let me down. Reputed to be the Fullers strain. I believe Wyeast 1968 is the same yeast although I've not used it for around 20 years.

 

[Dutto]

I use the Gervin 12 Dried Yeast (aka Wilko Ale Yeast, aka Nottingham Yeast) which is sold in 11g sachets.

If you get stuck, it can be sprinkled on as a dried yeast, or it can be made into a Yeast Starter overnight, or it can be harvested from the last brew and made into a Yeast Starter.

Personally, it is my Number One "go to" yeast for everything apart from Lager brews. It's relatively inexpensive, readily available and so far I have only had one brew "stick" when using it.

It is often described as "bland", but as a person who has brewed and consumed beer made from bread yeast I tend to rely on my grains and hops for flavour rather than the yeast. :thumb:

 

[Thumper]

Anyone tried Lallemand Windsor? I like the look of the flavour profile.

 

[foxbat]

Whitelabs WLP002, English, will cover all British strains, drops like a stone so always produces clear beer. My favorite yeast, it's never let me down. Reputed to be the Fullers strain. I believe Wyeast 1968 is the same yeast although I've not used it for around 20 years.

I use the drier WLP007 which Whitelabs claims to have similar flavour characteristics. Like your description of WLP002 it's a totally reliable workhorse, drops clear quickly and for me seems to finish at 1.007 regardless of what I do with the wort! I must try WLP002 some time for beers where I want a fuller (sic) body.

 

[Saisonator]

Tried the Fullers yeast with great results, good for any British style.

 

[foxbat]

Tried the Fullers yeast with great results, good for any British style.

What gravity does it finish for you? I guess mash temperature would help as well if you can remember.

 

[Saisonator]

It was a golden ale, started at 1.050 and finished at 1.011.
Mashed at 65C

 

[Honk]

When I looked into popular house yeasts a while ago wlp002 / wy1968 seemed to be the most popular and i did a few beers with it that turned out good, but I'd also like to try a few others so hoping this thread gets some good suggestions.

 

[Covrich]

I brew most of my beers with Wyeast London Ale III. Its very good for all English type beers...

I really like this yeast, give a really nice finish.

 

[Sadfield]

When I looked into popular house yeasts a while ago wlp002 / wy1968 seemed to be the most popular and i did a few beers with it that turned out good, but I'd also like to try a few others so hoping this thread gets some good suggestions.

WY1728/WLP028 Scottish/Edinburgh Ale would be my suggestion. Enhances malt character without any detrimental effect on hops. I've used it on American and British Ales from IPAs to stouts. It handles high abvs also. Ferment cool for clean beers and warmer for more ester driven UK styles.

WY1728. Our Scottish ale strain is ideally suited for the strong, malty ales of Scotland. This strain is very versatile, and is often used as a “House” strain as it ferments neutral and clean. Higher fermentation temperatures will result in an increased ester profile.

WLP028. Scotland is famous for its malty, strong ales. This yeast can reproduce complex, flavorful Scottish style ales. This yeast can be an everyday strain, similar to WLP001. Hop character is not muted with this strain, as it is with WLP002.

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[Saisonator]

WY1728/WLP028 Scottish/Edinburgh Ale would be my suggestion. Enhances malt character without any detrimental effect on hops. I've used it on American and British Ales from IPAs to stouts. It handles high abvs also. Ferment cool for clean beers and warmer for more ester driven UK styles.





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Good call

 

[GerritT]

Lallemand yeasts in my limited experience tend to end with a relatively high FG.
Still testing, next batch of ales will be part of a series of ales (Greg Hughes) with CML US Pale Ale Yeast. Different hops, same malt base and yeast. Really looking forward to it :)

 

[Zephyr259]

WY1728/WLP028 Scottish/Edinburgh Ale would be my suggestion. Enhances malt character without any detrimental effect on hops. (snip) Ferment cool for clean beers and warmer for more ester driven UK styles.

I've read varying opinions on this one, it fermented a hoppy blonde beer well for me before I had temp control and was struggling with ambient temps of around 16c. At what temp do you see the esters making themselves know and what are they like? I've heard they are very overpowering and not pleasant so to keep it cool at all costs.

 

[-Bezza-]

Lallemand yeasts in my limited experience tend to end with a relatively high FG.
Still testing, next batch of ales will be part of a series of ales (Greg Hughes) with CML US Pale Ale Yeast. Different hops, same malt base and yeast. Really looking forward to it :)

We should confer! I was planning on doing the same thing (and probably the same grain bill) but split the batch in two and do half with the same yeast and the other half with a different yeast each time.

 

[Sadfield]

I've read varying opinions on this one, it fermented a hoppy blonde beer well for me before I had temp control and was struggling with ambient temps of around 16c. At what temp do you see the esters making themselves know and what are they like? I've heard they are very overpowering and not pleasant so to keep it cool at all costs.

I find it goes fruity at higher temps, but I've not pushed the temp too high. Without my records, I'd say no higher than 21C, usually around 19C with the odd lower temperature fermentation at 16C. Most of my beers are Anglo-American in feel, using a mixture of British and American ingredients, style and technique, so find this yeast a good compromise between Chico and a more expressive British Ales yeast.

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