goatchze

Recipes 

I currently have 3 go to lager recipes (a Bock, a Pils, and a Vienna) that I have been making repeatedly and enjoy. I currently have a frozen yeast bank with one strain (Wyeast Bavarian Lager 2206) which I use for all 3 recipes.

However, sometimes I'd like to brew a quick ale and would like to add a yeast strain to my bank. I keep 4 grains on hand (as you might have guessed, Munich, Pils, Vienna, and CaraMunich).

What recommendations can someone give me for an ale yeast strain? I'm looking for a strain that can give me the greatest flexibility in style and flavors for pale ales, IPAs, brown ales, etc.

I'm not really interested in brewing wheat, Belgian, or Hefe's at the moment.

So what is a good, all-around ale yeast? Recommendations?

Tonedef131

Recipes 

Sounds like you enjoy German beers, so I might recommend 1007. It's a very clean German ale strain and with the malts you listed there you could make a very decent Alt.

tetrylone

Recipes 

White Labs WLP001 California Ale Yeast is really good if you'd like the hops to shine through and you'd like a non-estery yeast.

I personally like the English Ale Yeast from whitelabs as it plays up the maltiness and adds a hint of fruit but it really depends on what you like.

__________________
-Tetrylone

?~?Que?~?

drayman86

Recipes 

+1 on that recommendation. California Ale yeast is my favorite all-around "utility" yeast, especially for Ales.

illin8

Recipes 

What about Wyeast 1056?

__________________
South County Brewing Co.
Primaries 1 & 2: Apfelwein
Primary 3: EdWort's Haus Pale Ale
Bottle Conditioning: AHS Oktoberfest, Biermuncher's Centennial Blonde

On deck: Nothing (recently moved/working on the laundry list)

mccarthy

Recipes 

Safale SA-05 is cheap and quick, I like the wyeast ale strains but in all honesty I like the 05 is probably the best yeast ive used and did i mention its ultra cheap. pretty much my go to yeast for an ale.

goatchze

Recipes 

Thanks for the info; I'll have to try Safale sometime! But I intend to add this yeast to my bank. Dry yeasts tend to be rather contaminated with other strains and cost isn't much of an object (I'll be reusing multiple times throught the bank, spreading the cost out).

So it looks like the Cali Ale Yeast it is! This seems to be exactly what I'm looking for. 1056 is a close runner up.

Thanks everyone for your help!

Braid

Recipes 

If cost isn't too much of a factor, try 3 different ones and go with the one you like. I have 5 different strains in my bank now. I personally recommend Nottingham if you are planning British style ales, but you may also want to consider adding some 2 row to your grain orders.

michael.berta

Recipes 

+1 on Nottingham. Pacman is good too; if you can find it.

Yankeehillbrewer

Recipes 

Wyeast Kolsch 2565 might work well for you too, it has medium to high attenuation but low flocculation. I really like it in my lighter beers.