Brew-Jay

Recipes 

I was wondering if anyone here has dabbled with mixing two or more different types of yeast. Is there any reason why that should not done?

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Golddiggie

Recipes 

Depends on what you want to mix and how you plan to mix them. IMO, I wouldn't do it for a brew unless you had a damned great reason. It's better to select a single yeast that will get you what you want, or be close enough to not matter, then try to Frankenstein a couple of strains thinking you know what you'll get.

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Hopping Tango Brewery

跟猴子比丟屎 ・ Gun HOE-tze bee DIO-se

On Tap: Caramel Ale, Mocha Porter II, MO SMaSH IPA
Waiting/Carbonating: 12.5% Wee Honey II, 8.9% Old Ale, English Brown Ale, Lickah ESB, Mocha Porter II
Fermenting
K1: MO SMaSH IPA
K2:
K3: TripSix
On Deck: Caramel Ale
Aging:mead
Mead [bottled]:Oaked Wildflower Traditional, Mocha Madness, Blackberry Melomel, maple wine


...the right of the People to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed

kh54s10

Recipes 

It is done. In fact both Wyeast and White Labs both sell blends.

I did it once, but that was because I hadn't made a starter.

Golddiggie

Recipes 

Wyeast offers a handful of blends, with it split between yeast/yeast and yeast/bacteria combinations. IMO, IF you're going to do a blend, better off doing one that has been done with predictable results, not just go off and do it yourself. BTW, all but one from Wyeast are Belgian strains. The other is a lager (Octoberfest blend) pack.

Did it give you anything close to what you had expected/wanted?? Blending a pair of very similar yeasts is one thing, but trying to blend to dissimilar yeasts can be very unpredictable. Especially if they work in different temperature ranges, different alcohol tolerance levels, etc.

I still think selecting a single packet/vial of yeast to do the job is a far better idea. Even if that's a packaged blend. Unless you have a microbiology background/degree at least...

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My RocketHub Project

Hopping Tango Brewery

跟猴子比丟屎 ・ Gun HOE-tze bee DIO-se

On Tap: Caramel Ale, Mocha Porter II, MO SMaSH IPA
Waiting/Carbonating: 12.5% Wee Honey II, 8.9% Old Ale, English Brown Ale, Lickah ESB, Mocha Porter II
Fermenting
K1: MO SMaSH IPA
K2:
K3: TripSix
On Deck: Caramel Ale
Aging:mead
Mead [bottled]:Oaked Wildflower Traditional, Mocha Madness, Blackberry Melomel, maple wine


...the right of the People to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed

bob3000

Recipes 

Lots of English breweries have duel strains. I can't imagine anything catastrophic would happen if you pitched two different strains.

TyTanium

Recipes 

Ferment separately, then blend post-fermentation if desirable.

Qhrumphf

Recipes 

I've always used a single strain/commercial blend, unless I'm adding something for a specific reasion- namely Brett/bugs.

There's an additional Wyeast blend other than the Belgian/Octoberfest strains. There's a "Bavarian Wheat Blend" that's apparently a phenolic weizen strain plus a cleaner strain. I used it by mistake in my Dunkelweizen. Wasn't what I wanted (too clean), but it's not bad.

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Secondary: Chili Pepper Smoked Porter(s)
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kh54s10

Recipes 

I'm not sure what I was actually looking for so I cannot say whether it was what I expected but it turned out very good.

It may be that one yeast took over.

I called it "Floored IPA"

5 lbs Warminster Floor-malted Maris Otter
4 lbs American 2 row Pale
6 oz American Crystal 60
4 oz Cara-Pils

1 oz Galena 50 min.
.5 oz US Tettnang 15 min
.5 Liberty 5 min.

I used harvested American Ale 1056 and Trappist High Gravity 3787.

These were from the only jars of washed yeast I had on hand at the time. There was not enough of either to pitch just one.

That one was well received and is long gone.

Unpredictable, not reproduce-able but great nonetheless.

RobertRGeorge

Recipes 

I have finished a beer with ale yeast after cold lagering with lager yeast. The result is crisp and dry like a cream ale.

beergolf

Recipes 

I did it with a tripel I brewed. I mixed 1214 and 3787. Brew came out great. You could taste the two yeasts, but the 3787 was a little more prominent. 1214 is slow to start so I would pitch the 1214, give it a few hours head start and then pitch the 3787 next time I do it.

Mixing two strains is very doable if the both have similar temp ranges. Have some fun and give it a try.