Best yeast for Brewer's Best Holiday Ale?

I've got two empty fermenters sitting here and only one recipe kit on the way from Midwest. Given that I have a hard enough time keeping the pipeline full anyway, I decided to swing by the LHBS at lunch today and pick something out of their limited selection.

Even though my intention was to get something that could be turned around quickly, the stock on kits was pretty low and none of the quick turnaround stuff looked at all appealing. Ended up with the Holiday Ale kit. Sticker on the box calls for an OG in the 1.070 range, so this is a reasonably big beer and is going to have to age out at least a little. I'm hoping it will be reasonably ready by Christmas.

Since this is going to be taking up valuable carboy space for a while, I want to make sure I get it comes out good.

Anyone who's brewed it before, should I go ahead with the packet of Nottingham in the kit, or is there a better option from White Labs? (LHBS doesn't carry Wyeast, and I'm brewing tomorrow so can't order yeast online.)

Since I'll have to go with White Labs if I go liquid, and I don't really have time for a good starter, how many vials?

I actually have a yeast cake of Nottingham in my biggest carboy from an APA I just did. About an inch and a half thick at the bottome of a 6.5 gallon carboy. Looks to be mostly yeast, not seeing much trub. So I could potentially rack from the kettle onto that, but I'd want to look it over pretty good first. My sanitation and sealing of the carboy weren't done with the intention of racking back into it, so who knows what's gone on in there in the last couple days?

AKAIK, you don't want to let that yeast cake dry out if you are going to rack straight to it. But that's just what I've been told by more experienced brewers than myself. I've never tried. Personally, I would be really reluctant to try it. I would use the Nottingham before I did that.

Hi sub- I brewed the BB Holiday Ale kit last year and am looking over my notes now since SWMBO really loved this and said she preferred it to Great Lakes Christmas Ale! I swapped the 1lb of corn sugar for 1 lb of Pilsen light LME, and by mistake added the spice pack at 60 minutes rather than at 15 minutes. At the 15 minute mark, I added 1/2 tsp of allspice and proceeded with the recipe as written. After cooling, I pitched WLP011 and measured the sg at 1.068.

In three weeks, FG was 1.014 and stable for three days. I primed to 2.5 volumes CO2- and bottled. This was the end of October 2010. We drank a bottle 2 1/2 weeks later (I bottle in 22 oz bombers for sharing with SWMBO) and it was already terrific. I guess what I'm saying is that this didn't seem to need long conditioning in the primary or in the bottle! The spicing was really nice and quite mellow through the Xmas seasom, and it was difficult but I kept 3 bottles aside to compare to this year's batch, which I am brewing this weekend.

cervezarar,

Did you make a starter with the WLP011? If so, how large?

Due to my schedule getting busy soon, today is my last chance to brew for awhile, so whatever route I take I'll probably not do a starter. From your experience do you think it would be significantly beneficial to pitch 2 or 3 tubes?

I still may just go with the Nottingham. It's one of a very few dry yeasts that I actually like.

If I recall, I made a 1 liter starter. I sought the liquid yeast because there were issues in 2010 with Nottingham viability, and I didn't want to risk yeast stress and long lag times. I, too, bought this kit on a whim between batches. The same situation, none of the kits really appealed to me, and it was getting close to the holiday season.

I believe Nottingham will be fine and definitely cheaper than 2 or 3 tubes of liquid yeast. I am definitely a believer in going with what you like!

I bought this kit yesterday myself. I think it's going to be super good with the crystal, chocolate and all the spices. I think I'm going to go ahead and get it going tomorrow.

I've had nothing but good luck with nottingham so far, so I'm going to stick with that

Here's a thought...

I have some Sierra Nevada yeast that I've been growing from the dregs of about 15 SNPA bottles. I'd have to check the growler it's in to see if I have enough yet, but any thoughts on how well that yeast would match with this beer?

It sounds kind of appealing to me. On the other hand, this was one freakin' expensive ingredient kit. Not sure it's one I want to turn into an experimental batch.....

subliminalurge said:

Here's a thought...

I have some Sierra Nevada yeast that I've been growing from the dregs of about 15 SNPA bottles. I'd have to check the growler it's in to see if I have enough yet, but any thoughts on how well that yeast would match with this beer?

It sounds kind of appealing to me. On the other hand, this was one freakin' expensive ingredient kit. Not sure it's one I want to turn into an experimental batch.....

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Yea, I paid $55 for it, so I'm not going to mess around with this one. I'd just stick with the Nottingham. Cause $55 is out of my comfort zone to experiment with. When he rang me up, I was flabbergasted. Usually his kits are 30-40.

I used the WLP007 because it is highly attenuative and fairly neutral. The chico strain is also, so it will probably be a great substitute. Notty will be good, too. This is a spiced brown ale, so any neutral yeast will be fine to allow the spicing and maltiness to shine. If I recall, Notty is included with the kit-- you can undoubtedly use it and have a great holiday ale!

subliminalurge said:

Here's a thought...

I have some Sierra Nevada yeast that I've been growing from the dregs of about 15 SNPA bottles. I'd have to check the growler it's in to see if I have enough yet, but any thoughts on how well that yeast would match with this beer?

It sounds kind of appealing to me. On the other hand, this was one freakin' expensive ingredient kit. Not sure it's one I want to turn into an experimental batch.....

Click to expand...

You know Sierra Nevada uses plain ol WLP001 right? Just a vial of that sounds like a way more sure thing than a whole bunch of dregs... I've heard that the dreg yeast is the least desirable out of the process

If you are going liquid I would use a Irish Ale Strain... I just brewed up my Samuel Smith Winter Warmer using Wyeast's version.

bottlebomber said:

You know Sierra Nevada uses plain ol WLP001 right?

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Really? A couple years back I followed a big long discussion on some forum (maybe this one) where people were going to great lengths to harvest and propagate it.

Not doubting you, I guess that whole thing just left me with the impression that it was some difficult to find house strain.

Oh well, I'll keep it going. It's my first steps moving into any sort of yeast management beyond "buy smack pack, pitch smack pack". Even if the yeast is nothing special, I suppose it's still good practice and experience.

Im pretty sure wlp001 is to sierra nevada what wlp500 is to Chimay. You could probably google it and find some info

Just finished brewing this. Was going to wait til next weekend but the SWMBO went shopping with her mom. It's cooling now. First brew on the turkey fryer. Had a slight boilover. It smells phenomenal. Going to pitch the yeast in about 15.

motleybrews said:

Just finished brewing this. Was going to wait til next weekend but the SWMBO went shopping with her mom. It's cooling now. First brew on the turkey fryer. Had a slight boilover. It smells phenomenal. Going to pitch the yeast in about 15.

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So im not the only one who's brewing plans suddenly come to the front burner when the wifes gone? Mine leaving tomorrow morning till Monday... I think an Irish Red is in order

I brewed this Holiday Ale this past Sunday and Used the Nottingham yeas that came with it, at about 20 hours in the airlock starts bubbling like crazy so I watched it throughout the night last night and it seemed to be ok, This Morning my wife wakes me up and says "These Beer coming out of the top of your Pail" Awesome!! I get to do a blow off for my second batch !!

bottlebomber said:

Im pretty sure wlp001 is to sierra nevada what wlp500 is to Chimay. You could probably google it and find some info

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I actuality made the connection with I discovered SN was in a city called Chico.

How is everyone's Holiday Ale coming Along ? What are your plans for aging ? anyone going to secondary ? I was going to start with Hydro readings at about 3 weeks in but haven't decided yet on secondary, Interested if anyone else had any suggestions for this brew.

Thanks

Mine's been in primary just over a week now and is still fermenting down. Haven't really decided on my aging plans yet. My hope is to serve this one at a wedding over Thanksgiving. I was originally planning to age this one out until at least Christmas, but I've been asked (and SWMBO agreed on my behalf) to bring 6 different batches to the wedding, so this one's probably going into the lineup.

I know it won't be in its prime by then, but hopefully it will be approaching "decent" in that time frame.

mine has been in primary for 10 days. going to let it sit for at least 3-4 more weeks. I've already got 1 holiday ale i'm going to have bottled and ready in time for thanksgiving. i want this to be in good drinking condition by Christmas week.

This was my first time brewing at my new house. Slowly getting the mancave built into a bar/brewery, but wanted to go ahead and get this going, and not have to move it when i'm ready to bottle. Fermentation took a couple hours to get started. I pitched the yeast at 68*. Fermentation started late that night (6 or so hours lag time). And I know airlock activity isn't a good indication, but it quit bubbling about 4 days in. I think this is due to the temperature. My new place sits at 68*, and there was a point early on in the fermentation where we were doing a lot of yard work and painting, so the doors and windows were open for a while at a time. The thermometer on my bucket reached over 72* at some point. The coldest room by far in the house is the guest bathroom, where my bucket is currently sitting at a happy 64*. i'm not too worried about it. Figured that it'll have plenty of time to sit and come into its own if there are off flavors thanks to the spike in temp.