How many "house" strains do you work with?

As the previous poll was fundamentally flawed , here's the new one:

I'm curious as to how many yeast strains everyone maintains and regularly uses. Over the years, I've chosen strains to best fit the type of beer I feel like making, but am now contemplating just maintaining three or four for routine use, and brewing styles around those strains. Additionally, I wash every strain I use, which shakes out to me coming back to stored yeast sometimes well over a year since I've originally washed (with good success).

So! How many strains do you bother maintaining?

Just 2.5, really. I use US-05 for the bulk of my beers, T-58 for most Belgians (though I also use 3787 now and then), and S-04 once in a while.

I use Nottingham, S-05, and T-58. Sometimes I'll use a Kolsch yeast, but I usually don't wash and re-use it.

I do mostly english ales, my house strains being WLP023, burton ale, and WLP005, ringwood. Burton is for beers of a pale-ish hue, where I want more fruit, and ringwood is for the darker stuff.

I'm really trying to narrow it down. Wyeast 1056 is a favorite of mine, and I really like a few of the English strains. As time goes on, I'm trying to get myself down to 3.

I can't really say. I go through phases where I use one strain a lot, and others just here and there as I need to. I was on a 1318 kick a while back, but now my tastes are changing to 1968 with a little S-04 here and there. Eventually, I'll probably make it back to using 1028 all the time (my first love).

The only consistently used one is S-05, otherwise it just depends on what I'm making.

I've taken my lead from a local pro: standard yeast, wheat, Belgian.

I use Edinburgh now for more than half my beers and ciders. I harvest and wash it - its definitely the 'house' variety. I luvs that yeast . . . .

I also use WLP001 on a semi-regular basis. The only time these days I use any other yeast is when I do a Belgian style or a lager.

I bank most of my yeast, but currently I have,

WLP001
WLP568? Saison trappist blend
St. bernardus
Ommegang
Gordon Beirsch Kolsh
Wyeast 1335 British Ale II
Wyeast 3538PC Leuvan Pale Ale
Wyeast 3638 Bavarian Wheat

About to add WLP023, and currently culturing my own trappist/abbey strain from forcing sexual reproduction between the Ommegang and Bernardus strains.

I used a different yeast every different batch/style before I started working in the industry and realized how inexplicable that was. In the brewery where I did my apprenticeship, they did all English and American styles with one yeast: Ringwood. Yes, we did American IPA and APA etc. with Ringwood. That's how I learned yeast management.

Since then, I've come to basically one "basic" ale strain (which has floated between S-04 and Nottingham, occasionally Windsor), one Belgian strain (Wyeast Ardennes), and a lager strain (34/70).

Okay, I tell a lie. Sometimes I'll get some Ringwood from the local brewpub.

But I strongly advocate selecting a select few strains and getting to know their characteristics. Then you can tailor the ferment and get exactly what you want without switching strains. Some people don't like having a "house" flavor. I dig that.

Cheers,

Bob

Just S-04 and US-05, really. I use lots of other yeasts, but these are the two that I use more often than any others. My bank of washed yeasts has been depleted due to laziness, but I have 5 or so liquid varieties in my fridge now.

Bob said:

In the brewery where I did my apprenticeship, they did all English and American styles with one yeast: Ringwood. Yes, we did American IPA and APA etc. with Ringwood. That's how I learned yeast management.

Okay, I tell a lie. Sometimes I'll get some Ringwood from the local brewpub.

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The Ship Inn?

scottish ale, weihenstephan lager, kolsch and forbidden fruit. All my favorites.