Thougts on using wyeast 1968 in EVERYTHING?

I have heard you can use it in everything. I used it a Stone IPA clone, and am thinking about using it again in American Pale Ale. I'm thinking about using it as my house strain. The guys at Northern Brewer said they loved it and use it in all beers. I'm curious what others think about using an English yeast in an American Beer. Anyone use it in an American IPA/PA and love it? From what I hear Stone Brew, and Lagunitas use it as their house strain, and I love their beer. It doesn't typically accentuate hop aroma (which I like most) but it produces a maltier beer. I love hop aroma so I'd end up adding more to compensate. Also, I ferment at a consistent 66 degrees, and don't do a diacetyl rest (don't have the option). The Stone IPA cleared out fine without it. How do beers using this yeast turn out without doing a diacetyl rest? Thoughts anyone?

Cheers!

Sure, if you think it would make your life easier to stick to a single yeast, that would be a reasonable one. Plenty of breweries use a single yeast and a single base-malt in all their beers, adjusting the rest of the recipe to achieve (some of) the variation that particular yeast characters can give you. So long as you're sticking to clean ales (no lagers, no belgians, no yeast-centric stuff like cal-commons), there's no reason you wouldn't get good results.

I know of a popular brewery here in Florida that uses Wyeast 1275 as their primary house strain. I've considered doing the same but I can't because I like the flavor profiles from many different yeasts too much! It's definitely possible to use a single yeast for everything. If you're happy with your yeast choice then that's all that matters.

I am asking myself the same question after learning my favorite local brewery (Kane!!) uses an English strain. I have tried by 007 and 002 and will be trying 005 next hoping to land on one for a house yeast. I think 002 will win out thought if my brown ale is any indicator and I will just learn to adjust mash schedule and recipe to accommodate the lower attenuation.

I use 1968 alot in my pale ales. As long as you pitch correctly you can be drinking them quickly.

I do mash at 148F to increase attenuation and can get 75-80% out of it. Higher mash temps give me 65-70%. YMMV.

Drops clear but does have a condsiderable ester profile.

I would not try to go above 10% abv.

I love Wyeast 1968, I've used it in several beers and they all came out great.

My local brewpub uses 1318 for everything except his belgians and it definitely works for him... his beers are fantastic.

Seven said:

I know of a popular brewery here in Florida that uses Wyeast 1275 as their primary house strain. I've considered doing the same but I can't because I like the flavor profiles from many different yeasts too much! It's definitely possible to use a single yeast for everything. If you're happy with your yeast choice then that's all that matters.

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I love this yeast. I started off using it in my Citra IPA but have now used it in Pale Ales, a Brown Ale and Stout with a lot of success.

edit - My new LHBS only has White Labs so I've switched to WLP023 (Burton Ale) which is supposed to be the same strain. I can't really confirm or deny that but I am pretty confident it is based on repeat recipes using that yeast instead of the 1275.