A single yeast for all/many styles of beer...

I read an article or thread sometime ago (years ago) that was talking about some homebrewers using a single yeast, usually something like a california ale yeast, for almost every different beer they made, and with relatively great success. The idea being that you could ferment ales in their ideal temperature range and kind of fake lagers given the characteristics of that yeast at ale temp ranges. They also suggested that you should tailor your yeast choice somewhat towards the temp range of your fermentation area for optimal results... which of course a cali common yeast covers almost all.

Also, they argued this significantly cuts down the cost per batch because you could buy a high quality cali ale yeast from wyeast or whitelabs and just keep growing it and repitching on top of it.

I found this to be a fascinating idea and I'm curious as to what some of your opinions are regarding this. I'm not suggesting that this is some end all solution... buuut, it seems somewhat feasible.

What do you see as pros and cons of this type of practice? Do any of you do this or anything like it now?

On a commercial scale, having a "house" yeast makes perfect sense to me. It'll give all of your beers a "branded" taste, cut down on costs, etc.

I'm always surprised when breweries like Great Divide tell me they use 15-20 yeast strains. Avery up in Boulder only uses three AFAIK, a california ale, 3787 and 3463. They worked with one of the yeast companies to develop a custom cali ale.

For homebrewing, yeast is so cheap I like using different strains. I use S-04/05 a lot if I don't want to make a starter, and 3787 or 3463 for my Belgian beers. Part of the fun of homebrewing is trying new things, and things you couldn't ever buy. I recently made an Irish stout with a Kolsch yeast, and it was awesome.

About 75% of what you brew is usally WLP-001 or 1056. so that's the yeast to pick if you want a house yeast. Since most of the flavors in most styles is yeast derived, I want to build a library and use the best most flavorfull yeasts to create beers that are very different. That's like saying to a cook you can only make chicken dishes. It's going to be very boring soon.

It really depends on what styles you like to brew. If you're a fan of American Ales, you can be very successful only ever using WLP001/1056. I used 1056 for four or more batches in a row and that is a great way to save money.

Obviously, if you want to brew English ales, belgian styles, or lagers, you'll need a different yeast, but if you stay within one of those groupings, you could probably find one yeast to use for all your beers within that grouping too.

That is my plan. get a couple of yeasts i like and stick with them.

For me, the 1056/S-05 is the workhorse in my house....

Last 5 batches for me were:
1x Denny's Favourite 50
4x 1056/S-05

I will be bringing some 1272 home soon as I have a bunch of recipes calling for that.

you guys all make some valid points. s-05 is my standard workhorse as i tend to brew a lot of american style ales and i have never been disappointed in this yeast.

obviously trying to brew a lot of belgian style beers with this type of yeast or any beer in which the yeast plays a large role in the flavor profile wouldn't be appropriate.

it's more of a theoretical idea to try to make things economical and simple as possible i suppose.

I use Pacman for just about everything. The only other strains I have used or plan to use at this time is Kolsch and Tappist ale.

But don't limit your tastes to one yeast if you are just beginning. The best way to do it is plan out your brews ahead of time and brew beers that allow you to use the yeast from previous fermentation. Just wash the yeast to store some samples and leave some in the fermenter and rack your next batch on it.

Or get multiple fermenters for multiple yeast strains.

Right now I am in the process of building my pacman yeast up. Started with a low gravity pale ale, washed most and left some. Racked Dead Guy clone (mid-high gravity) on the yeast I left. I am using some of the washed yeast for a brown ale then I am going to use the entire yeast cake for a high gravity stout. At the same time I am saving the entire yeast cake from the dead guy clone for a barley wine.

I have not bought yeast in 8 months, and the yeast I did buy came from the dregs of a commercial brew

Maybe next year I will do the same with another strain, but the dead guy is a repeat recipe for me so I will always have some washed pacman yeast on hand for it

For a long time I was nothing but US-05. IPA and Stout all the way, with an American Wheat here and there. Then I started washing yeast and now I carry also a Belgian strain and a more malty strain (1338 for now). But as far as I'm concerned, unless you want a clovey/banana hefe, a spicy Belgian, or a buttery British beer, US-05 does a pretty good job.