Yeast Dilemma, asking for help in choice.

I screwed up and bought the wrong yeast. I had planned to buy pack of S-04 and fat fingered a packet of S-05. I have ingredients for an English bitter.

I also have Nottingham, Windsor and Munich packets that I could use. If I go with the S-05 is this going to be dramatically different than the S-04? I was thinking maybe the Nottingham or considering putting off the brew day.

I'd probably use Windsor. What's your expected SG for that beer? Windsor won't attenuate as much as Nottingham, but it'll throw off a little more esters.

Beersmith is predicting 1.046. I have used Windsor only once and it did not perform great, finished out at 1.016. It was a wheat beer and was prior to the release of Munich dry yeast. If I keep the mash at 148 to 150, would this help get the final gravity down a bit lower than normal for Windsor?

It might...I'll defer to those more experienced on that one.

If you're concerned about the FG though, you might want to use Nottingham instead of Windsor.

Please post the complete recipe and intent. Without more specifics, we'll be unable to provide any real help.

Pick one, brew & drink. Next time use the one you intended and see if it makes a difference to you. Nobody can define your palate except you. The experimenting is part of the fun.

I am partial to S05, have used 04 but generally go with 05 no matter the style - I throw caution to the wind. Let the brew gods strike me down!

Yuri_Rage said:

Please post the complete recipe and intent. Without more specifics, we'll be unable to provide any real help.

Click to expand...

Regrettably my computer with the beersmith program is at home. Basically, there's 7 lbs of Pale ale malt, 1 lb flaked corn, and 1 lb Crystal 60L. It' got EKG hops at 60, 30 and 15 minutes.

It's a recipe from one of the books I read. I cannot remember if it is from J. Palmer or someone else. I've never made a bitter so I wanted to work with something proven first. The one ingredient that I do not have is the S-02.

I think I am going to try the Windsor, if for no other reason than to get rid of it. I wanted some of the fruit esters and I don't think I'll get that from the Nottingham.