Adventures on the Island of Misfit Yeast

Lately I have been using yeast that draws negative comments brewing boards to brew with and I have been very impressed with them.

I brewed the Murphy's Stout clone recipe from BYO and used Windsor yeast -- it has great flavor and my girl really digs it -- no it is not like Murphy's, though.

On Saturday I bottled a sweet orange peel wheat that I brewed with Safbrew S-33(fermented at 72F). This yeast was of particular interest to me since most of these boards indicate it is British(EDME) while the manufacture says it can be used in Belgian styles. It has mostly carbonated up and it has a great pineapple/mango finish in addition to the orange. I don't know what profile EDME produces, but is pineapple/mango considered to be British?

My 3rd misfit yeast is Munton's Active Brewing Yeast(the cheap green and yellow packet) working on Northern Brewer's The Innkeeper recipe. The airlock just stopped and I will probably bottle it this weekend. I'm hoping to go 3 of 3 with the misfits!!!

What are the other unloved yeasts out there?

I always thought people liked the Windsor yeast, but maybe I'm wrong.

shanecb said:

I always thought people liked the Windsor yeast, but maybe I'm wrong.

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Most people like the flavor profile, but don't like the low attenuation. If you use Windsor, you generally will finish with a higher gravity than you would with other yeasts.

douglasbarbin said:

Most people like the flavor profile, but don't like the low attenuation. If you use Windsor, you generally will finish with a higher gravity than you would with other yeasts.

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Ah ok. I haven't looked much into the yeast personally. Sounds like it would be decent for a session beer, though.

I like windsor alot, I always mash low with it so it attenuates though.

In reference to your original topic of taking flak for breaking from what is typical for a style, I say go for it! Is this not the purpose of homebrew, brew what you like how you like it! And number 2 reason is small batch if it sucks your not dumping 10000 gallons down the drain. How are new styles made if it is not for maverick brewers trying something new. :rockin: Long live the King of Misfit Yeast Island!

douglasbarbin said:

Most people like the flavor profile, but don't like the low attenuation. If you use Windsor, you generally will finish with a higher gravity than you would with other yeasts.

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That and it takes a trillion years to floc out.

I bottled the Northern Brewer's Innkeeper made with Munton Active Brewing Yeast yesterday. It hit a FG of 1.015. It tasted pretty good for 7 days old. I cold crashed it to 40F and it is very clear. I will update on the taste once it carbonated.

Odd, I haven't had a problem with Windsor dropping out of suspension. It doesn't seem to form a compact sediment on the bottom of the bottle though, so moving bottles can stir it up.

The muntons active brewing yeast bitter tastes pretty good to me. It has good clarity and a some British fruitiness to it. I pitched at 75F and cooled it down to 65F for fermentation. My apartment's cold water isn't that cold in the summertime.

The pineapple/mango flavor from the the s-33 ages away pretty quickly and left a clean profile.

I brewed a Kentucky common last weekend and used the s-23 lager yeast at 64F. The knock on s-23 on the forums is that it is over the top fruity at all fermentation temperatures. NB catalog states that s-23 is estery and fruity when fermented at lager temps and is very clean when fermented at ale temp. I'm giving it a go. I have 5 gallons of 1.042 OG wort with one packet of rehydrated s-23. Airlock activity started after 24 hours and has slowly ramped up over the last 4-5 days. The airlock smell is very sulphury.

The Kentucky Common turned out crisp and clean. I used s-23 again on a guiness clone. It turned out fantastic.