What British yeast

All,

I am doing what has been dubbed "world tour months", where I am brewing 3-4 styles from a region each month. This last month I brewed 25 gallons of belgian beers from a single vial of yeast. Next month, partly due to St.Patty's day and partly due to club competitions coming up, I am doing the UK. I am wanting one liquid yeast to brew this months beers. I will, however, use a dry yeast (notty for the old ale) if I can use it for one of the other beers. This is what I am brewing:
ESB-club competition
Irish Red
Stout-exactly what kind TBD
Old Ale-club competition for December.

My question to HBT is, what yeast would you use, that is appropriate for all four (if there isn't one tell me) of these beers?

Well, besides the ESB those aren't really styles where a lot of English yeast character is really needed or wanted usually. You could go with WY1098 or 1099 at low temps if you want a clean malt profile for the Irish Red, Stout and Old Ale; it would even do 'ok' in the ESB.

Though if I had to use one yeast to brew all those styles and still make award winning beer, I'd use Pacman. At higher temps you get some of those typically English esters and at lower ones you get a very clean maltiness that is perfect for stout and irish red. Not an English yeast strain per se, but it would work for all of them quite well.

I'd probably choose between the Fuller's (1968) and Guinness (1084) strain, as either one has 3/4 covered per the usual wisdom. Sorry, I don't know the White Labs numbers. I have no doubt that both strains can do all four quite easily, with good results.

Definitely Irish Ale yeast. It's perfect for the stout and red, and I hear it makes good bitters as well. It has a very unique flavor that is really nice though. You'll be happy with it.

You know, I think that WYeast West Yorkshire, or While Labs Yorkshire Square Ale would be great in all of these. that or the WLP005, ringwood. They are all very malty yeasts, and would work great in all of these beers, imho.

I've been using Wyeast for my brews so far...

I would say that you could probably get away with 1084 for some of the brews, depending on the type of stout you're going for. You could use 1728 or 1318 for the ESB and old ale...

I wouldn't limit myself to just one, or even two, yeasts to cover an entire region. Especially the UK, since you have Ireland and Scotland in the mix. If you were to do the three bitters versions, then you could use one yeast. Cover most stouts/porters with another, and the old ale/strong ale/Scotch ale with another. Match the yeast to the brew on deck, not try to cram one yeast into several distinct styles...

Also, what's your fermentation area's temperature range? Do you have temperature control for that area? That, very often, will determine if the yeast will work for a set style, or not.

White Labs 002 English Ale for your ESB and Bitter needs. Supposed to make a good Red as well.

Being a perpetually poor college student, I can't drop $6 on each batch of beer just for yeast. I have ability to control my fermentation, my current fermentation temperature is 67. I am going to use the Fullers strain for the ESB but I reall like the idea of using pacman for the old ale....

marc06 said:

Being a perpetually poor college student, I can't drop $6 on each batch of beer just for yeast. I have ability to control my fermentation, my current fermentation temperature is 67. I am going to use the Fullers strain for the ESB but I reall like the idea of using pacman for the old ale....

Click to expand...

Even poor college students can learn to wash yeast. BOOM!

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/yeast-washing-video-189615/

Saved my life bro!

marc06 said:

Being a perpetually poor college student, I can't drop $6 on each batch of beer just for yeast. I have ability to control my fermentation, my current fermentation temperature is 67. I am going to use the Fullers strain for the ESB but I reall like the idea of using pacman for the old ale....

Click to expand...

I'd say go with Safale -04. If you haven't tried it yet you should. It's awesome stuff and very versatile.

Consider using Burtons Salts to really add some authenticity.

shamrockdoc said:

Even poor college students can learn to wash yeast. BOOM!

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/yeast-washing-video-189615/

Saved my life bro!

Click to expand...

How else would I be able to do this, let alone brew 25 gallons of belgians with one yeast vial!

I also like the idea of the 04 for the other three.