Cleanest ale yeast.

I have used a couple of different ale yeasts over the past year or so. Safeale 05, wyeast 1056 and wyeast 1272.

My question is which of the common yeasts do you think offers the cleanest flavor?

Which yeast is best as a house strain to use in pale ale, IPA, Stout and Ambers?

I like only having to keep on house yeast for simplicity.

i think the 05/1056 is pretty clean. i like 1272 a lot, but it's a bit fruity.

I find that most ale yeast, outside of hefe and belgian strains, have the potential to be very, very clean given appropriate pitching rates and fermentation temperatures. You can usually ferment an ale yeast cooler then reccomonded if you slightly overpitch and oxygenate well , Rogue has made a living doing this with pacman.

That being said, I recently fermented wyeast 1007, German Ale, at 55-58 degrees and this was the cleanest ale fermentation profile I have ever experienced.

However, it is widely regarded that 001/1056 is about as clean as ale yeast gets.

I am pretty familiar with 1272, it is nice because I get great clarity. I have used 1056 but that was before I understood proper pitching rates, so I probably have an unfair bias against it. I am really curious about the "california ale," "northwest ale" "denny's favorite" and "pacman."

It is convenient for me to ferment at 64 degrees in winter and 68 degrees in summer. Think that is cool enough?

PACMAN :rockin:

HopLife said:

It is convenient for me to ferment at 64 degrees in winter and 68 degrees in summer. Think that is cool enough?

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64's great, 68, well try to stay in the mid 60's but it should be fine, especially with yeast like 05/001/1056. 1272 gets fruitier as it gets warmer, it's nice up to 68-70ish, but i like it cooler, like 62, still fruity, but lets the hops come thru, IMO.
Pacman and Bell's yeast are nice too. Pacman's really, really clean at low temps, and can tolerate temps in the 50s. Bell's is a lot like 1272, a bit fruity, but clean. also like 1272, it can be slow to drop out, but it will make a bright beer when it does drop.

Bell's bar none but you'll have to get a bottle culture. Pacman next. Chico strain third. Denny's Favorite 50 is also damn clean with a really interesting mouthfeel.

the new White Labs SD Super Yeast is very clean wlp090

Hmm, I have a few bottles from Bell's now, maybe I will save the dregs from some of those to get myself a culture going.

I got an awesome harvest from 3 bottles of Bell's Amber.

Pacman without doubt is the cleanest yeast I have ever used.

1272 is staying around as my house strain. I tried some others and came back. I have settled in at 65 for most beers and I don't get worried if the temp rises at the end of the fermentation because it only seem to produce bad flavors if there is noticable lag time and the temp is either way too cold or way too hot. At 65-68 I am seeing krausen in 6-8 hours and active ferm and airlock activity at 8-12 hours.

My only bad experience was trying to ferment a rye beer at 65 and the yeast created strange flavors when mixed with the spicy nature of rye. My initial pitch was too low as well about 58. It just would not clarify or clean up. Drank it anyway.

permo said:

...I recently fermented wyeast 1007, German Ale, at 55-58 degrees and this was the cleanest ale fermentation profile I have ever experienced.

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I'm gonna have to try that. I like fermenting in that temperature range, but 05/1056 is widely reported to be a bit peachy down there.

I find Wyeast 1728 to be very clean. Just made a starter a few hours ago; going to use it in IPA, CDA, and IIPA in 10 days.

over pitching nottingham and fermenting at about 12-14c is pretty neutral.

wlp001 is the cleanest i've used.