Blending Yeast strains

[stblindtiger]

I am planning on brewing Jamil's Brewing Classic Style's Wee Heavy (McZainashef's Wee... SG of 1.099, Mash temp of 154, Ferm Temp of 65F), but my LHBS only had one Edinburgh Scotch Ale yeast tube and it's best before date was August 4th, 2012. He just gave me the tube for free, but I also bought 4 packs of US-05.

Since the yeast was over 4 months old (WLP028) I just pitched it into a 2L starter. (I would have used a starter anyway, but...) I'll be making a 10 gallon batch and fermenting in two 6 gallon PET's, so I'm going to add 2 re-hydrated packs of US-05 to each carboy.

What do you think my best choice would be for the WLP028 starter? Should I just add the Edinburgh Ale starter to one of the carboys (along with the two re-hydrated US-05's), or should I try to split the Edinburgh Ale starter between the two carboys (along with the two re-hydrated US-05's per carboy).

Do you think it even matters? I've never blended yeast in a batch before (other than a sour beer), so I'm not sure how it would affect the flavor. The majority of the yeast is going to be US-05 (even if I just add the WLP028 to one carboy), so I'm not sure if it even really matters?

Thanks!

 

[stblindtiger]

Since no one has responded (I know it has only been a few hours, but I'm going to mash in pretty soon) I'm guessing it doesn't matter what I do with it?

 

[Calder]

Pitch the Scottish in one batch. and the S-05 in the other. It will give you 2 different beers.

 

[stblindtiger]

Thanks for the reply! I only had one 4 month old vial of Scottish yeast though... if I had two vials of it (old or not) I wouldn't have had a problem with that. It just won't give me enough yeast with one vial.

For each 5 gallon carboy I'm going to need 385 billion yeast cells. With the 36% viability yeast (at best), even with a stir plate (that I don't have) it would only give me 217 billion. I just shake the starter every hour or so when I can to try and build up as much yeast as I can...

 

[Calder]

I think I would still try to just use the Scottish.

It should give you some nice flavors being stressed (under-pitched), whereas the S-05 will give you a clean ferment.

I suspect it will get thru the wort fine. If the vial has been stored/treated properly, you probably have lots more yeast than you think, and intermittent shaking will give you decent cell growth.

Worst case - it stalls ......... Then you will have a healthy cake to rack onto from the other batch. But I suspect you will not need to use this.

 

[stblindtiger]

True... I didn't think of racking it onto the other yeast cake. I'll also have the other two packs of US-05 in reserve if it does get stuck. I'll give it a try! Thanks!

 

[Dilligaf76]

I've been waiting to hear some answers to this.
One thing about it; no matter what yeast combination you use or don't use, it'll still make beer!

 

[stblindtiger]

I ended up taking Calder's advice.... one carboy using Edinburgh Scottish Ale Yeast, the other with US-05. I'll update when they are ready...