Differences in yeast

[Hollyberries4343]

I am new to brewing..please help me understand the differences in yeast...for example why use lavlin ec118vs Montrachet....or white labs California ale vs. white labs British ale....when is it ok to substitute?
I just ordered a bunch of extract kits and many of them are pilsners...I am going to start harvesting yeast and saving them so I don't have to keep spending $7 on yeast..however I don't have space for tons of small jars in the fridge....is there a general chart explaining the differences in yeast and why one perticular style is used for a kind of beer...

Right now I just buy what the kit tells me...usually white labs cause it's a nice small vile for my fridge....but I would love to learn more about yeast in general..
Thanks in advance!

 

[Captain Damage]

This chart has some brief descriptions of many of the common strains available. Btw, "esters" generally refers to fruit and spice notes. Different yeast strains will express different levels and different types of esters. The banana and clove flavors of hefeweizens come from esters produced by the yeast. Ester production is greater at higher fermentation temperatures.

You can also go to the manufacturers' web pages and read their descriptions; most online retailers will offer descriptions; and most brewing software will have descriptions.

This chart shows the source breweries for many strains and reveals that many strains are available from more than one yeast producer. E.g., White Labs 001 and Wyeast 1056 - also Danstar US05, Btw, though it's not in this chart - both come from Sierra Nevada brewery (it's colloquially referred to as the Chico strain).

There's also this book, Yeast by Chris White, president of White Labs and master hombrewer Jamil Zainasheff.

 

[hercher]

Here is a handy chart.

As far as the more general portion of your question, you can pretty much substitute anytime, as long as the yeast you are using is suitable for the style. For example, California ale yeast vs. British ale yeast: you can use those interchangeably. They will bring different profiles to your beer, but both can be used for just about any style of ale you choose.

You'll find that some yeasts accentuate your malt profile more than others, some yeasts are very neutral in flavor while others provide very distinctive flavors (e.g., yeasts used for lambics, hefeweizens, saisons, sours, and so forth). Some yeasts attenuate more completely, some yeasts flocculate better than others. It's really a matter of personal preference.

 

[BigFloyd]

Doing pilsners (or other lagers) with actual lager yeast may not be the best way to start for a new brewer unless you have a "brew mentor" that has done lagers before. Lagers are generally more technically challenging than ales. Pilsner in particular is one of the most difficult styles to brew well with no glaring flaws.

For lagers in general, you need to be able to:

1) Chill wort down into the 45-50*F range before pitching yeast.

2) Oxygenate the wort. That means bubbling O2 from a tank through a stone or aerating it very well mechanically.

3) Pitch lots of yeast. The desired pitch rate for lagers (1.50 and up) is twice what it is for ales. If using liquid yeast, that means big starters. One vial of White labs yeast (100 billion cells that goes down over time) isn't even close to the number of cells you need for a typical 5 gallon lager.

3) Ferment cold and at a steady temp. Around 48-54*F for most lager yeast followed by a diacetyl rest for 3-5 days at 60-64*F after it hits 80-85% fermented.

4) Long-term cold lagering for 6+ weeks at 34-36*F.

Pretty easy, huh?

 

[jonmohno]

I dont think having small jars of yeast would take up that much room in a fridge? But if you have only a tiny fridge and extremely limited space then I would opt for the dry yeast-its cheaper and almost as cheap as harvesting yeast from each vial. I think I got like 3-4 vials harvested out of 1 vial starter then I would just make a starter for each harvested vial a few days before brewing (2-2.5 gal batches) or a step starter for 5 gallon batches or bigger abv beers.For me it equaled about 2 bucks a piece including gas from the small road trip to the lhbs. Kits are not exactly cheap either youll find and the money thing will go out the window too,but it doesnt have to and you can do all grain fairly cheaper-but I wont get into that right now.

 

[Curtis2010]

Doing pilsners (or other lagers) with actual lager yeast may not be the best way to start for a new brewer unless you have a "brew mentor" that has done lagers before. Lagers are generally more technically challenging than ales. Pilsner in particular is one of the most difficult styles to brew well with no glaring flaws.
....
Pretty easy, huh?

+1. Pilsners esp, and lagers in general, are more technically challenging to brew in a home brewing environment. Not where I would recommend starting, but you've already ordered the kits. Get set up to control your ferm temps, and mash temps, before you brew. Sanitation becomes more critical too.

Pilsners have a limited number of ingredients and must be brewed very "clean" or the flaws will easily show thru. In contrast to a dark ale in which there are lots of other things going on and thus lots of opportunity to cover up flaws. I use the analogy to wearing a thong (Pilsner) versus a trench coat (dark ale)...not much to hide behind in a thong.

As suggested: hook up with a mentor or at least do lots of research and posts here on HBT. Research (and get set up to do) mash temp control (typically low mash temps for a Pils), ferm temp control (crucial...true lager yeasts will produce more off flavors at out of range ferm temps), clean and santize very carefully, and very important: patience and time...you can't rush a good lager...count on 45 days minimum...time can make a huge difference in the end result.

 

[Curtis2010]

Re yeast. Unless you really want to stylistically nail many different styles you don't need a lot of different strains of yeast and you dont need jars larger than 1 quart (and smaller will work for banking yeast between batches). Just a few strains will cover you for most ales and lagers.

Dry yeasts will store in their original packaging, refrigerated, for quire a long time (IIRC Fermentis quotes 24 months). I live in a remote location so use dry yeast (which also travels better) and bank a few strains of yeast.

Liquid yeasts are a bit more tempermental, but there are more techincally specific strains available. Research starters...you want to make one for liquid yeast but just rehydrate dry (per manufacture's instruction).

To answer part of the original question: yeast choice can make a huge difference in beers if you really want to nail the style. If you just want to make a generic ale, and don't really care about style, then most any generic brewers yeast will do (in some cases even bread yeast will work acceptably). But, if you brew at higher temps with lager yeasts the end result can be unsatisfactory (California Common/Steam strain excepted).