help selecting house strain

[meatcleaver]

have been brewing mostly lagers since reading the xBmt over at brulosophy.
now I'm ready to brew a few ales but I'm also ready for a new yeast.
I really like malt forward beers & some of my favorites are fermented with the London ale strain so I thought maybe that?
what I want...
pretty clean at 67°ish (a few fruity esters ok)
emphasis on malt/ less attenuating than s-05/1056
drops clear in a reasonable amount of time without fining agents or cold crashing (more flocculant than Chico)
I've tried Windsor, s-04, s-05 & 1056 & none of those is quite what I'm after.
advice? opinions?
thanks advance

 

[FVillatoro]

have been brewing mostly lagers since reading the xBmt over at brulosophy.
now I'm ready to brew a few ales but I'm also ready for a new yeast.
I really like malt forward beers & some of my favorites are fermented with the London ale strain so I thought maybe that?
what I want...
pretty clean at 67°ish (a few fruity esters ok)
emphasis on malt/ less attenuating than s-05/1056
drops clear in a reasonable amount of time without fining agents or cold crashing (more flocculant than Chico)
I've tried Windsor, s-04, s-05 & 1056 & none of those is quite what I'm after.
advice? opinions?
thanks advance

Are you going to be just sticking to dry yeasts? If no, then I suggest you look into Wyeast 1028 London Ale strain. It's an English yeast that attenuates higher than WLP002 (high 70s to 80), leaves some fruity esters, and drops quicker than US-05/WLP001/etc...

I've used it a few times from an ESB (came out great), to an American Pale Ale with high attenuation and dry finish.

That yeast gives off esters depending on how high you ferment it.

I would say it's a bit of both English and Chico strains (esters/attenuation).

 

[meatcleaver]

definitely plan to order a liquid strain, just waiting for the weather to cool off a bit more.
1028 is what I was leaning towards, but Northwest ale, London ale III & London ESB look promising too.
I've used s-05 more than anything else & I love how clean it stays (no esters or phenols) but it takes forever to drop clear... usually 4-6 weeks. plus it doesn't exactly accent the malt.
I like the residual sweetness s-04 leaves behind but it has this weird tartness to me, especially in pale beers.

 

[specharka]

You may want to look into German ale yeast strains, which are remarkably clean at lower temperatures and attenuate rather well. I've made beers with both WY1007 and WLP029 and they were almost lager clean. It's also worth trying the Liberty Ale (WY1272) and Pacman strains (WY1764) which are great for clean, dry hop-forward beers. If you're interested in fruitier IPAs, WLP007, WY1318, and WLP095 are fantastic -- but need assiduous temperature control to keep the esters in check.

 

[casualbrewer]

Nottingham?

 

[estricklin]

I sort of went through this exact dilemma before. I still mostly brew lagers. I didn't care for the strange ester profile of the English Ale. I decided on Irish Ale, 1084. I still use some 05 and stuff like T-58 but for most ales I can get by with Irish Ale, or warm fermented lager yeast.

 

[JJack887]

Wlp007.

 

[ChemErik]

I may not have the experience of some others here, but I find 1084 to be just what you're describing. It's a surprisingly versatile strain.

 

[MidAtlanticBrew]

wyeast 1968 / WLP 002 is fantastic ... very malty with esters easily controlled by fermentation temp. I pitch a 64 F and let it warm to 66, then at ~ 5 days I up it to 69 for 2 to 3 days. This gives me more malt and some esters and never a hint of diacetyl. Crash for 3 days and the beer is very clear. This is billed as a low attentuator but I've found that playing with the cell count, by adding or subtracting 10% over recomended pitch rates has a dramatic impact on attentuation. I like this
one attentuated to 75 to 78%. I've repitched for as many as 6 generations with no perceived impact to taste or fermentation characteristics. When repitching, I'm careful to take the center cut

I only use this yeast for english styles (Bitter, brown ,mild and porter). It provides strong character. It might interfere with hop profiles of american ales. Maybe someone can comment on this?

 

[meatcleaver]

so now two votes for 1084? I had sorta considered an Irish or Scottish strain but haven't really read much about em. I will do some more research today.
Nottingham? I always heard/read notty needs to stay coolish (65 or so). I use a 70 qt muck tub as a swamp cooler type setup. with room temperature usually around 74, 67° (+/-1°) is about the best I can do. also, I thought notty attenuates better with less malt emphasis than I'm after.
1968 sounds great malt wise but it sounds a bit fussy. seems I'm always reading about it stalling & needing to be roused, stirred or warmed up to finish.
evidently I still have lots of reading to do. thanks for the suggestions & keep em coming!

 

[catdaddy66]

wlp007.

+1

 

[meatcleaver]

so after much research, reading about every strain available from wyeast & white labs, I'm leaning towards wlp013.
I had strongly considered 1028, but I keep reading it can be quite estery above 64 & it sounds like the white labs strain can better handle warmer temps.

 

[WakeyOz]

Wyeast 1968 London ESB is what you described in the OP. Attenuates really well, Super High floccing leaving you with a clear bright finish. Can give off fruity esters if you don't control the temp but i find it very clean at 67-68f allowing the malts to shine.