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- Nov 11, 2013
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Last night, my brew buddy and I attended a "Know your yeast" event at our LHBS (as part of Baltimore's Beer Week) and it was utterly eye opening!
The event consisted of one big batch of beer, a "base model", lightly hopped pale ale, brewed as a single batch and then split into 6 different small batch fermentors. Each separate fermentor was pitched with a different fermentis dry ale yeast strain. This way, when the beers were finished, the ONLY difference between them would be the flavors imparted by the different yeast strains.
This is the first event of this type I have been to and it was utterly amazing to see just how much the exact same brew can changed by using a different strain of yeast. Some of which, the only way I believed that they were "the same beer" was because of the paper sitting in front of me. Even the brewers who made the beer couldn't believe that the yeast strains had such a profound effect on the final beer.
All in all, we tried 6 different yeast-specific beers:
- Safale US-05 (American ("Chico") style)
- Safale S-04 (English Ale (ESB-esq))
- Safbrew WB-06 (German Wheat Beer)
- Safbrew T-58 (Similar to trappist style)
- Safbrew S-33 (General purpose belgian style)
- Safbrew Abbaye (Higher Alcohol Abbey style)
Each yeast strain had a REMARKABLE impact on the exact same grain bill/hop schedule brew. The most amazing contribution, in my opinion, was the WB-06. I cannot believe that there was no wheat in the grain bill AT ALL for this beer AND that the same wheaty flavor was not present AT ALL in any of the other beers (literally, ONLY a yeast flavor contribution). The fact that a "pale ale" can be transformed from a German style wheat beer taste to an ESB to a Belgian Abbey by yeast selection alone is utterly fascinating!
As a "progressing" home brewer (been brewing for 2 years = ~ 15 recipes done but still learning a lot), this event was exactly what I could have hoped for to learn the importance of yeast strain selection and just how much that selection can impact the final brew. For anyone who has an event like this going on near them, it will be one of the most eye opening experiences of your home brewing "career."
Our LHBS is doing another event called "Know your Hops" tomorrow night. Same idea as with the yeast strains just with a different hop variety in each "mini-batch" which I hope will be just as eye opening as the yeast event.
My hat is off to the folks at Nepenthe Homebrew Store in Baltimore for organizing and hosting such an eye opening and fun event....all for free! Can't wait for tomorrow's event!!!
The event consisted of one big batch of beer, a "base model", lightly hopped pale ale, brewed as a single batch and then split into 6 different small batch fermentors. Each separate fermentor was pitched with a different fermentis dry ale yeast strain. This way, when the beers were finished, the ONLY difference between them would be the flavors imparted by the different yeast strains.
This is the first event of this type I have been to and it was utterly amazing to see just how much the exact same brew can changed by using a different strain of yeast. Some of which, the only way I believed that they were "the same beer" was because of the paper sitting in front of me. Even the brewers who made the beer couldn't believe that the yeast strains had such a profound effect on the final beer.
All in all, we tried 6 different yeast-specific beers:
- Safale US-05 (American ("Chico") style)
- Safale S-04 (English Ale (ESB-esq))
- Safbrew WB-06 (German Wheat Beer)
- Safbrew T-58 (Similar to trappist style)
- Safbrew S-33 (General purpose belgian style)
- Safbrew Abbaye (Higher Alcohol Abbey style)
Each yeast strain had a REMARKABLE impact on the exact same grain bill/hop schedule brew. The most amazing contribution, in my opinion, was the WB-06. I cannot believe that there was no wheat in the grain bill AT ALL for this beer AND that the same wheaty flavor was not present AT ALL in any of the other beers (literally, ONLY a yeast flavor contribution). The fact that a "pale ale" can be transformed from a German style wheat beer taste to an ESB to a Belgian Abbey by yeast selection alone is utterly fascinating!
As a "progressing" home brewer (been brewing for 2 years = ~ 15 recipes done but still learning a lot), this event was exactly what I could have hoped for to learn the importance of yeast strain selection and just how much that selection can impact the final brew. For anyone who has an event like this going on near them, it will be one of the most eye opening experiences of your home brewing "career."
Our LHBS is doing another event called "Know your Hops" tomorrow night. Same idea as with the yeast strains just with a different hop variety in each "mini-batch" which I hope will be just as eye opening as the yeast event.
My hat is off to the folks at Nepenthe Homebrew Store in Baltimore for organizing and hosting such an eye opening and fun event....all for free! Can't wait for tomorrow's event!!!
