point of various yeasts?

[Cosper123]

Forgive my ignorance, but is there really a point to the seamingly hundreds of yeast strains? Isn't one per beer type enough, with perhaps a variation for high alcohol content or normal?

I would like to keep a few yeast strains that are as flexible as possible so I don't have to keep track of various strains or keep buying many. Could the yeast experts please recommend to me some general catch-all yeasts, or rather the must-haves?

 

[ChillWill]

Is there too many hop or malt varieties as well? Each has a purpose and slightly different attributes.

I'll throw in wlp550 for a go to Belgian yeast, excellent across many styles.

 

[Special Hops]

Safale US-05 for general American Ales

Safale S-04 for general English Ales

Nottingham is also a good all around yeast

I use those three on probably 90% of my batches. I only special liquid yeasts for thing like Hefeweizen and such.

 

[SwampassJ]

Is there too many hop or malt varieties as well? Each has a purpose and slightly different attributes.

This exactly. If you're happy making beer with the same yeast flavor profile then use the same yeast.

 

[Pappers_]

. . . please recommend to me some general catch-all yeasts, or rather the must-haves?

I use the Edinburgh strain (wlp028) in about half of my beers, I find it to be a good general purpose yeast.

 

[beergolf]

Us-05 is great for IPA/APA's or any brews that require a clean yeast.

The real thing about many other yeasts is their flavor profile.

For Saisons 3711 is great and is easy to use. I just chews through any germentable sugars.

I love Belgians and several strains all have different flavor profiles. You will just have to try them to decide which ones you like.

I have used with good success:

3522. Did a Belgian blonde and a dubbel with this yeast and both came out great.
3787 Did a nice tripel and a dark strong ale with this yeast both with nice flavor.
1214 did a dubbel and rit really came out nice.
3944 make a nice wit.

Pary of the fun of homebrewing is coming up with a recipe thatnis your own, and yeast play a big role in vertain styles.

Find the ones you like and learn the flavors they give, and you will learn to make good brews.

 

[paraordnance]

I find if I use same strain in different beer styles they all come out tasting kind of close to each other. Don't get me wrong there is different malt profiles, hop profiles, I can even taste difference between my tap water and RO water in my brews but that yeast backbone or foundation if you will is really similar between brews if same yeast used. I love my Wyeast 2565, I made APA, IPA, Kolsch, Altbier, American Wheat with it and they all finish on dry side, with similar background. Grain bills were nowhere close between them. So atleast to my pallete yeast gives a LOT in terms of flavor. Thats why I trying to use different strains for different brews rather than one for all.
But if I have to choose just couple I would use Wyeast 2565, 1272 and 2206 for versatility, you can brew a lot of styles with this trio

 

[Yooper]

The different yeast strains do serve a purpose! They do have subtle differences. I guess you can ask about the spices in your cabinet, if you're a cook. Do you actually need garlic, cumin, and chili powder? Maybe not, if you never make chili. If you're making hamburgers, you can skip the cumin!

The same is true of brewing yeast strains in a way. If you never make a Belgian beer, then 10 kinds of Belgian yeast strains seem a bit excessive! But they have variations, and are good for different things.

I make a ton of IPAs, APAs, and American ambers. So, I use mostly American ale yeast strains but I've found that even among those I can find differences. Still, for many brewers, a few strains are all that are used.

As mentioned, S04 for English ales, S05 for American ales, and maybe one wheat beer strain, may be all that a brewer ever needs if they just want a "standard ale" yeast.

 

[ArcaneXor]

The "point" of having so many yeasts available to us is that each strain has different characteristics, giving you more choices to select ones that give you great results on your system for the beers you like to brew.

As for good strains to start out with, 001 is great for American ales, 002 and 007 for British ones, and 011, 023 and 036 for German ales (and mock lagers). 300 is an awesome Hefeweizen strain, 530 is nice for Belgian abbey beers. Don't be afraid to branch out and try out new yeasts - you never know what you'll end up liking.

 

[Cosper123]

Very educational, thanks folks I appreciate the critique and advice.

 

[Pivzavod]

WY 3068 was not mentioned. If you want a German Hefe, its the yeast to go for.

Also I'd like to mention the custom brew strains that several of the large online HBS's got. They classify they as all around strains for many styles.