I finished reading the Nov and Dec issues of BYO magazine, and one thing struck me as odd in a number of recipes. Safale 04 and 05 in many of the recipes. I know they have a lot of things going for them, but why go through all the trouble of using specialty malts and cool new hops and all of these other things, and then use the same yeast over and over?
The yeast character is so important to the final product, without the yeast all you got is sugar water, not beer. I think we should all try out the huge selection of yeasts as often as we would a new hop variety. Yes, if you are nailing down a recipe, or trying out new ingredients or processes, its great to take out some variables and go back to an old standby, but it seems that is the only yeast ever used.
The yeast character is so important to the final product, without the yeast all you got is sugar water, not beer. I think we should all try out the huge selection of yeasts as often as we would a new hop variety. Yes, if you are nailing down a recipe, or trying out new ingredients or processes, its great to take out some variables and go back to an old standby, but it seems that is the only yeast ever used.