Stacking brews

[Bigbens6]

So now that I am a daddy free time to brew is at a premium, I gotta use it when I get it....

I was able to pick up 2 old carboys and those with my 2 ale pales should get me a good start point. My plan is to brew 2 at a time if possible to be efficient and then if I need them I have 2 secondaries!

I want to start using better yeast, I'm ready to upgrade from whatever comes in the kits, however if I am adding 7-10 bucks cost to each batch I don't wanna waste it so I plan on stacking the next round right onto the yeast cake to get max value for the dollar!

So I am hoping you guys will have suggestions for yeast strains to use, brews to use them on, and in what order to brew them to get the best performance!

I like brown ales, IPA's, ESB's and the like.... Any help/suggestions is much appreciated!

 

[scinerd3000]

For my IPA's i use wlp001 california ale which is pretty much my house yeast. Either that or nottingham which i always keep around for emergencies...Are you doing all grain or Extract or parial mashes?

 

[Parker36]

Also, if you are interested in saving cash, look into yeast washing. I bet all those baby food jars you have around now will work well.

 

[jds]

I want to start using better yeast, I'm ready to upgrade from whatever comes in the kits, however if I am adding 7-10 bucks cost to each batch I don't wanna waste it so I plan on stacking the next round right onto the yeast cake to get max value for the dollar!

I like brown ales, IPA's, ESB's and the like.... Any help/suggestions is much appreciated!

There are a number of very good dry yeast strains you can try that will be better than what comes in most kits. For browns, ESB's, and IPA's, you can have very good results from Danstar Nottingham, and Safale S-04 and S-05. All three of these yeasts give good results for beers that require a fairly neutral yeast, are relatively cheap, and can be directly pitched into wort without a starter.

Dry yeast won't help much with wheat beers, belgian styles, or anything else that gets a large part of its flavor from yeast, but it sure has a place in my brewing. In fact, I keep spare packages of nottingham and S-05 on hand for emergencies.

 

[Bigbens6]

I am extract brewing, and have used the 05 yeast, I guess I assumed it was a pretty bland yeast, perhaps not?
So what order should I stack brews, is there someone with good results spo I don't mix up?!? IPA before nut brown?!?

 

[scinerd3000]

I am extract brewing, and have used the 05 yeast, I guess I assumed it was a pretty bland yeast, perhaps not?
So what order should I stack brews, is there someone with good results spo I don't mix up?!? IPA before nut brown?!?

you should brew the ipa after the brown in my oppinion. Keep in mind that your tossing this onto a yeast cake from a previous batch(usually 1/4-1/3 of the cake) so any hops that sink down could have an adverse affect on flavor if you brewed the brown after the ipa. If it was me i would brew the brown and then the IPA and that way, your IPA's bitterness will cover up any cross contamination from the flavors of the brown ale. Either way if you want to dryhop for the IPA (in primary), you can't really use the yeast cake after that.....i hope that makes sense

 

[IrregularPulse]

Generaly speaking.
Use neutral yeasts such as Saf-04, nottingham, and brew light to dark.

 

[Jonnio]

I will second (or fifth as the case may be) others comments about Nottingham, S04 and S05. For the types of beers your brewing you will probably not notice as big a difference by using a liquid strain instead of them. I only use liquid on my wheat and belgians now (since I don't do any lagers or other yeast heavy beers)

The only other place I like liquid is if I am doing a clone beer and the brewery is releasing limited amounts of their yeast like New Belgium did last year.