What yeast should I use today?

[jdanderson1449]

My buddies and I are brewing again this weekend. 10 gallon batch Irish red grain/ hops bill. I'm gonna pitch American Ale yeast in at least 5 gallons of it but I'm wondering what to pitch in the other 5. I have a packet of Wyeast Thames Valley that I need to use but what kind of weirdness can I get away with here? It's mostly 2-row with a little cara20 and some roasted barley for color.

Any thoughts?

 

[giraffe]

Any english yeast should be fine, id go with an ester-y one, as a contrast. Thames valley isnt a bad choice. You could also go with an alt yeast, or other continental ale yeast, for a more subtle difference in a clean yeast, belgians I may stay away from, but if you must, id go for one of the more mild ones like the rochefort strain.

You could use a lager yeast as well, if you have the set up.

Dont use a hefe yeast, a wit yeast, or pitch brett/bacteria, I think thats the only things that would absolutely clash with an irish red malt/hop bill.

 

[Jimbodaman]

If you have the time/resources steal some yeast from a six pack of Bell's. Any Bell's beer will work it's all the same yeast, it's my absolute favorite yeast.

 

[jdanderson1449]

Unfortunately, I live in an area where Bell's isn't distributed.

I think that I'm gonna stick with my original plan and use American Ale and finish off Thames Valley in the other 5.

I like what the characteristics that Thames Valley displays and I hope that I can keep my temperatures in check enough to get a little crisper flavor out of it. We'll see what happens.