Yeast Ex-beer-iments

[maltMonkey]

Last night I did something I've been planning for awhile: brewed up a 9 gallon batch of English Pale Ale, split into 6 separate 1.5 gallon batches and pitched 6 different yeasts. These will sit in the primary for 2 weeks, go straight to bottling then when ready I'll do some double blind taste tests to determine which are my favorite yeasts. It was a fun (and long) night.

Next I'll do the same split 6 batches with different types of sugars, then again with different hops (dry-hop).

I'm hoping the end result will be some fabulous beer.

Yeasts:
#1 - Wyeast 1187 Ringwood Ale
#2 - Wyeast 1335 British Ale II
#3 - Wyeast 1099 Whitbread
#4 - Wyeast 1275 Thames Valley
#5 - White Labs WLP005 British Ale
#6 - Nottingham

My first time doing a batch size over 6 gallons, but there was plenty of room for the 16 lb grain bill:

Notetaking while relaxing and having a homebrew:

Sparging went faster than I meant for it to--about 1 hr:

 

[maltMonkey]

No problem with 11 gallon rolling boil:

Filling fermenters:

Fermenters all filled:

The wife is really psyched about the current state of the bathroom:

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

I have always been amazed how significant a difference pitching alternat yeasts can have on a simple grain bill.

Another thing you could try for your own edification is the same yeast, hops, and grain bill but split the batch into multiple fermenters and hold them at differing fermentation temps. Makes a big difference there too. And can teach volumes about a specific yeast and it's fermentation management needs.

 

[scottfro]

awesome, i have been wanting to do this as well so please return with the results!

 

[FishinDave07]

Cool. Definately let us know how it turns out.

 

[rbridges01]

Are using a full dose of yeast for each 1.5 gallons? Are you concerned at all about over pitching of the yeast?

 

[maltMonkey]

Another thing you could try for your own edification is the same yeast, hops, and grain bill but split the batch into multiple fermenters and hold them at differing fermentation temps. Makes a big difference there too. And can teach volumes about a specific yeast and it's fermentation management needs.

That's a good idea. Once I find my favorite yeast for this beer I'll have to give that a shot.

Cool. Definately let us know how it turns out.

I'll be sure to update this thread with my findings!

Are using a full dose of yeast for each 1.5 gallons? Are you concerned at all about over pitching of the yeast?

In this case I pitched only half of the 2 new smack packs (put the rest into starters for future batches) and only half of the Nottingham as well. The three washed yeasts were probably a bit overpitched, but it's not something I'm worried about.

 

[maltMonkey]

Update: just bottled these tonight. What a PITA.

6 different times I had to take a gravity reading, clean & sanitize the equipment, measure and boil the corn sugar, rack to the bottling bucket, bottle, cap, and mark the cap with its number.

Each batch made exactly 12 bottles and it was fun tasting a sample of all 6. Very different results for the most part.

The only weird thing was the the WLP005 had a flavor I've not tasted before. I used this yeast for a brown ale awhile back so it was in its 2nd generation, and it just tasted fairly malty in that beer. In this case the sample tasted like tea mixed with fruity pebbles. I am stumped as to whether it's some type of infection or what. I don't know that it's necessarily an off flavor, but it's definitely not what my brown ale tasted like.

 

[FishinDave07]

Update: just bottled these tonight. What a PITA.

6 different times I had to take a gravity reading, clean & sanitize the equipment, measure and boil the corn sugar, rack to the bottling bucket, bottle, cap, and mark the cap with its number.

Each batch made exactly 12 bottles and it was fun tasting a sample of all 6. Very different results for the most part.

The only weird thing was the the WLP005 had a flavor I've not tasted before. I used this yeast for a brown ale awhile back so it was in its 2nd generation, and it just tasted fairly malty in that beer. In this case the sample tasted like tea mixed with fruity pebbles. I am stumped as to whether it's some type of infection or what. I don't know that it's necessarily an off flavor, but it's definitely not what my brown ale tasted like.

I'm sure that the results will be worth the work (if you can really call brewing work ). Let the fruitty pebbles tea age

 

[slim chillingsworth]

this is something i'm really interested in doing, but i'm even more interested in your cooler's internal fly-sparge manifold. have you posted more info on that anywhere? absolutely beautiful!

 

[Arneba28]

This is really really cool. Great way to accelerate your brewing experience and personal knowledge of yeast. I started making a point to change yeasts everytime I do a batch just to see if I can see the different. A few of the batches have fermented on the warm side(not on purpose) and have turned out very different then the cooler fermented counterparts. Much will be learned from brewing and changing variables!!

 

[z987k]

just out of curiosity did you take FG reading? I know you said 2 weeks, but that really doesn't mean anything. That one that tastes "off" and malty sweet... could it not be done yet? Just a thought that came to my mind when you said 2 weeks because there is nothing out there that says a beer WILL be done fermenting in 2 weeks. (i love my hydrometer)

 

[maltMonkey]

this is something i'm really interested in doing, but i'm even more interested in your cooler's internal fly-sparge manifold. have you posted more info on that anywhere? absolutely beautiful!

I used to have a crazy contraption for my fly-sparge manifold but it required the lid to be open and I would lose about 20° over the course of the sparge. So I built this one--it's pretty simple, just a CPVC manifold that runs through a 1/2" hole I drilled in the lid. It's held in place on top of the lid by a union fitting. It works pretty well--I can take some more pics if you are interested.

just out of curiosity did you take FG reading? I know you said 2 weeks, but that really doesn't mean anything. That one that tastes "off" and malty sweet... could it not be done yet? Just a thought that came to my mind when you said 2 weeks because there is nothing out there that says a beer WILL be done fermenting in 2 weeks. (i love my hydrometer)

Yep--2 weeks was just an estimate based on how long this recipe has taken to finish in the past. I took a couple readings and they were definitely done.

OG: 1.056

FG:
#1 - 1.017
#2 - 1.016
#3 - 1.015
#4 - 1.015
#5 - 1.015
#6 - 1.015

 

[devaspawn]

My wife would kill me, take my son, and then leave me if I had even a quarter of the stuff in our bathroom! You sir, are a lucky man indeed!

 

[maltMonkey]

My wife would kill me, take my son, and then leave me if I had even a quarter of the stuff in our bathroom! You sir, are a lucky man indeed!

You should see the basement - 12 cases of bottles, 5 more carboys, 300+ lbs of grain

 

[devaspawn]

My basement is actually pretty good. Got six 5-gallon batches in various stages of fermentain, my kegerator, and all my equipment down there...out of her sight. I can't wait to show her the picture of your bathroom so I can say "See honey, it could be worse..."

 

[KingBrianI]

So what was the verdict?