Dry yeast with lots of character

Hello everyone!

I've been brewing for a bit longer than a year with some good results. I've brewed APAs, IPAs, plenty of stouts, porters and some homebrewing experiments.

Where I live (Mexico city), our selection of yeasts is pretty limited in regards to liquid vs dry yeast. I have almost all of the dry yeast strains from fermentis and lallemand available (fermentis more readily available than lallemand's), from US05, 04, WB06, S33, T58, Nottingham, Windsor, etc...

For most of my batches, I've tried out 05, 04, Nottingham, Windsor, WB06 and Abbaye when I brew a tripel. The conflict I'm stumbling upon right now is that I want a different yeast character after trying out some very good beers from the US whose yeast I can't identify, it has lots of presence.

For example, if anyone's tried Samuel Adam's cream stout, that beer has somewhat of a fruity character in the smell and in the mouth (kinda appley) and neither the 04 nor Windsor leave that kind of presence in my experience. It's a whole different profile they got there, so I'm guessing they use a propietary strain or a Wyeast or WLP one. Just like that one, I've recently tried plenty of beers that come up to me as sooooo different from my brews, despite having almost the same ingredients.

The point is, I'd like my stouts and porters to shine a little more. I've tried 04 and Windsor (Windsor only once, but I'm planning to use it again and try another temp range) so I'd like to ask you, in your experience, what dry yeast could give a nice character to these english styles? Maybe you'd recommend some liquid yeast, and I'll take that. I just have to find someone who actually sells it and has appropriate handling and shipping around here but if you recommend a dry yeast, it'd suit me better

Thanks a lot!

 

For those english styles, I'd go with Wy1968 or WY1318 hands down. But if I was limited to dry yeasts, I'd be using the same ones you've tried (though I am not a fan of s-04 at all).

On a related note, aside from Abbaye, Belle Saison is easily one of the dry yeasts that has a lot fo character to it.

Mangrove jack may be something worth looking into. Their UK Dark Ale yeast may be worth a shot

 

Excellent, I'll try to get my hands on one of those If I can
Have you had bad experiences with s-04? why would you stay away from it?

 

If you can't get liquid yeast in your country, try culturing up from bottle dregs of beers that you like. Unfortunately there just isn't a lot to choose from when it comes to dry yeast.

 

I got some bad off flavors in a few early brews and ended up tracking it down to the use of that yeast. It wasnt every beer I made with it, and others have had success it sounds like.

But then I saw this while browsing around and decided to just not chance it again
http://www.bear-flavored.com/2012/12/off-flavor-or-infection-diagnosing-my.html

If you dont want to read through it. From the comments:
I have been a homebrewer for 7 years. I've made 152 batches of ales & lagers of nearly all varieties. Most have turned out great. However, the batches that turned out bad were really bad (Terrible, unbearable medicinal "Band-Aid" off-flavors).
I have double cleaned, sanitized, boiled, used various water sources, adjusted fermentation temperatures, etc., etc. I closely monitored everything I did and kept meticulous records to help me isolate the medicinal off flavor problem.
I finally stepped back and looked at the data for 152 batches as a whole and the answer to me is overwhelmingly obvious. Here are the numbers:

93 Lagers - All strains of lager yeast used (Dry & Liquid) - BAD BATCHES (1)
19 Ales - Made with S-05 Dry Ale Yeast - BAD BATCHES (0)
13 Ales - Made with Nottingham/Danstar Ale Yeast - BAD BATCHES (1)
4 Ales - Made with Mr. Beer Ale Yeast (Strain??) - BAD BATCHES (0)
23 Ales - Made with S-04 Dry Ale Yeast - BAD BATCHES (16) (All were dumped!)(What a waste!)

I think this speaks loud and clear...Judge for yourself !
For me, I no longer use S-04 yeast in anything.

 

That was my other option, I guess I'll have to read up on culturing from the bottles. Problem is, lots of beers that get around here filter or bottle condition with a different strain :/

Thanks for your comments

 

Yeah I remember reading that post once and started using 05 instead but I gave 04 another chance and it's been doing good. Not outstanding as I wished but at least I'm not dumping terrible batches

Thanks for your replies!

 

Yes, it takes some research but can be done. Bell's house ale yeast is a popular one that people have had success with and I think has a little more character than your typical US-05. Very easy to culture from Bell's bottle dregs.

 

the first beer I ever brewed I fermented with Windsor at basically room temperature (ambient 70°F) & got some very fruity esters. might give it a go at warmer than usual temps.

 

Sounds like a plan to me. I liked windsor but I kept it too cool I think. I'll try at room temp one more time like you suggest thanks for sharing

 

theres some youtube vids of getting the yeast directly from commercial beer cans/bottles. i bit of a job, but you can directly get that sam adams yeast right from the beer.