5 Yeast Experiment

[Ewalk02]

So today I brewed up a light and boring beer so that I could see the effects that different yeasts have on beer. I bought 5 different dry yeasts then brewed up this beer...

7 lbs - 2-row
2 lbs - flaked rice
1 lb - flaked corn

0.25 oz Cascade at 60 min
0.25 oz Cascade at 30 min

Once everything was done I oxygenated the wort in one bucket then transfered into 5 one gallon bottles. Pitched the yeast and now all I have to do is wait. Here are some pictures for ya, the beers look different colors but thats only because some had been sitting for longer than others. I shook the wort after pitching the yeast so some have less cold break floating around due to sitting longer. After a few minutes they all looked the same.

 

[Donthoseme]

Thank you sir! Seriously. Because of people like you people like me are able to get great information without having to do these experiments. Let us know how they turn out.

 

[fastricky]

Awesome! I'm going the same thing now with 3 batches... brewed a ESB and used:

- S-04

- Ringwood

- 1968ESB

Looking forward to your impressions on each yeast, I'll post mine as well.

 

[Ewalk02]

Thank you sir! Seriously. Because of people like you people like me are able to get great information without having to do these experiments. Let us know how they turn out.

No problem man, this is all alot of fun for me so I'm glad to do it.

I forgot to mention a few details about my brew..

Mashed at 152* for 90 minutes
OG - 1.063
Collected around 4.75 gallons total for a brewhouse efficiency of 84%

 

[ghpeel]

I just want to say thanks as well for this experiment. There are so many variables in a batch that its very hard to isolate one variable (yeast or water or temps etc) as the cause of a certain flavor. This seems like an awesome way to figure out if s-04 is really "fruitier" than us-05, and if Notty is really the most "neutral," for example. Also, I am very interested in seeing how the wb-06 turns out. Would have loved to seen the t-58 in there too.

 

[Ewalk02]

Well here is what I found this morning, its been 17 hours since I pitched the yeasts. The Windsor actually foamed up so much that it knocked the foil off the top. I'm not too worried about infection right now though, when I took the picture there was still alot of CO2 coming out of the jug. Since the pictures I've cleaned the outside of the bottles with star san and I've replaced the foil with sanitized foil.

 

[Spludge]

Haha, I'm currently working my way through a few jugs of Carlo Rossi so I can do the same thing
It's a long hard road of ****ty wine.......

Thread bookmarked

 

[Nugent]

I've been planning on the same thing.

Got a load of 1 imp. gal. jugs (they must be older than 1976, since Canada went metric after that) free off of Craigslist.

Thinking of brewing 4.0 gals. of a simple English bitter:

6.5 lbs. English pale ale malt
0.2 lbs. Crystal 60
0.2 lbs. Crystal 120

1 oz. EGK (60 mins)
1 oz. EGK (10 mins)

Then adding four different yeasts to four jugs with :

Wyeast 1187, 1275, 1099, 1968

I have used 1318 for many English beers and love it, but would like to see whether I can find one that I like more. Figure that I can get 6 pint bottles out of each gal and have some buddies over for sampling.

I'll post my very subjective results when I'm done.

 

[Ewalk02]

Haha, I'm currently working my way through a few jugs of Carlo Rossi so I can do the same thing
It's a long hard road of ****ty wine.......

Ha ha, yeah I was lucky enough to get the bottles for free without having to suffer through drinking 4 gallons of the stuff.

 

[IrregularPulse]

good experiment. With limited brewing time it's hard to dedicate a brew day to experiments. I want to use every brew day to it's fullest to get good beer. Maybe when a pipeline is established I can do this. Or 10G batches with 5 safe and 5 different yeasts for experiments. Thanks for doing this. It's good to see data but it won't be comparable to you actually getting to taste the differences

 

[Spludge]

Just finished Rossi jug #3 *ugh*

Did you bottle this yet Ewalk?

 

[Dougan]

That's weird how each has a different color.

 

[Ewalk02]

Last night I moved all the beers into a secondary (sorry no pics) and all of them had a FG of 1.010 except the wheat yeast which got down to 1.008. I'll try to take some pictures of the beer tonight so that everyone can see what they are looking like. I figure I'll give them a few more weeks in the secondary and then I'm going to bottle. I'll let them carb in the bottles for about 1.5~2 weeks then have a few friends over to do a blind taste test. I'll publish the results once its all done.

 

[Munsoned]

You, sir, deserve a Prost. Done!

 

[Ewalk02]

Sorry guys I didn't get around to taking the picture last night but hopefully I'll get one in tonight.

 

[Freezeblade]

You promised pictures!

 

[Spludge]

Pictures!

Just out of scientific curiosity, did you rehydrate the yeast or pitch dry?

 

[MSAstoria]

Jusst found this thread, but I'm doing the same thing right now with an amber ale and a bunch of liquid yeasts:

WLP004 Irish Ale Yeast
WLP028 Scottish Ale Yeast
WLP029 Kolsch Ale Yeast
Belgian Ale Yeast cultured from bottle of Chimay
Weizen Ale Yeast cultured from 2 bottles of Schneider Weisse

I keep a frozen yeast bank, so this is pretty doable with liquid.

And yeah, the five gallons of Carlo Rossi were a b*@$#. No help from SWMBO; her taste in wine is way too refined... nothing less than $3 Chuck for her.

 

[Reno_eNVy]

And yeah, the five gallons of Carlo Rossi were a b*@$#. No help from SWMBO; her taste in wine is way too refined... nothing less than $3 Chuck for her.

Same with mine, she won't touch it.... but I must, for the good of, well, having 1 gallon bottles for experimental crazy brews.

And just to note, 3 Buck Chuck is pretty friggin good, especially the Cabernet Sauvignon. *Sigh* I miss 2 Buck Chuck

 

[Spludge]

Side Note: The Rossi jugs are also great for yeast starters

 

[MSAstoria]

Oh don't get me wrong, I'm not knocking the Chuck. I'm just jealous.

 

[wormsgetsold]

So, what happened? Are the brews in bottles yet? Cool idea.

 

[Kickass]

My LHBS sales used 1 gallons for under 2$, the only item that isn't way priced, that might be something worth checking into next time.

 

[mew]

Nice work! I'm anxious to see the results.

Did you use an entire yeast packet per gallon?

 

[Ewalk02]

Well not to disappoint but I think this experiment went south. All the beers have a weird growth forming on top and it looks like someone poured oil in each 1 gal jug. I'm pretty sure I have an infection, I tasted each one and they all are horrible...nothing like I would have expected.

Guess I'll just have to repeat this experiment sometime soon.

 

[Reno_eNVy]

Well not to disappoint but I think this experiment went south. All the beers have a weird growth forming on top and it looks like someone poured oil in each 1 gal jug. I'm pretty sure I have an infection, I tasted each one and they all are horrible...nothing like I would have expected.

Guess I'll just have to repeat this experiment sometime soon.

Well don't leave us hanging, we need pics! Sorry $h1t turned south... what do you think happened?

 

[weirdboy]

All the beers have a weird growth forming on top and it looks like someone poured oil in each 1 gal jug. I'm pretty sure I have an infection, I tasted each one and they all are horrible...nothing like I would have expected.

Yeah, but which one tastes the least bad? Come on, it's for Science!

 

[Ewalk02]

Yeah, but which one tastes the least bad? Come on, it's for Science!

Ha ha, I'd have to go with the SafBrew WB-06 if I had to pick one to drink. It actually doesn't have that bad of a funk to it.

I think there must have been bugs in my siphon in order to infect ALL the batches. I'll take a picture tonight and post what I'm talking about.

 

[Spludge]

'moment of silence for your loss'

 

[MSAstoria]

Yeah, unfortunately similar results. I didn't get a visible infection, but there was definitely a sour taste in all five batches I made. It seems to be fading with time, so I'll let it age, but I think the experiment is tainted.

I guess the inherent danger in pitching five yeasts in five separate fermenters is that you quintuple your odds of infection.

I tried again with a pale ale based on BierMuncher's Centennial Blonde; used WLP001 California Ale Yeast; WLP002 English Ale Yeast; WLP004 Irish Ale Yeast; WLP028 Edinburgh Ale Yeast; and WLP029 Kolsch yeast.

Just bottled them this past weekend. The California one tasted funky, but the other four tasted great going into the bottle; will report back in two weeks.

 

[FSR402]

could you get an off flavor due to pitching an asston of yeast for such a small amount of wort?

 

[MSAstoria]

No, I didn't use a full vial. I keep a frozen yeast bank, and I did 1 cup starters for these.

 

[FSR402]

No, I didn't use a full vial. I keep a frozen yeast bank, and I did 1 cup starters for these.

you keep a yeast bank of cheap dried yeast? What's the chances that you're "yeast bank" in contaminated?
Not to nitpick but this should have been done with "fresh" from the pack yeast not something that could have mutated

 

[Zen_Brew]

Just slightly off topic but I saw some suffering emptying those gallon jugs of Rossi wine.

Use the wine to make Sangria. Even cheap wine will make a decent sangria. It's a great refreshing chilled beverage on a hot summer day. Here is a recipe I use with a lot of success. I usually find a $5 or $6 bottle, but I have had friends use this recipe with wine they didn't like with good success. Step up the recipe for gallon jugs. Don't skimp on the liquor, makes it very yummy and increases the kick. Also really has to sit overnight for everything to come together.

Sangria
• 1/2 cup brandy
• 1 (750 milliliter) bottle your choice red wine
• 1/2 cup triple sec
• 1/2 lemon, sliced into rounds
• 1 orange, sliced into rounds
• 1/2 lime, sliced into rounds
• 1/4 cup white sugar (optional)
• 2 cups ginger ale or 7-up
• Add or substitute fruit as available
• Sub rum if desired for brandy or go half and half
• Add peach schnapps or sub for triple sec or half and half
DIRECTIONS
1. In a large pitcher or bowl (64 oz or larger), mix together the brandy, red wine, triple sec, and sugar. Float slices of lemon, orange and lime in the mixture. Refrigerate overnight for best flavor. For a fizzy sangria, add club soda or ginger ale just before serving.

2. If using apples add them either into the serving glass or just an hour or two before serving. The apples soak up too much alcohol overnight and become harsh.

 

[MSAstoria]

you keep a yeast bank of cheap dried yeast? What's the chances that you're "yeast bank" in contaminated?
Not to nitpick but this should have been done with "fresh" from the pack yeast not something that could have mutated

Unless you consider vials from White Labs "cheap dried yeast," then no, I don't. I keep a yeast bank of relatively expensive, liquid yeast (and a few that I've cultured from bottles).

I suppose there's always a possibility that my bank is infected. You're right, if I were writing a dissertation on this, I would have used fresh yeasts, but I'm not going to go out and blow $35 on five gallons.

As for the possibility of mutation, most of what I've read on this board suggests that fears about yeast "mutating" are pretty exaggerated. It's more a matter of natural selection than mutation. In any event, I'm not that worried--none of the yeast I pitched was more than 2 generations removed from the vial, and the California and English actually were fresh.

 

[Reno_eNVy]

It's more a matter of natural selection than mutation. In any event, I'm not that worried--none of the yeast I pitched was more than 2 generations removed from the vial

Yeah, it doesn't seem like 2 generations would create any problems, I have some whitbread at 3rd generation now with no weird off-flavors.

(I apologize in advance for the population genetics lecture!!!) I haven't read much about mutations in yeast strains on this forum, but natural selection is HIGHLY unlikely the be the culprit. NS actually has little or nothing to do with evolution, really.

Neutral Theory (which is now generally accepted) will give some insight to what could possible be happening, but not likely as it's only been 2 generations. As Neutral Theory states, almost all genetic variability is caused by random mutation and genetic drift, meaning it is actually kind of likely that a random mutated allele could have spread throughout the population (by random genetic drift and chance, not NS) and created slight off-flavors.

 

[FSR402]

So today I brewed up a light and boring beer so that I could see the effects that different yeasts have on beer. I bought 5 different dry yeasts then brewed up this beer...

Unless you consider vials from White Labs "cheap dried yeast," then no, I don't. I keep a yeast bank of relatively expensive, liquid yeast (and a few that I've cultured from bottles).

So what one was it?

 

[weirdboy]

So what one was it?

You just quoted two different people, who followed two different processes.
So, the answer is "both".

 

[FSR402]

You just quoted two different people, who followed two different processes.
So, the answer is "both".

Yeah I see that now. The first time I posted in here was to the OP and I never even noticed that the answer I got back was from someone else.

 

[MSAstoria]

Yeah, sorry to cause confusion, and I didn't mean to hijack the thread; just seems like two of us had the same basic idea around the same time.

Anyway, since 4/5 of my latest batch seemed fine going into the bottle, I'll have tasting notes up in another week or so. And in the meantime, I've bleached the bejeezus out of everything, and replaced my hoses. Hopefully this doesn't happen again.