Blueflint
Well-Known Member
A Tale of two British Yeasts...
For the past two years, I have been experimenting with several British ale styles along with experimenting with several yeasts. One of my favorite recipes is a Dark Mild. I have made many, many batches of this, slightly tweaking the recipe and trying several yeasts. My three gallon recipe that I finally settled on is:
Maris Otter 2 lbs. 12 ounces
Breiss Chocolate 4 ounces
Breiss Carabrown 4 ounces
Victory 4 ounces
Breiss Carmel 80L 2 ounces
Kent Goldings (4.5% AAU) ½ ounce at 60 minutes
Kent Goldings (4.5% AAU) ¼ ounce at 10 minutes
Mash temperature 158 F, attempting to increase body
Measured SG 1.034, FG 1.010 (some batches had a FG of 1.008)
This makes an easy drinking dark ale with lots of flavor but with low enough alcohol you can still walk to the kitchen after having several of them.
I have tried several yeasts but the best flavored batches were made with Wyeast 1968 and Wyeast 1469. Both of these finished quickly and drop clear quickly. I ferment on the cool side, in the 60s. At 10 days, I rack, prime and bottle. I use 1.8 ounces by weight of corn sugar for priming. Once bottled, these are kept at room temperature until a day or two before drinking.
Here are the interesting notes. At bottling time, 1968 has a better flavor and 1469 has suppressed the chocolate flavors to the point this ale has little flavor. At 1 month, flavors are still about the same, carbonation is very light, almost flat still. At 2 months old, carbonation is building and flavors are evolving, 1968 is still the better tasting ale. At 3 months old, 1968 has evolved to its best, carbonation is perfect. At 3 months, the 1469 batch has improved in flavor quite a bit, rivaling the 1968 batch, carbonation is good. Both yeasts leave a cake in the bottom of the bottle with 1469 being more compact. Now is when things start to change. At 4 months old, I noticed the batch made with 1968 seems over carbonated while the 1469 batch is fine on carbonation. At 5 months old, the entire batch of 1968 is way over carbonated, when cracking a cold bottle open, a nice little fountain will empty most of the bottle. At this point, the 1968 batch has changed in flavor, thinner and almost acidic or sharp. At 5 months, the 1469 is slightly over carbonated but no fountains, just too much head when poured. I know many of you are thinking contaminated batch and some of you are saying yes, I had that. There was no contamination, I have replicated these batches several times with the same results. In my favorite Robust Porter recipe, 1968 does the same thing, once it hits 5 or 6 months old, pow, over carbed. So where is the problem coming from? From my testing, recipes and results, my conclusion is any recipe with caramel and chocolate malts should not be made with 1968 yeast and with caution when using 1469. Testing the gravity of 6 month old bottles, the 1968 has chewed its way down to 1.002 in the bottle!!! I am amazed how much pressure these bottles have held as at room temperatures, they are explosive when opened. We are always told that caramel malts have a certain amount of non fermentable sugars but from my results, some of these will ferment in time if left at room temperature with 1968 yeast and to a slightly lesser extent with 1469. In the above dark Mild recipe, there is 9% caramel and brown malt and 6% chocolate malt. One more thing, of all the beer I make, I only have this problem when using British yeasts, never with US05, W34/70, etc.
So, let the discussion begin. What are the results others have come up with? What are your conclusions?
Thanks, Tony
For the past two years, I have been experimenting with several British ale styles along with experimenting with several yeasts. One of my favorite recipes is a Dark Mild. I have made many, many batches of this, slightly tweaking the recipe and trying several yeasts. My three gallon recipe that I finally settled on is:
Maris Otter 2 lbs. 12 ounces
Breiss Chocolate 4 ounces
Breiss Carabrown 4 ounces
Victory 4 ounces
Breiss Carmel 80L 2 ounces
Kent Goldings (4.5% AAU) ½ ounce at 60 minutes
Kent Goldings (4.5% AAU) ¼ ounce at 10 minutes
Mash temperature 158 F, attempting to increase body
Measured SG 1.034, FG 1.010 (some batches had a FG of 1.008)
This makes an easy drinking dark ale with lots of flavor but with low enough alcohol you can still walk to the kitchen after having several of them.
I have tried several yeasts but the best flavored batches were made with Wyeast 1968 and Wyeast 1469. Both of these finished quickly and drop clear quickly. I ferment on the cool side, in the 60s. At 10 days, I rack, prime and bottle. I use 1.8 ounces by weight of corn sugar for priming. Once bottled, these are kept at room temperature until a day or two before drinking.
Here are the interesting notes. At bottling time, 1968 has a better flavor and 1469 has suppressed the chocolate flavors to the point this ale has little flavor. At 1 month, flavors are still about the same, carbonation is very light, almost flat still. At 2 months old, carbonation is building and flavors are evolving, 1968 is still the better tasting ale. At 3 months old, 1968 has evolved to its best, carbonation is perfect. At 3 months, the 1469 batch has improved in flavor quite a bit, rivaling the 1968 batch, carbonation is good. Both yeasts leave a cake in the bottom of the bottle with 1469 being more compact. Now is when things start to change. At 4 months old, I noticed the batch made with 1968 seems over carbonated while the 1469 batch is fine on carbonation. At 5 months old, the entire batch of 1968 is way over carbonated, when cracking a cold bottle open, a nice little fountain will empty most of the bottle. At this point, the 1968 batch has changed in flavor, thinner and almost acidic or sharp. At 5 months, the 1469 is slightly over carbonated but no fountains, just too much head when poured. I know many of you are thinking contaminated batch and some of you are saying yes, I had that. There was no contamination, I have replicated these batches several times with the same results. In my favorite Robust Porter recipe, 1968 does the same thing, once it hits 5 or 6 months old, pow, over carbed. So where is the problem coming from? From my testing, recipes and results, my conclusion is any recipe with caramel and chocolate malts should not be made with 1968 yeast and with caution when using 1469. Testing the gravity of 6 month old bottles, the 1968 has chewed its way down to 1.002 in the bottle!!! I am amazed how much pressure these bottles have held as at room temperatures, they are explosive when opened. We are always told that caramel malts have a certain amount of non fermentable sugars but from my results, some of these will ferment in time if left at room temperature with 1968 yeast and to a slightly lesser extent with 1469. In the above dark Mild recipe, there is 9% caramel and brown malt and 6% chocolate malt. One more thing, of all the beer I make, I only have this problem when using British yeasts, never with US05, W34/70, etc.
So, let the discussion begin. What are the results others have come up with? What are your conclusions?
Thanks, Tony
