CHARACTERFUL British Yeasts

[J_Flint]

Interesting thread. I have been looking at closer at yeasts for more malty English style beers. I got into a rut of using S-04 for all my Browns, Porters and Stouts. I am kinda thinking that I like S-04 better for roasty beers (though I might like Wyeast 1084 Irish Ale better). (I used to brew a bunch of Bitters/ESBs but brew more American Pale Ales and IPAs these days.)

I have started to develop a thing for WLP013 London Ale. I have not used the Wyeast equivalent lately, but the descriptions seem quite different, so I don't know how similar they are.

I just kegged a Porter split with WLP013 and S04. It is not even fully carbed yet, but there is a noticeable difference between the two. The S04 has slight dry tart character reminiscent of an Irish Stout where the WLP013 has more of a rich toffee character which is exactly what I was looking for.

Today I brewed a Dark Mild and pitched WLP013. I am kinda interested in trying out more English yeast, but I am having such good luck with WLP013 and Wyeast 1084 that for now I think I will stick with them (and play around with yeasts for American IPAs).

I've used WLP013 a number of times. I get a sort of mineral/earthy character from it. It doesnt drop bright super quickly either, but it definitely does push a nice malty flavor. Used it in a Christmas ale last month and am fairly happy with it. What sort of characteristics to you get from the Irish Ale yeast?

 

[z-bob]

Another yeast that might be worth a try is K1V-1116. It is unusual for a wine yeast in that it will ferment maltotriose and it does not create phenolics (clove). But it is estery. They might or might not be good esters for an English bitter, I don't know.

I tried it once is a SMaSH using pilsner malt and I believe Sterling hops, and it was a good beer. It didn't age all that well but that could be the yeast fault or any number of other things. It was also such a simple beer there was no place for any faults to hide. I will try K1V again someday in a little darker pale ale or a bitter.

 

[CascadesBrewer]

What sort of characteristics to you get from the Irish Ale yeast?

Hard to say exactly because I used it in a Milk Stout, a Irish Red, a Pumpkin Spice Ale and an Imperial Stout that is still in the fermenter. The first 3 were my first tries at those recipes so I did not have a reference. I would say "clean with a slight fruity character and dry finish." It seems like a very easy yeast to work with (short lag, strong ferment, thick and compact krausen) and it really went to town on the 1.118 Stout with better attenuation that I got with S-04 on the last batches. I am curious to try it in something like an American Pale Ale and hope to try it in a split batch to better isolate the characteristics.

Wyeast says:

Slight residual diacetyl and fruitiness; great for stouts. Clean, smooth, soft and full-bodied. Apparent attenuation: 71-75%. Flocculation: medium. Optimum temp: 62°-72° F​

White Labs says (of WLP004):

This yeast is from one of the oldest stout-producing breweries in the world. It’s great for many beer styles but really shines in malty British styles such as stouts, porters and brown ales. Medium attenuation helps with a dry finish that promotes roasty notes. Esters help round out the overall flavor making a soft drinkable stout.​

 

[J_Flint]

WELL, after enjoying a good Doppelbock, I realized the character I have been longing for is not diacetyl...it's not esters...ITS MALT! All this time I couldn't zero in on straight up malty goodness. I drank a Troegenator and though the character was much more pronounced it had a strong similarity, then after drinking a Samuel Smith India Ale it clicked. It's just got a good strong malty backbone. Which FWIW I enjoyed the hell out of the Sam Smith too. Very similar to Old Speckled Hen, but a little more hop character and even richer maltiness. I've decided I'm going to brew my next bitter with just a touch of either aromatic malt or melanoidin malt to highlight that rich flavor and I'm going to move away from trusty, but dull WLP002, and give WY1469 a shot instead. Anybody think this will yield a closer resemblance to what I'm shooting for?

 

[ba-brewer]

Aromatic/Abbey can give a slight roasted grain dryness to a beer along with the malty aroma. I get a bit of roasted grain flavor from amber malt too. I personally like aromatic/abbey and add it to my house beers sometime.

edit: my house beer is a cross between an American blonde and a british golden ale, mostly north American 2 row with like 5% aromatic or 10 to 20% Vienna or munich, some sort of aromatic NA hops and fermented with a more neutral yeast.