Choosing a House Yeast Strain

[chad_]

I am fairly new to brewing. I have used a few strains, but they were some of my first batches and I can't really judge the yeast flavor in the brews. That being said I would like to cut costs and get a house strain that I can use for a variety of english and american ales. I want to try out a few different strains to pick a house strain from. My main concern is that it can tolerate higher temperatures (72-74) without producing off flavors or too much esters. I'd prefer if it was clean or balanced and left a fairly malty character.

Thank you for the help.

 

[Pie_Man]

Is 72-74 the fermentation temperature, or the ambient temperature?

If it's the fermentation temp, that's a pretty high temperature to not get any off flavors or esters. You may have the best luck with California Ale yeast, or maybe the East Coast Ale strain. Somethings like US-05, a dry yeast, maybe your best bet at those temperatures. Being a dry yeast, it's pretty cheap and will also serve to cut your costs.

If it's the ambient temp, that's too high for the average yeast strain as fermentation is exothermic and creates additional heat; your fermentation temp is likely 5 degrees warmer, or more, during peak fermentation. I personally would invest in a swamp cooler or fermentation chamber before picking a house yeast strain.

 

[iowabrew]

IS 72-74 the fermentation temperature, or the ambient temperature?

If it's the fermentation temp, that's a pretty high temperature to not get any off flavors or esters. You may have the best luck with California Ale yeast, or maybe the East Coast Ale strain. Somethings like US-05, a dry yeast, maybe your best bet at those temperatures. Being a dry yeast, it's pretty cheap and will also serve to cut your costs.

I personally would invest in a swamp cooler or fermentation chamber before picking a house yeast strain.

+1 to this. I use 05 or 04 dry on 90% of my batches (mostly pale ales, stouts, etc.)

My basement lets temps creep in to the low 70's ferm temps, so to combat this i employ the swamp cooler method. Most times my tap water is cool enough that placing the bucket after chilling into the cooler of water will keep temps stable and constant right around 65F without the use of frozen water bottles.