Favorite yeast

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ojaason

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I brew a lot of west coast ipa and pale ales. I typically use chico yeast, but getting bored. What's everyone's favorite west coast ipa yeast?
 
IMHO, Imperial A24 is the best ester producing beer for hoppy styles. Complements the hops perfectly with peach and citrus notes but does not overpower the hops themselves. I under pitch and drive the fermentation into the mid 70s (74-76) and it works great. Not a crazy high attenuator so mashing lower or some sugar will def help if your looking for a drier west coast ipa
 
Dgallo said:
IMHO, Imperial A24 is the best ester producing beer for hoppy styles. Complements the hops perfectly with peach and citrus notes but does not overpower the hops themselves. I under pitch and drive the fermentation into the mid 70s (74-76) and it works great. Not a crazy high attenuator so mashing lower or some sugar will def help if your looking for a drier west coast ipa
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I like A24 as well, used it for my last IPA and it turned out great, except I didn't under pitch and fermented @ 68F.
 
I've used a24 once before. It made for a great combination with fruity hops. I was going to try pacman or san Diego super yeast. Does anyone have experience with these? My last ipa was fermented with us05 and has citrusy/ fruity esters that are very distracting to me.
 
ojaason said:
I've used a24 once before. It made for a great combination with fruity hops. I was going to try pacman or san Diego super yeast. Does anyone have experience with these? My last ipa was fermented with us05 and has citrusy/ fruity esters that are very distracting to me.
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US05 is a Chico strain and ferments really clean for me. San Diego has a really clean fermentation too in my experience, so it really just depends if you want esters or if you don’t
 
Harvest and it’s equivalents definitely are a go to for a lot of my brewing. More IPA focused I have had great success with the Pacific Ale V, Dry English Ale, and Independence strains.
 
ojaason said:
I've used a24 once before. It made for a great combination with fruity hops. I was going to try pacman or san Diego super yeast. Does anyone have experience with these? My last ipa was fermented with us05 and has citrusy/ fruity esters that are very distracting to me.
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I like San Diego, ferments fast and clean, good attenuation. Whitelabs suggests a limited fermentation temp range, I have always stayed in the in range and had good results.
 
Ib
Dgallo said:
US05 is a Chico strain and ferments really clean for me. San Diego has a really clean fermentation too in my experience, so it really just depends if you want esters or if you don’t
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Used to always buy liquid yeast and many times do starters my last 12 brews or so have all been IPA's with Fermentos S05 right out of the dry pack and I would say my beers are just as good or probably even better than they were before.
 
jdauria said:
Imperial L17 Harvest. Brew a lot of lagers and it's my go to for most of them.
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What do you like about this one and how does it compare to W34/70? I'm trying to settle on a one-and-done lager yeast and I'm finding it very hard to get away from W34/70, and I'm not a dry yeast guy. It ferments fast, tastes clean, attenuates well, and drops clear quick. I'd previously really enjoyed WY2308, which shared all the same qualities but I found it left the beers a bit too sweet. Great yeast otherwise.
 
Andre3000 said:
What do you like about this one and how does it compare to W34/70? I'm trying to settle on a one-and-done lager yeast and I'm finding it very hard to get away from W34/70, and I'm not a dry yeast guy. It ferments fast, tastes clean, attenuates well, and drops clear quick. I'd previously really enjoyed WY2308, which shared all the same qualities but I found it left the beers a bit too sweet. Great yeast otherwise.
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Don't get me wrong, 34/70 is a great yeast. Imperial Global is the same strain as 34/70. I use liquid yeast due to building yeast starters to get proper pitch counts etc, my local shop never has Global, so I grab Harvest when they do. First thing I like is that the compared to other liquid yeasts, it's 200 million cells per package, so don't need to make starters as big as when using White Labs or Wyeast. Harvest is also very clean, drops clears quickly, is a low sulfur producer. Can be used for any lager style, and can can be used for doing lagers in the 60's is you don't have fermentation temp control.

Actually it's a lot like 34/70, the only real main difference is 34/70 is the Weihenstephan brewery strain and Harvest is Augustiner's....so they both used by two great German breweries for a long time. You probably already know this, but Wyeast 2124 Bohemian Lager and White Labs 830 German Lager are both the same strain as 34/70 and I have used both of those liquid yeasts when Harvest was not available with great success.

Just brewed a Helles Export (Dortmunder) this weekend with Harvest and in less than 12 hours already had a krausen going.
 
jdauria said:
Actually it's a lot like 34/70, the only real main difference is 34/70 is the Weihenstephan brewery strain and Harvest is Augustiner's....so they both used by two great German breweries for a long time. You probably already know this, but Wyeast 2124 Bohemian Lager and White Labs 830 German Lager are both the same strain as 34/70 and I have used both of those liquid yeasts when Harvest was not available with great success.

Just brewed a Helles Export (Dortmunder) this weekend with Harvest and in less than 12 hours already had a krausen going.
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Interesting. Maybe I'll give it a shot! How's the attenuation? I see The figures vary between Imperial (70-74), Whitelabs (68-72) and Wyeast (72-74). I do like my lagers crisp and like I mentioned 2308 (70-74) was on the maltier side for me. Though I know you can't really hand your hat on published attenuation numbers.
 
Andre3000 said:
Interesting. Maybe I'll give it a shot! How's the attenuation? I see The figures vary between Imperial (70-74), Whitelabs (68-72) and Wyeast (72-74). I do like my lagers crisp and like I mentioned 2308 (70-74) was on the maltier side for me. Though I know you can't really hand your hat on published attenuation numbers.
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I've averaged around 76-77 attenuation. Had a few as low as 72% and a couple in low 80's.
 
I like BRY-97 for ~75% (or more) of my beers. It’s clean so there’s not much expression which allows the hop and malt character to shine. Just like I like it. I guess you’d say it’s become my house strain though I don’t harvest — I use one trip yeast for most every brew. I use it for both Ales and “Lagers”.
 
brewbama said:
I like BRY-97 for ~75% (or more) of my beers. It’s clean so there’s not much expression which allows the hop and malt character to shine. Just like I like it. I guess you’d say it’s become my house strain though I don’t harvest — I use one trip yeast for most every brew. I use it for both Ales and “Lagers”.
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Every time I use BRY 97 my beers come out with a greater perceived bitterness and I can’t figure out why. That’s literally the only difference so I just don’t know. Have you experienced that by any chance,
 
jdauria said:
Don't get me wrong, 34/70 is a great yeast. Imperial Global is the same strain as 34/70. I use liquid yeast due to building yeast starters to get proper pitch counts etc, my local shop never has Global, so I grab Harvest when they do. First thing I like is that the compared to other liquid yeasts, it's 200 million cells per package, so don't need to make starters as big as when using White Labs or Wyeast. Harvest is also very clean, drops clears quickly, is a low sulfur producer. Can be used for any lager style, and can can be used for doing lagers in the 60's is you don't have fermentation temp control.

Actually it's a lot like 34/70, the only real main difference is 34/70 is the Weihenstephan brewery strain and Harvest is Augustiner's....so they both used by two great German breweries for a long time. You probably already know this, but Wyeast 2124 Bohemian Lager and White Labs 830 German Lager are both the same strain as 34/70 and I have used both of those liquid yeasts when Harvest was not available with great success.

Just brewed a Helles Export (Dortmunder) this weekend with Harvest and in less than 12 hours already had a krausen going.
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I'm currently using Harvest for the 1st time. Fermenting a Pilsner at 52. Have you used it up to 60 before? Any difference from fermenting in the low 50s? I've used 34/70 a few times, and even though everyone raves about it, it leaves my beer too sweet. I mash low (148F), do a D rest, but I still get residual sweetness even when it ferments down to 1.008. Weird...
 
My favorite yeast is Mangrove Jack M29. I have no control of the fermentation temperature, and that yeast gives a very good APA even at 30'C. Apart from primarily for Belgian styles, I also brew with him the great Stout and Porter.
 
S04 for British ales; S189 for lagers; and S05 for American ales. But...Lallemand has come out with some really interesting dry yeasts that I like, so not sure now, but maybe Lalbrew Verdant for British. Also, they now have a dry kolsch yeast which I like, never had that option in dry form, and Lalbrew wit, another new one. Needless to say, I'm a dry yeast guy. I will and do use liquid yeast, but I would love it if I could brew exclusively with dry yeast.
 
For something different wlp029 is great all round but really let’s hops shine I’ve found while finishing crisp and dry. My house strain.
 
wepeeler said:
I'm currently using Harvest for the 1st time. Fermenting a Pilsner at 52. Have you used it up to 60 before? Any difference from fermenting in the low 50s? I've used 34/70 a few times, and even though everyone raves about it, it leaves my beer too sweet. I mash low (148F), do a D rest, but I still get residual sweetness even when it ferments down to 1.008. Weird...
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Sorry be off line for awhile....I used Harvest at 60 once. It was still fairly clean, though I prefer using it at cooler temps.
 
I'm an aspiring dry yeast user as well but there are some strains that just aren't available in dry form. For example, Wy1084 or any Irish ale yeast. It's a major bummer and I don't get it. But other than that, I like US-05, Nottingham, 34/70, S-189. The Mangrove Jacks Bavarian Wheat yeast is very nice tasting, but doesn't attenuate very well. I was doing kveiks for a while, but I think I'm done with those now. They make nice and interesting beers without temp control, just not what I'm after.
 
Franktalk said:
I'll use S33, but I don't like Nottingham. It is to attenuative and neutral for English styles.
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Since I seem to to be on the sam page on this, do you have thoughts about Munton's? Also, is part of you preference for S04 its flocculatio?
 
Yes, S04 flocs great. I only tried Munton's once, and I didn't like it. I got a bit of acetylhyde (green apple) from it, which I am very sensitive to and do not like at all. It could have been a fluke, but there are many choices out there, so why take another chance. I may be wrong, but I think Munton's is the same as S33 (Edme strain), but I've never had a problem with S33
 
Franktalk said:
there are many choices out there, so why take another chance. I may be wrong, but I think Munton's is the same as S33 (Edme strain), but I've never had a problem with S33
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I heard the same about Muntons and S33. My last supply order was S33 only. And I agree about the why take a chance thing. I did a group of yeast test batches back on 1997 where I ranked S04 lower than Muntons. I just used S04 again last year and liked it better than a similar Nottingham brew, and it back on my list. I don't do any lagers, but I do non-British ales where I find Nottingham useful. I use S05 for my American summer ale. Thanks for your answers.

My favorite yeasts in alphabetical order: Muntons, Nottingham, S04, S05, S33.
 
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I mostly make IPAs and pale ales and I started using WLP007 a while back for reasons unknown (I think it was suggested in the recipe I was making). I've used WLP090 with pretty good success and don't mind Nottingham either (I try to always have it on hand as a backup).

WLP007 is also good in porters/stouts I find, which is about 10% of the beers I make.

Currently have fresh packs of WLP007, S05 (Yakima Hops threw it into a hops order), Nottingham, and Omega Hothead (because I thought I'd give it a try and my basement is like 78º in the winter).
 
Tobor_8thMan said:
Back in the 1990s I used Edme all the time. What happened to Edme?
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Edme became S33, and it was at first identified as such. It is no longer marketed that way for reasons that are beyond my pay grade. I still use it often. My last supply order for six brews, included six packets of Edme.
 

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