Irish or English yeast ?

[Klamer1]

What would be the significant difference in using an Irish ale or an English ale yeast in my porter ?

 

[TheHappyHopper]

I don't know what manufacturer you are using, but here is Wyeast's strain guide:
http://www.wyeastlab.com/rw_yeaststrain.cfm

Just a couple of minor differences:
- The Irish Ale yeast can tolerate slightly colder temperatures
- The Irish Ale yeast can tolerate slightly more alcohol
- The Irish Ale yeast may create a bit of fruitiness, the British Ale yeast should be completely neutral, not contributing any fruity flavors.

They both list that they are good for porters, so you can't go wrong using either, it sounds like the taste differences would be minimal. The only way to know for sure which one you prefer is to split your wort into 2 fermenters and pitch one yeast into each.

 

[mrgrimm101]

The only way to know for sure which one you prefer is to split your wort into 2 fermenters and pitch one yeast into each.

Brilliant!

 

[TheHappyHopper]

Brilliant!

Plus, if you are doing a five gallon batch and splitting it in half, you wouldn't need to bother to do a starter for the smack packs since they usually suggest 2 smack packs (or 1 with a starter) for a 5 gallon batch.

 

[mrgrimm101]

Haha..no sarcasm at all. That's a great idea to see how 2 different yeasts will effect the exact same beer.

 

[TheHappyHopper]

Haha..no sarcasm at all. That's a great idea to see how 2 different yeasts will effect the exact same beer.

Lol, no worries -

I am wanting to try this with some of my beers eventually, but I feel like I still have other kinks in my process/recipes to work out before doing experiments like this.

 

[mrgrimm101]

Yea I'd like to do this to a couple of my IPAs and split it between an American ale yeast and an English ale yeast.

 

[captwalt]

In my limited experience and humble opinion, I don't think you will see any difference between two strains like that. I have carried out yeast experiments like those mentioned above and i've used a white labs english yeast and irish yeast and found that they arent that different at all. I have seen unique characteristics in yeasts like wlp001 for example against english (002?) or Irish (004?). I use mostly the irish for my stouts, porters, browns and english pales, It does the trick. It tends to leave some residual sweet and cleans up fast, fermented at higher temps ~70 it leaves a pleasant subtle yeasty flavor that have found to work well in these styles.
as a disclaimer I think I should mention that the vast majority of my beers get wlp007 which does great for me at cooler temps ~63°