Irish Red Ale, which yeast to use?

[DeanRIowa]

I recently purchased the Irish Red Ale kit from NB and it came with the dry Nottingham yeast. I currently have a German Altbier in my primary and was thinking of saving the yeast from it, which is Wyeast 1007 German Ale.

Which yeast would you use from making my Irish Red Ale, dry Nottingham or Wyeast 1007 German Ale?

And why?

Any ideas on what the flavor or other differences would be in using each different yeast?

thanks,
Dean

 

[ISUBrew79]

Nice to see another Iowan on the forums!

Irish Reds are usually brewed with a relatively clean, attenuative ale yeast. Nottingham would fit the bill nicely.

I recently brewed an Oktoberfest ale using Wyeast 1007 that I fermented at about 57 degrees F. That beer turned out very clean and lagerlike. I could easily envision using that yeast in a number of other beer styles where you want a clean beer with a muted ester profile. If you carried out the fermentation in the low 60's F, I think you could turn out a nice Irish red with Wyeast 1007.

 

[SenorPepe]

I'm about to do a Red tomorrow too. After researching, it looks like most use Nottingham, 05 or an Irish Ale yeast. Personally, I'll be using WY 1335 since I washed it recently and Wyeast's site lists Irish Red as a good style for the yeast. I plan on mashing at 150 and hope I can get a good balance.

 

[scottland]

Wyeast's Irish culture is probably the best as it's super clean. Chico (US05/WLP001/WY1056) also works really well for the style. Nottingham would also work well.

 

[DeanRIowa]

I seems like the Wyeast 1007 German Ale yeast might be worth a try, I only have those two yeast to choose from as I have no LHBS that carries liquid yeast nearby.

Thank you all for your opinions. I will probably brew on the weekend.

Dean

 

[nilo]

I just bottled a batch and used S04. Beer is very clear and tastes great.

 

[PoppinCaps]

Wyeast Irish in my opinion is very similar to S04, Nottingham, 1056 in a Red. If you've got the flavor of the red, these yeasts make very little difference. I've tried them all on the same recipe, never noticed a difference. I'd say 1007 will give you very similar results, plus you've already got the cake. Save the Notty for an emergency pitch.

 

[badhabit]

It seems that there are a number of reds and ambers that are made with alt yeast....most known Alaskan and Killians. I made a red with an alt yeast earlier this summer for my dad who is a big fan of reds. He said it was the best I'd ever done for him (I started brewing with him over 45 years ago). There was a great change for the better in the beer after 5 weeks of conditioning. Either of the yeasts that you have mentioned sound like very good choices maybe also WLP 036 or Fermentis US 04.

 

[msa8967]

I just brewed 8 gallons of Irish Red Ale this weekend. Four gallons used Notty and 4 gallons used S-04. Both of these are in the basement in a tub with shallow amount of water to keep the temp in the low-mid 60s.

 

[DeanRIowa]

I ended up making my Irish Red Ale with the Wyeast 1007 German Ale last night. I made a small yeast starer and it took off with great fermentation within 8 hours.

plus you've already got the cake. Save the Notty for an emergency pitch.

I decide to take this advice and save my Nottingham yeast for future use.


I was actually hoping to to make something that looks like Killians with a bit more flavor, so I hope I am on the right track.

I will followup later with my results.

thanks again everyone,

Dean

 

[Pivovar_Koucky]

I don't know if Wyeast 1007 is the same as White Labs Kolsch; but I hate that WL kolsch, it takes forever to clear and tastes funky. US-05 is a great option for Irish Red in my opinion.

 

[SkiNuke]

Any news on this?

 

[KidO]

I'm interested in how it turned out as well...

I brewed a Red last weekend and I used Wyeast 2565 (Kölsch). Same situation, I had the yeast left over from a previous brew, and a Kölsch is always on tap at my house. I know that many of the commercial Reds out there are fermented as lagers. Since 2565 ends up pretty clean, I figured what can it hurt. I should know in a couple weeks.

I have used 1007 in a number of brews before. It has always produced a nice clean beer.

 

[MONKandTUCK]

I don't see anything wrong with experimenting using the Alt yeast, considering so many others regularly utilize Notty. Notty is a great yeast, but depending on your grain bill, you might prefer something less attenuating.

I think the BJCP guidelines for Irish Red Ale are ridiculously confining. Using a more flavorful yeast could really add something to your brew.

 

[RickFinsta]

I'm using 1728 for my Irish ale today, and I'm also interested to see what'll happen. I plan on keeping temperatures down (it's 58*F in my basement) to see if I can get it really clean with just a hint of smoke maybe.