My little Yeast experiment

[FleEsq]

A buddy of mine who is a big brewer is moving to China and had to get rid of his brew gear. I was the beneficiary. I had only one little kegerator that I was using as a fermenter. I received fermenter on wheels with a room air conditioner attached that could hold 40 gal of beer.

So I went a little crazy over the last two weeks and brewed 35 gal. I had only a few different strains of yeast so I thought I would see how the different yeasts would interact with the wort, and see which I would like best under similar conditions.

I brewed three similar beers. a Mexican cerveza. a typical Lawnmower beer, and an Irish blond ( blond with a very small amount of peated malt)

All beers fermented at 62 degrees except for one. Attempting a Lager fermented at 52.

Lawnmower beer: used Nottingham in 5 gal and sf-05 in another.

Mexican Cerveza: Used WLP-001, sf-05 and WLP- 940( my lager)

Irish Blonde: used SF-05, Nottingham, and WLP-004

I have become very interested in yeast and what flavors they impart on the beer. I will keep you all posted assuming anyone is as crazy as myself.

Mods, If this is posted in the wrong place please move, Im still new to brewing.

 

[JohnSand]

I'm going to consult with the others about moving it to Fermentation and Yeast, or elsewhere. It's probably not a Beginner topic, even if you are new.
I've split plenty of batches between yeasts, it's fun and enlightening.

 

[Redtab78]

Im pretty sure your going to have 3 very different beers...

Best way to test is brew one big (15) gallon batch, and split into 3 different fermenters and pitch the 3 different strains, thats the only way (that i know of) to really get the exact differences.

 

[FleEsq]

I agree but the base malt is all 2 row, and two of the batches are split between three deferent yeasts

I look at hops and malt imparting strong flavors and the yeast imparting subtle flavors.

From my limited knowledge hops and malt are much more predictable then yeast, but I could be wrong.

 

[Redtab78]

Much more to it then that, mash time with the non base malts, OG, pitch rates, hop flavors, water treatments, ferment times, temps etc....but most of all im willing to bet some may have used a crystal malt, and others didnt, which can come off as light caramel all the way into deep plum and raisins depending on which version (c10,20,40,120 etc)

Im not saying you wont be able to pick up variations, but the variations you pick up are not going to help you pin point the yeast contribution.

As an example, i brewed 3 different beers all using the same yeast strain (wy1968) and the same grain bill (5#pils, 5# pale, 1# vienna, .5# carapils) and mashed all at 149F.....all using different hops (simcoe, mosaic, and amarillo) and the 3 beers were very different tast8ng, and the malty taste i got from the 1968 in one was not there in another one, or it was masked by the hops, and i couldnt really get it

 

[Redtab78]

Where abouts in sw florida are you, sarasota area?

 

[FleEsq]

I do have three different recipes however all of the same recipes are using the same grain bill, hops, temp and mash times. Basically I separated the wort after the boil.

I do agree with your argument, that the three different recipes will not be comparable to the others. This is not scientific by any means.

What I have noticed so far is the SF-05 consistently fermented the quickest. It started faster and finished first. The Nottingham seemingly has a longer fermentation time. The WL001 slow to start and the longest of all.

I live in a little old fishing community call Matlatcha near Ft. Myers.