Oatmeal Stout Yeast: S-04, 1335, or 1084?

[mrphillips]

I'm putting together a recipe, and can't figure out which yeast will leave the fewest esters and diacetyl flavor. I really want the complex malt bill to shine. I've heard great things from all of these strains, but I'm looking for 1st hand experience.

5 GALLONS

5 lbs. extra pale DME
1 lb. 2-row
1 lb. flaked oats
.75 lb. roasted barley
.5 lb. crystal 80
.5 lb. crystal 40
.5 lb. victory
2 oz. chocolate malt

2 oz. Willamette @ 60 min.

YEAST?????

 

[Spectre216]

I know I've experienced s-04 to have some fruity tenancies. If you want a nice neutral yeast you could always go with notty or us-05 as they are both very clean kept in the right temp range.

 

[giraffe]

1335 is a nice cleanish malt focused yeast especially when fermented around 64 F. I like it for cleanish beers more than cal ale, cause it has a tiny/subtle bit of pleasant malty ester character, and flocs out nicely. 1084 tends to throw a lot of diacetyl, and requires a d-rest in my experience, and definitely has some esters. Ive never used s-04.

 

[youreanimpulse]

I know you didn't mention this one, but WY1028 made the best stout I've ever produced last month. Might be worth a shot, definitely not fruity at all. Roast and chocolate shine (I used some nibs in secondary). That yeast is one of my favorites. Only other personal experience I can add is a -1 to S-04. My try was a porter, but it was terrible (fruit bomb).

 

[mrphillips]

The only one of the 3 I've used is S-04 in an Irish Red...but that beer turned out so bad, I wasn't sure where to put the blame.

I like the 1028 idea. I never considered that one because I'm not going for anything high-gravity (my OG should end up around 1.058).

As far as S-05 goes, I've used it in my last 4 or 5 brews and looking to try something new with an old recipe. I do love me some good ol' fashion S-05 though!

 

[youreanimpulse]

I'm not sure I've ever used 1028 on high gravity brews. It's been great in reds, IPAs, stout, pale ales... All regular gravity brews. Tasty stuff. Rumor has it it's the house yeast at HUB here in Portland, a brewery I respect for sure.

 

[youreanimpulse]

That said I had great success using WLP004 (1084) in a barleywine earlier this year. Also a great yeast.

 

[Yooper]

1335. Definitely NOT s04, no matter what.

 

[FlyDoctor]

Yooper, why do you say this? I would have expected an English strain to do well with the style.


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[Yooper]

Yooper, why do you say this? I would have expected an English strain to do well with the style.


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I'm not a fan of S04, except in a few cases, notably when the beer can be fermenented under about 63 degrees and no esters are wanted. It gets weird at a warmer temperature, not pleasantly estery like other English strains can.

 

[FlyDoctor]

Thanks for the reply. So would you say though that he 1968/wlp002 would be fine here where Us-04 wouldn't? I haven't used this dry strain myself, but have some at hand...


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[djevans3]

I'm a fan of WLP013 - London Ale in Oatmeal Stouts. I used it in a chocolate oatmeal stout and it came out great.

 

[fantomlord]

1084 makes a nice stout

 

[mrphillips]

How do these yeast finishes compare to the clean finish of S-05?

 

[giraffe]

1335 is pretty clean. A bit more mouthfeel. 1084, is not a clean finish. 1968 is anything but a clean finish. wlp013 and 1028 are both worthingtons yeast, can be moderately clean when fermented cool. It is crisp with a tinge of fruitiness in the finish.

 

[mrphillips]

Ingrediants bought and paid for! Decided on wpl004 Irish ale yeast. I made some small changes to the recipe.

5 lbs extra light dme
1.5 lbs flaked oats
1 lb. 2-row
.75 roasted barley
.5 lbs crystal 80
.5 lbs crydtal 40
.5 lbs. victory
.25 lbs chocolate malt

Thanks for all the input. I'll be brewing this in a week.

 

[mrphillips]

Oh, and 2 oz. Fuggle at 60 min.

 

[mrphillips]

Will the 1 lb 2-row be enough to convert the 1.5 lbs. of oats?

 

[Yooper]

Will the 1 lb 2-row be enough to convert the 1.5 lbs. of oats?

Maybe- but there are a lot of other grains in there as well. You can steep the specialty grains separately, and do a mash with the oats and two-row, or get another two pounds of two-row. A rule of thumb (with no calculating) is to use 1 pound of two-row for every pound of 'other' grains, and you should be fine. You have about 4 pounds of 'other' grains.

 

[mrphillips]

Brewing this tomorrow. Preeeeeeetty pumped.

 

[mrphillips]

She's a broilin' away! I'm excited to see how the Irish yeast fairs in this batch.

Super...duper pumped.

 

[KeninMN]

I've done two brews with Wyeast 1335, a Surly Furious kit and a multigrain red ale kit, both from Northern Brewer and both ended up with a nasty, unpleasant estery taste in the finish. The Furious turned out particularly horrible, and tastes nothing like Furious, but the red is at least drinkable. Since my sanitation and processes are sound, since I controlled fermentation temperatures (around 64 F for both through two weeks, with an additional two weeks of aging at higher temps,) since both brews used the same yeast and both brews ended up with the exact same weirdness that none of my other brews have exhibited, I'm left to conclude that it's just this strain of yeast.

Edit: I should note that both were extract kits brewed with distilled water.

 

[mrphillips]

I've heard the same thing from a lor of British strains, so I've been weary. I've also heard that many people like that flavor, and it's intended.

On another note, my stouts been in the primary for two weeks, and I plan to leave it there for another 2 weeks. Had an INSANE blowoff that wrecked my closet, and lost me about a half/full gallon on delicious beer. I haven't taken my FG yet .

 

[worlddivides]

Wow. I'm surprised at all the hate for S-04 in this thread. Ironically I was reading a few threads a week ago where almost everybody loved S-04. Personally I think it's a decent yeast. Definitely not bad, but nothing amazing.

Kind of funny to see how you can get overall opposite responses from thread to thread, about other things too.

 

[giraffe]

1335 always fermented quite clean, for me. Did you pitch enough yeast, and oxygenate? it could be yeast stress. Cal Ale is more forgiving.

 

[mrphillips]

Well, my first experience with Irish Yeast has been positive.

I switched my stout into the secondary, and it fermented perfectly (minus the blowoff-destroyed closet). FG came out to 1.015, and while there is a hint of esters, it works well with the sweetness of the crystal malts. The roasted barley is more present on the back than the front, and the sweetness balances the hops very well - no bitterness whatsoever.

The only surprise was the slight alcohol presents (at only 5.9%, I was very surprised), but since I planned on keeping it in the bottle for at least 2 months, I'm not worried about it.

 

[KeninMN]

1335 always fermented quite clean, for me. Did you pitch enough yeast, and oxygenate? it could be yeast stress. Cal Ale is more forgiving.

Yep! Pitched a big starter, oxygenated with pure O2, and pitched at 66 degrees F. The lag time was seven hours. I controlled the fermentation temperature at between 66 and 68 with a swamp cooler. I also used distilled water and practiced proper handling and sanitation. Two weeks in primary, two weeks in secondary, dry hopping for 5 days and bottled conditioned for two weeks. That is why I'm baffled by the result...

 

[mrphillips]

Just bottled her up! The Final FINAL FG was 1.014, bringing my abv to an even 6% (the OCD in me loves when that happens ).

The alcohol burn is less pronounced, but I'm surprised by the esters that are present. It's still tasty, but different than I thought it would be.

Are esters something that will yeast will clean-up during bottle conditioning, or not usually?