Pitched wrong yeast in my wort

bnewmane · Sep 13, 2013

So I'm an idiot. I brewed a Pumpkin Ale today and pitched the wrong yeast in my wort. I pitched Danstar Windsor Ale yeast and the recipe called for Safale US-05 yeast.

Will my beer still turn out with a pumpkin taste or did I just ruin the flavor of my beer. The yeast I used is for brown ales. Just need some clarification on how bad I messed up.

LovesIPA · Sep 13, 2013

"Don't worry about what you can't change."

It's really difficult to predict the effect that yeast will have on beer. Some yeast strains are so different that you couldn't even tell two beers came from the same wort. Others are very similar. Danstar's site says the yeast gives beer a fruity, estery character which doesn't sound that bad in a pumpkin beer.

I would say that you'll be fine and you might even like this beer better than if you fermented with a clean, neutral yeast like US-05.

It's really hard to screw up beer. If you spend more than two minutes worrying about this, have a beer. If you're still worried, have another beer. Repeat until you stop worrying.

kh54s10 · Sep 13, 2013

You just changed your beer from an American Pumpkin Ale to an English Pumpkin Ale.

It will be good, just different.

sweetcell · Sep 13, 2013

i wouldn't worry about this at all. you've pitched a more flavorful yeast that tends to leave a little more sweetness behind. sounds perfect for a pumpkin ale.

kh54s10 said:
You just changed your beer from an American Pumpkin Ale to an English Pumpkin Ale.

oh please. the english have far too much sense to make anything as ridiculous as a pumpkin ale

bnewmane · Sep 13, 2013

Thanks everybody! I guess I'll have a sweeter pumpkin beer then, which I definitely don't mind. I do feel better but I still think I should drink a beer just in case. :mug:

BigFloyd · Sep 13, 2013

Between the two of those, I'd probably pick Windsor (with its lower attenuation) for a pumpkin ale.

Watch the temps on Windsor. Keep it around 63-65*F beer temp until it settles down and then let it slowly come up to 68*F to finish. It's less tolerant of warmer temps than is US-05.