Using 2 yeast brands in one batch?

[Willy]

Out of curiosity, I tried brewing a strong batch of brown ale, 7+% ABV, 24 SRM. 39 IBU - batch size was 6 gallons. I used two ale yeasts - Fermentis saf us 0-5, and lallemann Nottingham , one pack each. I have used each of these yeasts and like them both, mostly equal in performance and taste. And yeah... Together they were even better. I now repeat this double brands of yeast whenever I remake this beer.

I am curious if anyone else has experimented with using 2 different yeast brands? Which ones for what styles?

I am also curious about using an ale yeast and a lager yeast simultaneously, fermenting at a temperature that fits each yeast. Perhaps Novalager and saf us-05 fermented at 66°F ... I have not tried this yet but will sometime. Anybody done a mix of ale and lager yeast in a single batch?

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

Anybody done a mix of ale and lager yeast in a single batch?

I think that would be an invitation for off flavors if used simultaneously since their respective recommended temperature ranges generally have no over lap. No, I have just read or heard that Weinstephaner uses lager yeast to bottle condition their Hefeweizen.

 

[Willy]

I think that would be an invitation for off flavors if used simultaneously since their respective recommended temperature ranges generally have no over lap. No, I have just read or heard that Weinstephaner uses lager yeast to bottle condition their Hefeweizen.

The ideal temps of each yeast.
Fermentis Us-05 ale yeast (59-71°F)
Novalager lager yeast (50-68°F)

So .. indeed there is overlap of ideal temp range. 60-66 looks like the optimal temp range.

 

[pvpeacock]

I recently thawed test tubes of frozen Imperial Pub and Imperial House from my frozen yeast bank for a split batch of IPA with an OG of 1.045. I made a 1 liter starter for each test tube and they both looked healthy after about 4 days on stir plates. When I went to pitch the yeast, I realized I hadn't labelled which starter was which and had thrown away the test tubes days earlier. I wasn't sure what to do, so I mixed both starters together and pitched half into each fermenter. So, I did by mistake what you did on purpose with two ale yeasts. Both beers are keg conditioning now and neither will get tapped for another few weeks. I am curious to see how they turned out.

 

[Willy]

I recently thawed test tubes of frozen Imperial Pub and Imperial House from my frozen yeast bank for a split batch of IPA with an OG of 1.045. I made a 1 liter starter for each test tube and they both looked healthy after about 4 days on stir plates. When I went to pitch the yeast, I realized I hadn't labelled which starter was which and had thrown away the test tubes days earlier. I wasn't sure what to do, so I mixed both starters together and pitched half into each fermenter. So, I did by mistake what you did on purpose with two ale yeasts. Both beers are keg conditioning now and neither will get tapped for another few weeks. I am curious to see how they turned out.

Keep us posted. I am doing a batch of my 2 yeast brands brown ale, Outlaw Josie Wells this weekend. This is my fourth batch of this recipe in 2024 - really refreshing and full of flavor, mild happiness and very malt forward (w. Coffee and chocolate malt)

 

[Hoppy2bmerry]

The ideal temps of each yeast.
Fermentis Us-05 ale yeast (59-71°F)
Novalager lager yeast (50-68°F)

So .. indeed there is overlap of ideal temp range. 60-66 looks like the optimal temp range.

Yes right now novalager is the only exception with a fermentation temp that reaches to the mid 60s. The question I have for you is what would you hope to gain by pitching these together?

 

[HM-2]

I co-pitch all the time but have no idea what you might be hoping to achieve out of the proposed one here.

 

[Miraculix]

Mixing yeasts is a common practice but it's usually done to get certain properties from one yeast and other properties from the other. For example Windsor for flavour and Nottingham for flocculation. That's a classic mix done many many times.

You basically mixed a clean ale yeast with a clean ale yeast. I don't see much benefit in that other than us05 being a slightly better attenuator and Nottingham flocculating slightly better. But I doubt that this makes much of a difference.

 

[Willy]

Yes right now novalager is the only exception with a fermentation temp that reaches to the mid 60s. The question I have for you is what would you hope to gain by pitching these together?

No idea. I am curious as to efficacy and how it tastes. Does fermenting with top and bottom yeast offer any benefits or drawbacks. Most important - how does the beer taste.

Personally I can taste the difference between lager and ale yeast and certainly kveik has its own thing. When I mixed us-05 and Nottingham - the beer batch was really excellent - the yeasts played well together and the beer taste and mouthfeel was really good. And repeatable. Each yeast brought something to the malt party.

I have my doubts that it works with lager and ale yeast... But still curious. I figured there has to be some knucklehead out there that already tried this foolish idea. Ha.

 

[Dgallo]

As long as you’re repitching new packs you should be fine. If you are harvesting the yeast from previous batches just know there will be some slide as each culture will have its or reproduction rate and over time your slurry will favor which ever culture reproduces faster and floccuates faster. In this case it would lean Nottingham. They are very similar yeast in performance so you may not even notice but just good information to know if your copitchjng with different strains

 

[Willy]

As long as you’re repitching new packs you should be fine. If you are harvesting the yeast from previous batches just know there will be some slide as each culture will have its or reproduction rate and over time your slurry will favor which ever culture reproduces faster. In this case it would lean Nottingham. They are very similar yeast in performance so you may not even notice but just good information to know if your copitchjng with different strains

Thanks for the info. I don't harvest yeast yet. My reason is mostly because I really like the yeast products that are out there and excited to try a bunch of new varieties that just came out. It is a golden age for yeast options.

These are the new Fermentis yeast options that interest me most.
T-58, K-97, S-189 and BE-134. I plan to try each of these and consider if any blend with another yeast might work.

 

[FloppyKnockers]

I did a sachet each of 34/70 + US-05 in a 10-gallon batch once. 34/70 is notoriously good at warmer temps and US-05 is good when cooler. I fermented both buckets at ~65° for a couple weeks. Crashed and lagered one and kegged the other. Both came out tasting like beer.

 

[Dgallo]

Thanks for the info. I don't harvest yeast yet. My reason is mostly because I really like the yeast products that are out there and excited to try a bunch of new varieties that just came out. It is a golden age for yeast options.

These are the new Fermentis yeast options that interest me most.
T-58, K-97, S-189 and BE-134. I plan to try each of these and consider if any blend with another yeast might work.

You can certainly copitcg yeast but I’d suggest using the yeast you plan to blend by themselves first. It will give you a good idea how each work and even you’ll have a better grasp on what the blend will do

 

[worlddivides]

I once wanted to get something in between a West Coast IPA and an English IPA, so I pitched one vial of WLP01 California Ale yeast and one vial of WLP02 English Ale yeast, and as expected, got something in between the two. Way cleaner than the English Ale yeast, but not as clean as the California Ale yeast. Higher attenuation than the English, but lower than the California. I believe I fermented around 66-68F / 18-20C. I really enjoyed it. I'm not sure if I did it before White Labs released Best of Both Worlds or I just didn't know about it at the time (I did end up buying that yeast and trying it later).

 

[Willy]

I did a sachet each of 34/70 + US-05 in a 10-gallon batch once. 34/70 is notoriously good at warmer temps and US-05 is good when cooler. I fermented both buckets at ~65° for a couple weeks. Crashed and lagered one and kegged the other. Both came out tasting like

I did a sachet each of 34/70 + US-05 in a 10-gallon batch once. 34/70 is notoriously good at warmer temps and US-05 is good when cooler. I fermented both buckets at ~65° for a couple weeks. Crashed and lagered one and kegged the other. Both came out tasting like b

You can certainly copitcg yeast but I’d suggest using the yeast you plan to blend by themselves first. It will give you a good idea how each work and even you’ll have a better grasp on what the blend will do

Agreed. I always use single yeast first to see how it performs and the taste profiles. But after using a yeast 3 or 7 times, I get curious. The us-05 and Nottingham blend is really good. (Both ale yeasts) But I have no experience with other blends. Yet.

 

[Snuffy]

I have a saison in the fermenter now that was going to be pitched with WLP590 French Saison yeast. I made my starter and it just never really took off. After 2 days of random swirling the sh*t out of it, it was still just a stratified flask of yeast water with no head on it at all. I pitched it anyway and then to be sure I pitched 12g of Cellar Science dry Saison as well. Hoowee! That took off like a bottle rocket. It's down from 1.059 to .998 after 5 days. EKG bittering and Saaz for flavor and aroma. Pushing 8%.

I've never used either of those yeasts before tho, so I wont have any basis for comparison.

 

[monkeymath]

I think that would be an invitation for off flavors if used simultaneously since their respective recommended temperature ranges generally have no over lap. No, I have just read or heard that Weinstephaner uses lager yeast to bottle condition their Hefeweizen.

I don't think this is necessarily true. A mix of both should do just fine at ale temperatures.

Lager yeast can ferment at lower temperatures and they will create that "classic lager flavour" at those lower temperatures. That doesn't necessarily mean they create any "off-flavours" at ale fermentation temperatures, it'll just be less "lager like" (e.g. more esters). Which should not be a concern when you're also pitching ale yeast anyways.

(And then there's a growing number of people that claim lager yeasts produce hardly distinguishable "lager beers" at higher temperatures as well, but let's not get into that.)

 

[Willy]

I recently finished up a saison batch using Fermentis BE-134 - which is a traditional Belgium yeast known for its clove/peppery flavor. The beer was amazing but my palette was a tad overwhelmed by the clove/peppery flavor. It would be great if it was more subtle.

Next batch of Belgium with use a blend of 75-85% saf us-05/ 25-15% be 134... And I bet it will work for me.

To make it work with what I got ... I either just go for and pour the Belgium hoping my taste will acclimate to it or ... I do a beer blend of 3 parts lager to 1 part Belgium yeast batch.

 

[CodyRonan]

Mixing yeasts is a common practice but it's usually done to get certain properties from one yeast and other properties from the other. For example Windsor for flavour and Nottingham for flocculation. That's a classic mix done many many times.

You basically mixed a clean ale yeast with a clean ale yeast. I don't see much benefit in that other than us05 being a slightly better attenuator and Nottingham flocculating slightly better. But I doubt that this makes much of a difference.

Or notty for attenuation.