Using more than one yeast strain

[oddcarout]

My oldest son is very interested in brewing, so he has become my brew partner. I found brewtoad.com so that he can make his own recipes. He was showing me one where he had used multiple yeasts and I said that he should really only use one. He asked why. Well I didn't have an answer other than I have never seen more than one used. So why don't we use more than one variety of yeast?

Thanks,

OCO

 

[EarlyAmateurZymurgist]

It is easier to manage pure cultures under real-world brewing conditions.

 

[thatjonguy]

Unless you are after a specific ester profile from a blend of yeast, it is easier to use one especially if you harvest and repitch slurry.

If you are chasing a specfic profile, I would guess that you would have to use a ratio and account for each strain's growth (which I assume is not linear from strain to strain). Maybe look to Belgian beers for inspiration on multiple strains.

But I am not a microbiologist, just a guy on the internet.

 

[FRS]

If both are pitched at the same time it's hard to predict what you'd get. In many cases one or the other yeast would likely dominate rendering the second redundant. Consistency from batch to batch may also be an issue; especially if your two yeast cultures are of different ages, viability etc.

Some high gravity recipes explicitly call for a second pitch, after several days of fermentation, of a highly alcohol tolerant yeast to help the beer ferment out.

What is your son hoping to achieve by using two yeasts he can't get from one? I'm betting that with temperature control and good yeast selection you can do it more reliably with a single strain.

Of course experimentation is part of the fun of home brewing so I say go nuts!

 

[Dolomieu]

My oldest son is very interested in brewing, so he has become my brew partner. I found brewtoad.com so that he can make his own recipes. He was showing me one where he had used multiple yeasts and I said that he should really only use one. He asked why. Well I didn't have an answer other than I have never seen more than one used. So why don't we use more than one variety of yeast?

Thanks,

OCO

Still reading "yeast" and would recommend it. Basically you have two reasons to use two strains. One is you want some of the yeast character from both strains. When doing this you pitch both strains at the beginning. Second would be to produce a higher abv beer or to ensure proper attenuation. Usually you would use/pitch which ever yeast you would like to contribute the yeast character to your beer and then pitch a higher abv tolerant strain later to help finish it off.

At least this is what I have gathered from my reading so far.

 

[Dolomieu]

What you get from mixing strains depends on which ones you mix.

 

[will_rouse]

Well I done an accidental experimentation on this a few weeks back. I was planning on brewing the deception cream stout with Denny's favorite so I had every thing ordered up.
Everything came in, damn I'm out of DME to make a starter with so I ran to the LHBS and they only had London 1028 and I had no time for a starter so I pitched two packs of 1028 and on pack if Denny's favorite.

It's fermenting like a champ. And the last hydro sample tasted amazing!

 

[will_rouse]

Well I done an accidental experimentation on this a few weeks back. I was planning on brewing the deception cream stout with Denny's favorite so I had every thing ordered up. Everything came in, damn I'm out of DME to make a starter with so I ran to the LHBS and they only had London 1028 and I had no time for a starter so I pitched two packs of 1028 and one pack of Denny's favorite. It's fermenting like a champ. And the last hydro sample tasted amazing!

Edited: grammar

 

[oddcarout]

Thanks, his next question was "can we do it".

 

[Calder]

Unless you have a lot of yeast, this can get expensive.

You need to know what you are doing it for; otherwise it is probably just a waste.

Orval uses 2 yeasts, but they are from different families; Sacc and Brett.

 

[Qhrumphf]

Like everyone has said, yes you can. There's a number of both White Labs and Wyeast "strains" out there are actually multiple strains. Some are regular yeast plus other yeasts (Brett) or bacteria for sours. Other strains are just blends of Saccharomyces strains designed to work together in a certain way. With blended strains from vials/smack packs, the manufacturer has taken care of making the proportions right to the strain ferments like it should, and repitching (or maybe even making a starter) could throw the proportions off and alter the flavor of the final batch, especially with sour blends. Doing it on your own is a little tougher, and unless you know what you're going for it's probably not worth it.

I sometimes use more than one strain in a batch, but it's always with a reason, and usually as a secondary strain. Bugs or wild yeast to sour or add some funk, or a second yeast to dry the beer out.

 

[RedBeardedBrewer]

I think we usually ferment with one yeast because it makes it cheaper and easier. Also you can get a feel for which yeasts you like based on finished product. If you were to mix and you disliked the results, then how do you know which one you didn't like?

However! I think it would make for a good experiment and I have thought of doing this myself. You hear of beers made with a bunch of different grains (7grain stout by HUB out here in the NW) and a bunch of different varieties of hops (Stone Enjoy By IPA). Why not do 5 strains of yeast? I know, I know, the practicality of 5 strains... I think you and your son should try it! Dry yeast packets seem practical if you had a 10gal batch.