What yeast for a maple porter?

[eadavis80]

I am doing AIH's Maple Porter later this fall. I am debating on which yeast to use. I don't really want any fruitiness in there, but I'm also a little concerned that 1056 might attenuate too much and leave it drier than I'd like. So, I'd like little/no fruitiness, but still full bodied. My choices are 1056, Windsor Dry or Safale 04. Here is AIH's advice: Ed,

Thanks for contacting us. For the Maple Porter, I would probably go with 1056 myself as it is a more neutral yeast in terms or flavorp rofile, but is a bit more attenuative so it will bring down the sweetness of the batch a bit. Using S-04 would be fine I would just try to keep the temps in the mid to high 60's if possible to reduce the overall ester profile it will kick off.

Let me know if you run into other questions or concerns from there and we'll be happy to help!

Aaron

Here is Northern Brewer's:

Thank you for contacting us! Happy to offer advice. I think that the S-04 would probably be the best option for that kind of beer. It will fully ferment, without much fruity, but it does not generally over ferment and create a super dry finished product. Does that all make sense?

What do you guys think?

 

[Easycreeper]

Extract or all grain? If the latter, you can mash high to limit the amount of fermentable sugars and keep FG higher if you're worried about over attenuation.

Not sure what to offer on yeast choice though. No experience with your options. Sorry.

 

[thehaze]

Danstar Windsor will work fine, as long as you mash low ( 147-149F ) and use some simple sugar at the end of boil.

SafAle S-04 will also work fine. 1056 does attenuate well with simple grists, but you will not get over 80% with a Porter grain bill and especially if you mash at 155-157F.

 

[eadavis80]

It's an all-grain kit with a pound of maple syrup added at flameout.

 

[Queequeg]

I would add the maple syrup to the primary after fermentation slows, low temp pasteurize first then cool before adding. This will preserve some of the maple character, otherwise it will be completely gone by serving.

You could also keep some back for priming if you are bottling.

 

[eadavis80]

I think I'll try 1056 (harvested yesterday) and mash in the upper 150's and hope the FG is around 1.015 or so. I'd like it to end a little sweeter (thus MAPLE porter) so hopefully the higher mash temp will lead to a less fermentable wort while the 1056 leaves a clean taste. Just want the malt and maple to shine.

 

[couchsending]

It is almost impossible to get maple flavor unless you do a few things.

Reduce the maple syrup until it’s incredibky thick and dark and then don’t add it until after the beer is cold and keep it cold if you’re kegging. If you’re bottling there’s literally no way to really end up with maple flavor in your beer. It will all ferment out and just dry out the beer. Maple flavor is incredibly hard to achieve.

Definitely don’t add it before primary fermentation you won’t taste a lick of it.

If you want a sweeter beer definitely use Windsor but keep the Ferm temps low. If you can’t keep em low use 1056 and mash at 158/160 for 30 minutes.

 

[eadavis80]

Went with 1056 that I harvested. Funny thing is that the 1056 went BONKERS in the amber I harvested it from, but the krausen is only about 1" on this batch. The wort is warmer than I'd like too. Murphy's Law struck as we have warmer than normal weather right now in Michigan and our A/C did the day before brew day. I've got the Big Mouth in a bin of water and I'm rotating in frozen water bottles to keep it as cool as I can, but I'm hoping the 70-72 degree wort doesn't create noticeable off flavors. Nothing else I can really do at this point. It's certainly fermenting and i made a starter and the harvested yeast was only a few days old. I just find it quirky that I had a 4" krausen with the amber and a 1" krausen with this porter even though the porter is fermenting in warmer temps.

 

[eadavis80]

I transferred the maple porter over to secondary yesterday. As expected, the "maple flavor" is basically non-existent, but that's no big deal. I was VERY PLEASED with the combo of a slightly warmer mash temp (around 155ish) and the gravity of the beer as it's at 1.014. I was looking for a little residual sweetness and a clean finish and the 1056 + higher mash temp = exactly what I was looking for. I'll let it sit for a few more weeks and should a very tasty fall brew. This was 2nd generation 1056 I used. I washed this yeast. Considering this yeast has been in an amber and now a porter, would it be okay to use it on a pale ale/IPA or should I stick to darker brews with this yeast from here on out? I know most suggest re-using yeast only on similar styles or a darker style than the previous generation.