What's YOUR favorite yeast? .. and why?? Do you prefer more than 1 yeast?

[grndslm]

Self-explanatory title.

Got a hold of US-05 yeast from a micro-brewery.

Wondering if I can do better than a micro-brewery...

 

[ReverseApacheMaster]

I don't have one particular yeast but I generally only keep one strain for a particular style of beer. It's mostly out of laziness and cost that I don't experiment more. So here's what I normally use:

WLP575 for Belgians. It attenuates well and kicks off a good diversity of flavor (it's actually a yeast blend) but it can be a little more spicy than I prefer. Doesn't get the over the top fruitiness of a lot of Belgian strains so I'll probably bottle culture some Chimay yeast for the fruitiness sometime soon.

W3068 for wheat beers. It produces both banana and clove and I've figured out where to get a good mix. I've used it in the usual hefe/dunkelweizen beers with good success. I also make a dunkelweizen wheat wine with it that's quite good.

I have a brett saison blend I harvested out of a bottle of Foret that I use for my brett saisons.

I was using WY1338 for all my clean beers but my repeatedly washed culture finally got contaminated enough to give it up. I tried using a kolsch strain as a replacement but without a fermentation chamber I couldn't keep it cool enough. I need to go fish out the WY1338 I have frozen in my parent's chest freezer and see if it's viable to start a new line of yeast.

 

[pelipen]

Wyeast American Ale II right now. I'm getting super clear beer, it tastes great, attenuates where I want. It's become my general purpose yeast for apa/ipa, porters, browns.
I still use the specifics for style though, kolsch, Belgian Abbey II I quite like.

 

[chickens4life]

I use wyeast Scottish ale yeast for most of my lean ales, it attenuates quite high. It does require lower temps and takes a little longer than some other clean yeast, so I may be switching some time rather soon, probably to us-05 and or a British strain.

 

[borden]

US-05 for most of the things that I brew. Lately, APA/IPA, Brown Porter, Blonde... things I want pretty clean and quaffable. It's cheap, reliable, and with no starter required, I can brew when I find the time without planning ahead. Works for me!

 

[bhaff]

I use wyeast Scottish ale yeast for most of my lean ales, it attenuates quite high. It does require lower temps and takes a little longer than some other clean yeast, so I may be switching some time rather soon, probably to us-05 and or a British strain.

I love Scottish ale from wyeast since it works at such low temps for a super cool fermentation. I use it for just about all my porters and my most recent wee heavy. It seems to work well for cleaner malty beers.

 

[Paymygasbill77]

I tried WLP007 Dry English ale yeast and it's my new favorite.
Short lag time, high alchol tolerance, 80% attenuation potential, Highly floculant and very quick to ferment out.

 

[passedpawn]

From a practicality POV, S-05 is great. Ferments clean, cheap, easy to store.

I recently used Wyeast 2565 Kolsch for a Kolsch, Wheat, and now a Rye IPA. That is one fantastic yeast. I love the huge billowing krausen it makes (hard to knock down). It's a bit of a non-flocculator, but nothing a hard cold crash can't cure.

Wyeast Roeselare is almost like cheating when making a Flanders Red. It's been a homerun every time.

 

[WilliamWS]

WLP051 for most American ales: more balance btwn hops and malt, flocs better than 001

WLP530 for Belgian dubbels, trippels, dark strong, etc.: ester profile is hard to beat for these styles

WLP550 for Belgian pales, Bel/Am hybrids: a little crisper, cleaner but still nice Belgian character

WLP002 most English ales: predictable, tasty, flocs well

Cultured Fantome bugs and WY3711 mix for saison: pitched together, the 3711 tears through most fermentables quick and leaves just enough for the bugs to make themselves known-nice tartness, slight funk but not over the top (this one is relatively recent for me but I've brewed three out of my last four beers with it and am loving the results so far)

 

[user 70770]

I really like wyeast 1099 whitbread. It's fruity enough to have some character for English ales. If you mash low, it will finish dry despite the stats that wyeast tells you. If you ferment at 64F, it is clean enough to pull off American ales. It does well for malty beers and can showcase hops for hoppy brews. And finally, it's got very good floculation characteristics without all the issues of other yeasts like wlp002 which can drop like a rock before their time. I haven't tested it in high gravity scenarios so I don't know how tolerant it is. And it tends to ferment a bit slowish compared to most other yeasts. But it's a great strain and a go to yeast for many beers.

 

[MrManifesto]

I tried WLP007 Dry English ale yeast and it's my new favorite.
Short lag time, high alchol tolerance, 80% attenuation potential, Highly floculant and very quick to ferment out.

+1 this is my go to. for me, it does everything us 05 can do but i think it flocs better, leaving me with clearer beer.

 

[Brulosopher]

I've recently become a gigantic fan of WLP 090 (San Diego Super Yeast). Great for hoppy and malty beers. I'm shocked it's not more popular. My favorite, hands down.

 

[beergolf]

APA/IPA's 1272
ESB's 1968
Belgians 1272 or 3787
Saisons 3711

That being said, I do like variety so I often use other yeasts depending on what I amlooking for from the recipe

 

[Yooper]

I use S05 often, but I use other strains as well. It really depends on what I'm making and my goals for each beer.

There is a flavor imparted by the yeast- after all, beer is only four ingredients: water, malt, yeast and water. Sometimes a more neutral yeast is called for, but sometimes using a yeast with more character is needed.

I think of yeast like a seasoning in cooking. Using only S05 all the time would be like using only salt all the time. It's probably ok most of the time, but using a little basil or pepper in some recipes makes a world of difference. The same is true of yeast strains. Sometimes S05 is great in a recipe, sometimes it's good enough, but sometimes you need something else.

 

[AmandaK]

I like US-05 as a quick standby for APAs, but I also use a bunch of other yeasties.

Tripel: WY3522
RyePA: WY1450
Other Belgians: WY3787
Scottish: WY1728
Golden Strong: WLP570
English: WY1469

I also agree that using Roesalere is like cheating for Flanders Reds and Browns.

etc, etc.

 

[brettwasbtd]

Undecided! I was using US-05/WLP001 a bunch. After listening to a lot of the can you brew it shows and hearing about the big breweries using WLP002 for american style ales fermenting cold and letting it rise, I am giving this a try. I love the flocculation on that yeast, but it is a pain in the butt to rinse! So many choices!

after all, beer is only four ingredients: water, malt, yeast and hops.

just wanted to clear that up! I know you are not one to forget that ingredient

 

[Backporchbrewery]

I still use 1056 a LOT. I also like wyeast's 1968 and 3787.

 

[drkaeppel]

My typical go-to yeast is US-05. Lately I've been brewing a lot of american pales and IPAs. This yeast always ferments fast, leaves a clean taste, and it's inexpensive!

My choices vary according to the style of beer, but I suppose I've used US-05 the most.

 

[TriggerFingers]

I love Scottish ale from wyeast since it works at such low temps for a super cool fermentation. I use it for just about all my porters and my most recent wee heavy. It seems to work well for cleaner malty beers.

My personal favorite. I just made a session porter (4% abv) with 1728 and its not only the best porter I have tasted in memory, but the best beer I have brewed period. I used the fresh unwashed slurry to kick off a 1.084 porter on Saturday--got a good feeling about this one too!

 

[whitehause]

MY favorite is Bell's that I bottle harvested.
Pacman is a close second
WPL029 for Kolsch
WPL380hefeIV (for hefe's obviously)
US-05 as an on hand back up for a quick pale ale brew day.

 

[duckmanco]

Lately s04 at 62-64f for clean ferments, 68ish or so for touch more of the English-y ale flavor, and also Nottingham dry yeast 59-60f for clean ferments.

I was using us05 quite a bit but wasn't happy with it at low temps and as a plus, the above English strains drop out of the beer unbelievably well.

 

[grndslm]

I have not used it yet....

But I think Pacman may quickly become my favorite.

I had Rogue's Brutal IPA, and, of course, I had to find out what's IN that amazing beer.

Clearly, the beer is made up of an entire package (choice malts & hops), but I think the Pacman yeast is a big part of it. One thing I commented on in another thread is how CLEAN the bitters were. Never tasted a beer quite like it before.

After reading some reviews... it appears that Pacman is the culprit of the clean hops.

Can't wait to place another order of ingredients. Oh boy! Oh boy! Oh boy!!!

 

[ArcaneXor]

Favorite yeast... tough one, because I like the variety. I'd have to say WLP 830 for lagers and WLP001 for ales.

 

[thetragichero]

I recently used Wyeast 2565 Kolsch for a Kolsch, Wheat, and now a Rye IPA. That is one fantastic yeast. I love the huge billowing krausen it makes (hard to knock down). It's a bit of a non-flocculator, but nothing a hard cold crash can't cure.

i've never brewed a kolsch, but i've used 2565 in a hoppy pale wheat and now in an ordinary bitter... i'm liking it!

 

[Catawampus]

WLP 029 for all ales except German Wheat and Saisons.

Just getting into lagers, so we'll see.