Yeast for ESB

[permo]

I am brewing up an ESB quite soon:

10# pale two row
1.25 pound cara munich
.38 pound carpils
1 oz willamette at 60
1 oz cascade at 15
1oz willamete at 5
1 oz cascade at 1
roughly 30 IBU

kind a redhookish...thing..no tettnang but should still be tasty.


I am wondering about the yeast, I have had terrible luck with S-04, I avoid it like the plague.

Do you think that nottingham ale yeast would be suitable?

 

[Ichthy]

NOtty will probably dry it out too much. But with the cascade hops you aren't quite in the english style. If you want body and esters use an english yeast

 

[permo]

NOtty will probably dry it out too much. But with the cascade hops you aren't quite in the english style. If you want body and esters use an english yeast

I wonder if I could make up for the attenuation by mashing at 156-158 or so?

I know the hops are American, American Special Bitter we'll call it.

I have some US-05 as well....slightly less attenuative than notty maybe? I suppose I could give S-04 another try and see what happens too.

 

[Oldsock]

If you don't mind liquid, I just had great luck with Wyeast 1968 London ESB (Fuller's Strain). Great flavor and really quick to ferment out and drop clear.

 

[permo]

1968 looks like a great yeast for an ESB. I always thought that nottingham was english yeast...shows what I know.

I wonder if there are any comercial ESB examples I could harvest yeast from? Maybe Redhook?

 

[nicadrick]

I really like it. London Ale yeast.

 

[jmo88]

Redhook is closest, if not exactly, like WLP041 pacific ale. Notty is not fruity enough to give you a redhook like profile or a profile appropriate for an esb. WLP023 Burton, WLP005, and WLP002 are perfect for ESB's too.

 

[samc]

I'd use 05. I've done the Redhook type clone with 04 and did not like it even though everyone else seemed to suck it down. One of the well known clone recipes books specs 1056 for the Redhook clone.

 

[Ichthy]

I wonder if I could make up for the attenuation by mashing at 156-158 or so?

I know the hops are American, American Special Bitter we'll call it.

I have some US-05 as well....slightly less attenuative than notty maybe? I suppose I could give S-04 another try and see what happens too.

I've mashed pretty high and used Notty and it still chews through everything and I usually end up at 1.008. I've actually had similar problems with S04, it attenuates maybe a little too well. However, it does add the esters - a good thing.

I haven't tried all the liquids everyone else recommends, but I will be for the next round of English beers I make.

 

[Ichthy]

If you don't mind liquid, I just had great luck with Wyeast 1968 London ESB (Fuller's Strain). Great flavor and really quick to ferment out and drop clear.

Sock

How much attenuation did you get out of that strain? Could provide OG and SG.
THanks

 

[passedpawn]

I've used S-04 and it came out great.

 

[swankyswede]

Every English-style beer I've brewed with Wyeast 1968 London ESB has been awesome. My ESB keg kicked in a week - granted, I had some friends over to help me kick a different keg so I could clear space for a pale ale, but whatever, the ESB was super tasty. The 1968 also works great in a mild, if you're into that kind of thing.

 

[gplutt]

Kinda jumping on the bandwagon here, but 1968 was the first yeast that came to mind when I saw you were making an ESB. I also like 1275, its cleaner and more attenuative but still makes a great English beer. Those two strains are my favorite ale yeasts.

 

[munche]

I haven't brewed it yet (it's on my doorstep) but the AHS Platinum ESB comes with a White Labs Australian Ale Yeast (WLP009)

I'll let you know if it's any good in a month or two

 

[petep1980]

I'll chime in for 1098 while I'm here. I've had GREAT success with it in my ESBs.

 

[mithion]

My personal favorite is wyeast 1099. It's a really balanced yeast which help the gentle English hops shine through, but also leaves enough sweetness for a nice full beer. The esters are remeniscent of stone fruit but are subtle enough to not overpower.

 

[johnpreuss]

+1 on the 1968 I just brewed a EPA and and ESB with it and both are outstanding.
IMO if you mash short like 45 min and mash high 156-158 the notty shouldn't dry it out too much. Otherwise if you want to go redhookesque you should be using an american yeast, your hop schedule would say go us-05 or 1056 but I bet 1272 would be great there too.

My $0.02

 

[Oldsock]

Sock

How much attenuation did you get out of that strain? Could provide OG and SG.
THanks

1.054 to 1.015 (~72% AA). 6% Crystal, mashed at 154. I also did a Munich based porter with the yeast cake, but I haven't taken the final gravity yet.

 

[StAnthonyB]

My post was redundant. I couldn't figure out how to delete.

 

[Ichthy]

1.054 to 1.015 (~72% AA). 6% Crystal, mashed at 154. I also did a Munich based porter with the yeast cake, but I haven't taken the final gravity yet.

Thanks for the info. I've been using Notty and S04 and have been seeing 80%+ AA. I need some maltiness in my ESBs!

 

[Beernip]

I brewed up something close to this with Willamette and fuggles. I used 1098 and had good results. It is carbing up now but tastes great.

 

[jjones17]

I used s-04 mashing at 157ish and it was great in the ESB. Needs a good time to condition though

 

[Netflyer]

I really like it. London Ale yeast.

Actually Fuller's own yeast to be more specific. So, if your intention is to make a beer like the style is named after, go with the 1968... it was a very good year..

 

[Brew-boy]

I like WLP002 in my English beers, it's a very good yeast.

 

[StAnthonyB]

I brewed up something close to this with Willamette and fuggles. I used 1098 and had good results. It is carbing up now but tastes great.

So I actually bought beer today.... thought about buying Bombadier but settled on drinking four pint bottles of Samuel Smith, which happens be, next to Shipyard probably the best bottled beer around -- gross. I hate being between batches... it nearly never happens. Haha. I want my homebrew. The Stingo wasn't bad -- oak aged for a year but carried a hefty $13 price tag (overall not worth it).

I have drunk dozens and dozens of this stuff... so I'm not knocking it but the homemade stuff really is way, way better.

For the record the WLP037 yeast has the exact same twang as this stuff. I think I might be a fan of WLP006. It is a lot more subtle.

 

[permo]

Is there a good commercial example to harvest some good english yeast for an ESB from?

 

[mithion]

Is there a good commercial example to harvest some good english yeast for an ESB from?

Why would you want to do that? Pretty much all commercial yeast offerings comme from wyeast and white labs commes from authentic English breweries. I'd visit their websites and see all of their offerings.

 

[permo]

Why would you want to do that? Pretty much all commercial yeast offerings comme from wyeast and white labs commes from authentic English breweries. I'd visit their websites and see all of their offerings.

Well, I don't have a LHBS that carries wyeast of white labs within 50 miles of me. So it is at least $12 to get yeast shipped to me. I figure I might as well just pay the same and get beer and yeast!

 

[mithion]

That's a good point. However, I don't know if the English bottle carbonate their beers. They usually like their beers sparkling clear so I wouldn't be surprised if they filter them and force carbonate. That would make harvesting yeast impossible. You may want to start exploring yeast washing. I make 5 batches of beers with one pack of yeast. Some people will brew many more than that. That would be a way to mitigate the high cost of ordering yeast online. Besides, if there's any yeast left in the bottle, it may not be the healthiest. And you should buy commercial beers for R&D purposes whether you want to collect yeast or not right?

 

[ajf]

The only naturally conditioned English beers I've seen in the US are Samuel Smiths. I made a starter from one of their beers about 25 years ago, and it was not very good. That's not to say that it was the yeast's fault. It was probably my fault, or stale ingredients.

-a.