Choosing the Right Yeast: Tips from Pros
The great thing about being a homebrewer in this day and age is the wide array of ingredient choices, including yeast. but how do you actually choose the right strain? Three yeast experts share some advice.
Pro: Neva Parker, White Labs Inc. in San Diego, CA
If you aren’t sure about what strain to use when you are trying to choose a yeast strain, always ask somebody who knows more about yeast strains. Also, choose a strain that is easy to work with at first. A lot of beginner homebrewers will start with a simple strain — like California Ale yeast, which is appropriate for a lot of different styles, and will also perform well. If you want to use just one strain for most of your beers, I think it’s ok if you want your beers to all be very similar. On the other hand, do you want to make those beers a little more distinct? If you want to differentiate each beer somehow you don’t have to change your recipe, just change up the strain of yeast you are using.
One method of experimenting with yeast strains, which is something that we do here a lot, is brewing up one big batch of beer, splitting it up into a bunch of small batches and fermenting each small batch with different yeast strains. This is a good controlled experiment that will show the different flavor characteristics of each strain.
The most common mistake I’ve seen with brewers choosing yeast strains is people not choosing the right strain that is appropriate for the style. It’s fun to experiment with different strains, of course, but some strains just simply don’t match the style and will produce unpleasant results.
If you are unsure about choosing a yeast strain, talk to people who have used a particular strain that you might be interested in using, or talk to your homebrew shop staff. Homebrew suppliers field these kinds of questions all the time. Also, definitely experiment with various yeast strains at home because you might find some that make a really great beer.
Pro: Greg Doss, Wyeast Laboratories in Odell, OR
Flavor profile is the most important factor when selecting a strain for small scale brewing. Use a strain that complements the style (e.g. a phenolic positive strain when clove and other phenolics are desirable or a “clean” strain when the brewer does not want yeast character to interfere with the malt and hop aroma).Other factors to consider are temperature range (ability to control) and alcohol tolerance.
If you find a strain you like, it’s ok to use it for a variety of beers. There are a lot of versatile strains that perform well in a broad spectrum of styles. It is very common for commercial breweries to use one “house” strain (typically an American or British strain) for the majority of their production. Once you find a strain that you like, try it in a few other styles. Some common versatile strains include 1056 American Ale, 1968 London ESB, 1098 British Ale, and 1272 American Ale II.
Try experimenting with strains at home by breaking up a batch. I typically brew 10-gallon (38-L) batches and split it between two fermenters with different strains. This is a great way to learn how different strains affect the flavor profile. Other parameters including temperature and pitch rate can also be manipulated with split batches. I am always experimenting with using different strains under different conditions. With split batches, I typically use a control strain (1056 or other favorite strain for the style) next to a new strain or one that I haven’t played with for a while.
Pro: Jamil Zainasheff, Heretic Brewing in Fairfield, CA
There are so many important differences between strains, that it is difficult to focus on just a few when choosing a proper strain. In general, however, probably the best starting point for yeast selection is the overall flavor profile. Do you want yeast that produces Belgian-style phenols? British-style esters? Or a lager-like low ester beer? That should narrow down the field. Then you can start to consider things like attenuation, temperature range, and more.
If you want to experiment at home, do side-by-side comparisons of different strains. Make sure all the fermentation vessels are the same and use the same wort for all. Keep an eye on pitching rates and fermentation temperatures, so you are comparing apples to apples. If you have never done this before, you will be shocked at the differences between the beers. In many cases, you would wonder if there were different malts, hops, or even spice additions in one beer versus another. You can also try blends of two or more strains with interesting results. The yeast companies are now posting more and more information about the fermentation characteristics of their yeasts. While this information cannot tell you what yeast you should use, it can help you compare various strains and decide which ones might be great for trials.
In my opinion, the most common mistake homebrewers make when choosing a yeast strain is worrying about alcohol tolerance. Most brewers yeast strains, when pitched in the proper amounts and given the right nutrients, will tolerate fairly high levels of alcohol. It isn’t until you are pushing 15% ABV and greater that you start seeing a lot of trouble. So, for those 12% ABV and lower beers, alcohol tolerance should be the last thing you worry about.
