Your 'Desert Island' Yeast?

I'd go with the California Lager strain (WY2112). Very versatile and reasonably neutral, could make passable ale and lager styles (though admittedly the Chico yeast can do this too). The only drawback is that bottle conditioning takes forever with this yeast. I'd hope for plenty of kegs on my desert isle.

 

Cali is the easy choice because it's arguably the most versatile yeast on the planet. There's no question I'd miss a nice Belgian or Hefe from time to time, but I'd miss the other 90% of the styles I enjoy more. If I was limited to one and only one yeast forever, that would have to be it. I'd rather have a neutral yeast that I can coax some flavor out of than a flavorful yeast that can't be made to shut up!

 

Why would chico be an easy choice and some other choice be hard? I mean, is there somehow some sort of hard-won honor in choosing a different yeast?

 

I've used chico for apa's, ipa's, wheat beers, cleanup on saisons that don't attenuate enough, stouts, imperial stouts. Although I love saisons and funky wild beers I would be a fool to give up all those beers for wlp670. There were a couple of british yeasts that came to mind, but they aren't as reliable as chico. Chico isn't the easy choice, its the most well rounded choice for me. Hell, I could probably use chico for bastardized lagers as well.

 

If I had to play favorites I'd pick Irish 1084. I'd rather live off amber and black beer.

 

Before I started keging I bottled with this yeast all the time. I never noticed any difference between this and other yeast. The only time my beers needed longer is when I bottle high gravity beer.

 

I have only used Wyeast 2112 for making California Common beers. My homebrewing process for making California Common beers was patterned after the Anchor Steam brewing process:

· Primary ferment at 60°F (typically for a week duration)
· Cool condition at 50°F for three weeks in a secondary

I would then bottle the beer after the above four week duration. The beers would be carbonated after two weeks of bottle conditioning and the beer were good to drink. What I have consistently noticed with my California Common beers is that they would noticeably improve with time in the bottle. My California Common beers at 6-7 months of age were significantly ‘better’ than they were after two weeks in the bottle.

I have no explanation for why this beer significantly improves with extended time in the bottle. Only one other batch of beer that I brew exhibits this same level of improvement with time in the bottle and that is my Oatmeal Stout. All of the other batches I make will demonstrate some improvement with time in the bottle with a few more weeks of aging but they don’t continuously improve over many months like the California Common & Oatmeal Stout.

Cheers!

 

I took skivtjerry's statement as his beer did not carbinate as there would be little difference between conditioning in bottles or kegs. I also like my CC's after 4 months. Last year I made a Munish dunkel That I drank too early. I found 4 bottles in the back of my fridge 6 months later and was amazed how much better it was. I have 2 kegs that I will not touch till the 6 month mark. I also have 10 gallons of CC to keg. Take care.

 

Am. Ales = Chico
British = 002/1968 or 1469
Lagers = 833 or 830 for pilseners. 940 is good, but too clean for some beers.
Belgians = 550 as it is very versatile.

 

3711 as long as I have temp control. Can go low enough to make a clean beer but high enough to get a lot of character for a saison.

I would also start spontaneous fermentations to get some sour beers as well.

 

Yes, 2112 is slow to bottle condition for me, 3-4 weeks vs. <2 for Chico, etc. They eventually get there and are just fine; it just takes a little longer.

 

Looking back over from the 2011 calendar year to present, I brewed beers using the following yeasts:
US-05 (4x), Wy 3522, Wy 1469, Wy 3763, WLP 013, WY 2112/1338 Blend, WLP 007,Wy 1450, WLP 670,
Wy 3787, Wy 3724, Wy 1272, Wy 2035, WLP 810, Wy 5335, Saflager W-34/70, WLP 036, Wy 2565, Wy 1968, Nottingham, T-58, WLP 400, WLP 001, WLP 380, WLP 570. I knew I was making a conscious effort to try more yeasts, but I didn't realize how many different once I used.

The only yeast I used more than once was US-05, so I guess it wins the desert island scenario, but the scenario would really suck. Sort of makes sense that you would want a dry yeast, since they are designed to survive long term storage.

 

Agreed, but I prefer it in its dry version of us-05.

 

Nottingham dry yeast. I can ferment it pretty cold(57F internal temp) to get an almost lager or I can ferment it warm to get a tasty estery British ale. I used Cal yeast a couple of times until I realized it's versatility is because of its blandness.

 

“I can ferment it warm to get a tasty estery British ale.” What temperature do you ferment to obtain esters? What is the level of esters that you obtain? Do you employ any other strategies to optimize the formation of esters (e.g., under-pitch, under-oxygenate, etc.)?

Cheers!

 

65-67 internal temp gives me the esters I like in a British style pale ale or brown ale. That's my only technique that I deliberately use. sometimes I brew something and ask"That tastes better than last time, what did I do different?"

 

Wyeast 1028/White Labs WLP013. More versatile for me than Chico. With a good English ale yeast I can produce great examples of both American and English style beers, with Chico I cannot produce passable English styles, only American.

 

Welcome back?

 

I still stop in occasionally, I just no longer have time to post like I used to.