Preferred German Lager Yeast -- Professional Alternatives?

I have been brewing a lot with the 34/70. I love this yeast for my Dunkel, Rauchbier, and Pilsner. I have also used it in an Altbier,and California Common. I have fermented with this yeast as low as 50 degrees and as high as 66 degrees. Makes a very clean beer through out. Some of the other yeasts on that list sound interesting. I would like to try the one from the German Monastery. Good luck!

 

I have homebrewed with a large variety of lager strains from various source countries (US, Czech, Danish and German).

From memory I have used the following Wyeast strains: 2035, 2272, 2042, 2112, 2278, 2206, 2633, 2124, …

I have also brewed with a few White Labs yeast strains: WLP802, WLP830, ,,,

Of the above list of yeast strains my preferred yeast strain is Wyeast 2124 which is the Weihenstephan 34/70 strain. That yeast has always worked exceedingly well for me: a nice clean lager which has fermented with no issues (fermented quickly with no off-flavors in the beer).

I have read where the Weihenstephan 34/70 lager strain is the most widely used lager yeast strain worldwide for commercial brewing. I am guessing that this yeast strain performs well for commercial brewers as well.

Cheers!

 

Not really. I homebrewed my first lager sometime in the 90's (1997?) and I 'experimented' with a lot of yeast strains (some detailed above). Wyeast 2124 does an excellent job for me both from a fermentation performance perspective and in terms of resulting in a tasty beer. There may be a time in the future when I might use a different lager yeast strain to accentuate a particular feature of a specific lager style but I am completely satisfied with 2124.

I should point out that I have homebrewed with the White Labs version of the Weihenstephan 34/70 lager strain (WLP830) and it provided a very different flavor profile from 2124; I will not brew with WLP830 again.

 

Moat recently, I used Wyeast 2487 (Hella Bock) in a Kellerbier and a Heller Bock with good results. Unfortunately this is one of their "Private Collection" yeasts and only occasionally available. I understand that WLP833 is the same yeast, but White Labs isn't as available locally as Wyeast. I did my Rauchbier with the 2633, the Oktoberfest blend. The last time I brewed my Schwarzviertler I used Saflager's 34/70. I rarely use dry yeasts, but I didn't have time for a starter. This produced a beer that was not quite as dry as Faust's but in the ballpark.

I used to use 2206 a lot in my lagers as it gives a nice malty profile. I may have to try that again.

 

Michael Dawson also recommends the Ayinger strain (WLP833 or 2487), especially if you brew Kellerbier because of its lower sulfur production:
"Yeast selection is pretty critical to the success of this technique: if you enjoy the smell and taste of struck-match, rotten-egg farts, you will probably enjoy Kellerbiers produced with Wy2308 or WLP838 (both of which, by the way, make spectacular, non-farty Munich-style lagers when given a proper secondary fermentation and lagering phase)."

I brewed a Kellerbier with WLP838 last winter and his description is spot on. But the Vienna lager I did with the WLP838 tasted great--after lagering. I'm definitely going to try WLP833 this year for my Kellerbier and a smoked bock Fastenbier.

 

I'm with @JackHorzempa . I really like WY214. However, due to trying to keep from going to my LHBS lately, I've bought some 34/70.. For a dry yeast, and the ability to control my pitch rates better without a massive starter, there's some serious merit in that.

 

based on a conversation with Van Havig back when he was brewing with Rock Bottom, I used 2042 on several lagers and really loved that yeast...most of my favorite lagers were brewed with that strain. But that yeast doesn't flocc for shit...have to bomb it with gelatin or filter the beer.

Edit: i'm not a regular brewer of german lagers...

 

Something I did not mention about the 34/70 is that it mutes the hops in Pilsners compared to WLP800 or WLP802.

 

833 is my favorite but 830 is so widely available and just makes a better German Pils. FWIW I've had better luck trying to make a dry hoppy pilsner out of 833 than a rich malty lager out of 830. But they each work so well in their niche I don't think I could go down to one strain.

still experifermenting with Czech amber and dark; haven't made enough to form strong opinions yet.

 

Did a Dunkel with 833 and I thought it was incredible. Did a German Pils with 833 and think I would prefer 830 for Hoppy Lagers.

I used 34/70 once and it was on a second runnings partygyle. Made a pretty clean beer but the grain bill wasn't very beneficial to the beer so I cant accurately judge that strain.

 

White Labs will be releasing their German Lager X and Munich Helles strains (rumored to be from Andechs and Augustiner, respectively) as platinum strains early next year:

http://www.whitelabs.com/files/2015_Platinum_Strains_Series.pdf

I have had very good results with both of these in helles bock and dunkel homebrews.

 

830 for my German Pils.
833 for darker malty beers.
835 Lager X does well malty beers. Lager X rhymes with Kloster Andechs, Chris White said good guess.
860, used it once and was not excited with the results, might try it again in a Helped. Said to be Augustiner.

@herrburgess, you can purchase commercial pitches of all of those.

 

Interesting thread! I have not experimented as much as some, but I have also settled on WY2124 as my go-to lager yeast. I think I've also used WY 2001, 2206, and 2308, as well WL 830 and 833. Mostly this is because I find that with 2124 I can consistently make german pils and helles that have no obvious flaws, whereas with the some of the others I've had some sulfur or diacetyl on occasion. 2124 has always given me a clean, malty finish, and my lagers brewed with it have generally done well in local competitions.

That said, I was very interested to read in a recent issue of BYO of a homebrew club that did an experiment, fermenting the same pilsner with a wide range of lager yeasts. Interestingly, the "winner" was a Mexican lager yeast--I think it may have been a White Labs product. I found that intriguing, and will probably give it a try for my next pils.

 

If you look carefully at the Brewing Science yeasts you will see that equivalent strains are already available from WY/WL. For example, L-07 ~ WY 2007. They might be a little different but you will have to brew a few times to figure that out. Letting a pro make your starter could make a difference but I'd rather learn to do it right myself.

My go-to lager yeasts are WY 2007 and 2124. 2007, the Budweiser yeast, is surprisingly good - really brings out the malt in more substantial beers and is very forgiving of less than perfect temperature control. 2308 and 2206 have also performed very well for me.

With lagers though, I have to say I think that any decent yeast will do; best results come from controlling the fermentation as precisely as you can and being patient with the lagering.

 

Last winter I made 3 lagers, a Vienna, CAP, and Bo Pils, all with WLP833. Based on these beers, I would have no qualms about using this yeast for any lager. The CAP and Bo Pils were two of the best lagers I've ever made. That said, I may try WLP830 (or Wy2124) for this winter's lager lineup.

 

I know that Jeff (@hopfenunmaltz ) has brewed with WLP940 (Mexican Lager) in the past: http://www.beeradvocate.com/communi...-brewed-a-cap-woo-hoo.147094/#message-1293281

Maybe he can provide his impressions of the Mexican Lager yeast strain?

Cheers!

 

If you want an extremely clean lager, that is the one to use. It can leave a beer too clean and lacking in character. My experience was that a split batch of CAP with 940 was not as flavorful and interesting as the part that used 833.