Ingredients you don't like.

I get lemon and dill. It's ok if used in small amounts, but too much and it turns into lemon pinesol and a dill plant in bloom. If you were to brew a beer specifically to go with salmon, I'd figure Sorachi would be the way to go.

 

Lavender is tough. It's really easy to go from barely there to the fancy seashell shaped soap at grandma's that's only for guests.

 

We are related? Who knew.

On the occasion someone requests me to make a beer for them, I am not shy to tell them my opinion of lavender or dill or whatever stupid idea they think should be put into my Sunday afternoon and $50 of ingredients. I'll confidently tell someone who has never made anything more than some shitty Mr. Beer back in college that you will not like Lavender beer. More importantly, I will not like lavender beer.

Yeah, you like Pale Ale? Good. I'll make you a Pale Ale and we will both be happy.

But that's just me.
Cheers

 

Carapils is worthless. It doesn’t do what you think it does. Try rye instead.

Cat pissy hops suck. You know which ones I am talking about if you have ever been near a litterbox or have visited bobcats at the zoo.

WLP820 is the worst lager yeast, laggy and very low attenuation. I am in process of my first batch ever with S-23 so jury is still out on that one at my house.

Enzyme additions are for wimps. Learn to select the right yeast and control mash parameters (especially mash TIME) to achieve your goal.

The reason gose is no longer a fad is because of dumb Americans who figured it needs to taste like sea water. For heavenssakes, dial back your salt addition from 11 down to like 2. Or — gasp — just use spring water with a high mineral content with no salt additions.

I am satisfied with most other brewing ingredients. I love me some dilly Sorachi Ace. And peated malt used very sparingly, like 0.25-0.50 oz per 5 gallons, can actually taste great.

Cheers.

 

As another poster said, my tap water ruined many beers over the years and still requires special care. If you think it's bad in Wisconsin try Southern California.
Had some expired Scottish ale extract from cans in the early 90s that was crystalizing and ruined a beer. Ruined my taste for Scottish ale too. Maybe I shouldn't have drank them all? LOL

 

I always forced myself to drink every drop of any beer that I screwed up-the tap handle was labeled PUNISHMENT to warn off friends and family, and to remind myself of what I had done.

 

Forgot about lactose. Yuck ingredient

 

Notably every dry yeast I have ever tried for making weissbier, Belgian abbey styles, and saison:
Fermentis WB06, BE-256, BE-134
Lallemand Munich, Munich Classic, Abaye, Belle Saison

The saison strains are lumped in with this group because they seem to replicate to features of WY 3711, the French Saison strain. I find it excessively attenuative due to diastaticus gene expression, I believe, with little fruitiness to juxtapose against pepperiness. It offends me less than the other yeasts, but to my palate, not what I am looking for.

Jack, I would say doughy, rather than bready. TomAto, tomahto.
S-04 was close to making my list of dry yeasts I don't want to try again. But I haven't used it for a NEIPA and have enjoyed some darker beers that used it. I haven't given up on it yet, but I won't be brewing bitter with it. Maybe roasted malts, heavy hops, and the mythical biotransformation help cover up the raw bread taste I get.

 

I’ve read that you can eliminate the doughy aspect of So4 by making a small starter with it. I know it makes no sense and is probably overall not good for the yeast health but I’ve read that more than once.

Or if you repitch it that doughy aspect goes away on gen 2?

never tried it myself

 

In a couple of weeks I will be brewing my annual batch of Saison using a co-pitch of Fermentis T-58 and BE-134; I will pitch the entire sachet of T-58 and 4 grams of the BE-134 sachet. The T-58 strain produces pleasant esters (fruity flavors) which balances very nicely with the phenols produced by T-58/BE-134.

Something worth considering on your end.

Cheers!

 

Jack, I genuinely forgot about my pledge to try this; I do intend to give BE-134 a try in this context.

@wasatchback that might be good advice for S-04. I probably won't take it though. Starters and repitching don't fit my lifestyle these days.

 

Please let us know how your batch turns out.

I discussed my most recent batch of T-58/BE-134 Saison in the NBS thread as a side-by-side with Blackberry Classic Saison:



https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/new-beer-weekend-28.654508/#post-7165237

Cheers!

 

Lots of people hate on S-04, however I have found it to be extremely clean and lager-like, better than US-05, and I'll be experimenting with it a lot more in future.

On other threads in other forums, myself and others have theorized that perhaps Fermentis (and other companies?) has significantly improved their quality control over the past couple years. But who really knows. Regardless, I say that before you diss another dried yeast.... consider maybe giving it one more try sometime, maybe in a split side-batch. You might get results different from the past.

And no I don't use a starter, just sprinkle on top. And in fact I have used S-04 a couple times recently at room temperature, and that's where it performed so very lager like. Speaking of which... (tangent...)

I just used S-189 a couple times warm at room temp and got no off-flavors at all, very clean and tasty. I think I'll be doing most of my lagers with S-189 warm room temp from here on out, it is SO good, and easy, and I can pitch at ale rates with zero ill effects. I know a lot of people rave about W-34/70 and I'll give it another try sometime soon, but S-189, man.... it's SO good.

 

I'm genuinely surprised to hear this.

At least 90% of the batches I have brewed have been dry yeast. I like several dry yeast products, obviously. But the ones I have mentioned, not so much. And of those, I have brewed with S-04, the Lallemand wheat strains, and the two abbey strains in the last year to year and half.

Me too. I did 3 different side by side dry yeast sprinkle vs rehydrate tests in 1.050ish beers, and found no difference.

I have enjoyed both. Never tried side by side. What type of lager does S-189 really make shine for you? Maybe I will give a side by side a try.

 

I like S-04. Ferments quickly, flocculates very well, leaves a little Brit character. I was having a Fuller's London Pride the other day at an English-style pub and it reminded me very much of some of my home-brews. They must have crap water, too!

 

Any & all. I love it almost as much as 2206. And maybe even more since it’s dry and ferments great (best!?) at room temp.

 

Have you specifically used S-04 to brew a Bitter Ale? If so, how would you describe the flavor profile? Did you perceive any "doughy" aspects (as @pweis909 phrased it)?

FWIW my preferred yeast strain for fermenting a Bitter Ale is Wyeast 1469 (the Timothy Taylor yeast strain) and I choose to ferment on the warm end (e.g., 70 degrees F) to maximize the development of esters (stone fruit flavors for my palate).

And as regards brewing water, when I brew my Bitter Ales I used carbon filtered tap water which I augment with Gypsum (i.e., I Burtonize the brewing water).

Cheers!

@Providence

 

There has been some discussion about dry lager yeast strains (W-34/70 & S-189). I have no personal experience here since I ferment my lagers with liquid yeast strains but there was a side-by-side exBEERiment on the Brulosophy website comparing W-34/70 and S-189 for a Vienna Lager which I figured some folks might be interested in reading:

https://brulosophy.com/2016/12/15/y...w-3470-vs-saflager-s-189-exbeeriment-results/

Cheers!

 

Sorry, but no I’ve never used it in a bitter. Mostly in porters over the past 3 years, but I do have an amber ale in the fridge that was fermented with S-04. It’s good, but too much residual sweetness. I’ll sample today with a new focus!

 

I have used it for a Scottish 60/- and in an Aussie Spockling Ale. In the Aussie I was hoping for some interesting fruit flavors or just anything interesting out of the yeast. Nope. Clean as a whistle. No doughiness or unusual bready character either. Just clean and clear and crisp as a lager. Maybe it was contaminated by a lager yeast residue!? Very unlikely though, the last lager I made before it was 11 months prior... and I'm not THAT lazy with my cleaning & sanitation!!

YMMV