ESB Dry Yeast

I’d probably use Nottingham cause I like that yeast but my guess is that it attenuates your beer too much. If I didn’t hate Windsor with a burning fiery passion I would use that as it’s “supposed” to work well in a ESB.

 

Been a long while since I've used S04, Windsor, or Nottingham. One of the reasons I moved on to liquid yeast was none were ideal to me. Nottingham has high attenuation, high flocculation, and low esters. Actually a great yeast for an American ale style. Windsor is almost the opposite. Low flox, low attenuation, good esters for an English style. I can deal with the flocculation but like my beers a bit drier. S04 is a good choice for everything except the esters. Highly "bready" to me overpowering the other esters, but medium attenuation and good flocculation.

But then again, it's been 10 plus years since I've used any of these and I'm sure I'm technically a better brewer now and some of these deficiencies may have been mine.

 

I absolutely LOVE Windsor for my Robust Porters I brew every year.

Cheers!

 

I don’t like the low attenuation.

 

And that is exactly why I LOVE this yeast for my annual batch of Robust Porter.

Different strokes for different folks.

Cheers!

 

Windsor and S04 are both good in my opinion. You will be doing extract so you can't make them work for you (people who dislike them and do all grain, mash lower if you want drier beer, i go 146ish for my ESBs with them and they turn out good). I have yet to try the Mangrove Jack Empire that I have... and have no experience with anything other than Windsor/ S04 and notty.

 

Do what I do, pitch one pack each of Windsor and S-O4.

 

Seems somewhat wasteful.

 

I’d use the Notty. The Windsor is a very weak attenuator. I used it once, never again. Cheers!

 

The Mangrove Jacks is just repackaged yeast from other manufacturers

M15 is most likely Windsor or ESB
M36 is maybe Bry-97
M42 is most likely Notty
- this used to be called British Ale

I wouldn’t use M15 or Windsor with extract. Beer will finish rather high.

Notty or S04. Nottingham is cleaner and more reliable and might get you better attenuation with the extract. You could blend some Windsor and Nottingham. I wouldn’t do a full pack of each.

Hard to find any info on M36. It used to be called Burton Union? Then they changed it to Liberty Bell? Will definitely attenuate more than Windsor and M15??

 

By buying it from them I’d assume.

 

I'd co-pitch too. windsor or ESB with either notty or s04

 

ESB and Windsor are both low-attenuating yeasts. I use them for low gravity English ales, e.g., 1.040 milds and bitters. Use them when also using some invert sugar to make up your target OG to help increase attenuation. The other way I have used them to good effect is in higher gravity ales in which Brettanomyces will be used to drive down the FG during extended aging, including old ales and sours. Windsor produces more esters, in my experience, so can be a little more interesting if you like that sort of thing. I think I have only used one of the Mangrove strains in an English beer, the one they used to call Newcastle, to make a mild. Not as good as Windsor, IMO.

Nottingham is a good choice, IMO, for mid-gravity and higher gravity English and American styles. S04 used to be my goto for similar beers, but I had a couple batches where it threw what I would describe as a sourdough yeasty note, and I haven't used it for many years.

 

Hi. First post, I'm in Manchester, England. This dislike of low attenuating yeasts seems pretty common. Is that because people don't make English ales with them? A lot of English ales yeasts have low or medium attenuation, it's a characteristic of a lot of English ales. Residual sugars.

 

I've yet to find a dry yeast that I like for British-style ales. Seems as though others have found things that work for them.

I had what was called either a "Liverpool" or "Manchester" (I honestly can't remember which) English IPA at a brewpub a few months ago. Far too sweet, not bitter enough to balance, just a sugary mess. This brewery does make some pretty decent NEIPAs, and the owner is a Brit, so I'm guessing it was on purpose.

These forums (and the other homebrewing forums I peruse) are dominated by Americans, and we're conditioned to like dry beer if they don't taste like a recognizable dessert food. Look at the AALs that we all grew up with over here: they have a slight malty sweetness, but are pretty dang dry, despite a lack of hopping. I'm guessing that's where the dislike of underattenuating yeast comes from.
Also, residual sugar is an accident waiting to happen if bottle-conditioning.

 

As long as you are bottle conditioning with the existing yeast from primary fermentation the "residual sugar" is an non-issue. If the yeast could not ferment the maltotriose (or other non-simple sugars) in the primary they certainly will not in the bottle (secondary fermentation - bottle conditioning).

Cheers!