ESB Dry Yeast

There has been a fair bit of discussion about utilizing a yeast which is not highly attenuating. For an extended period of time (a decade?) my preferred yeast for brewing my annual batch of Bitter Ale was Windsor. When fermented warm (e.g., 70 degrees F) that yeast would produce an nice array of fruity flavors (i.e., esters) which I enjoyed. The fact that these beers had some body was not a negative for my palate. At some point in time I discovered the Timothy Taylor yeast strain (Wyeast 1468) and I preferred the esters (e.g., stone fruit flavors) of that yeast strain even more for my Bitter Ale. If at some point in time Wyeast decided to discontinue 1468 I personally would have no issue going back to using Windsor yeast.

The beauty of homebrewing is that we are all head brewers of our homebrewery and we all get to choose what suits our individual palates.

Cheers to homebrewing!

 

Thank you for your post and your insight. Personally, I've used liquid yeast for my English ale styles for at least 10 or so years now. I did not take the time to pull up the white labs or wyeast websites to verify, but my recollection is that most English yeast strains are in the medium attenuation category. They're not very many that are highly or lowly attenuating.

 

WY1469 has been my go-to all purpose English yeast strain for a few years now. I love the esters and would describe the strain as having medium attenuation and medium flocculation.

 

The attenuation values provided by yeast vendors (e.g., Wyeast, White Labs,...) are only good in a relative sense (i.e., comparing one vendor's yeast strain against another). The actual attenuation a brewer achieves is as much about the fermentability of the wort vs. the yeast strain selected.

From my logbook for the Bitter Ale I brewed last spring:

OG: 1.047
FG: 1.008
AA: 82%

Fawcett Marris Otter Pale Malt mashed at 153 degrees F.
Yeast strain: Wyeast 1469

The lower FG above is as much about the fact I created a fermentable wort via my mashing regime.

Cheers!

 

Do you consider an AA of 82% "medium'?

See above post.

Cheers!

 

I have brewed two bitters this year with 1469. Both had an OG of 1.043. One had a fg of 1.011 and the other with a FG of 1.010. So in my experience I would call it medium attenuation around 75%. 82% I would classify as high.

 

Lots of replies, thanks, and for the welcome.

I tend to like dry beers myself. I grew up on Boddingtons bitter with an FG of around 1.004 I think. Sadly lost. I would agree that most English yeasts are probably medium attenuation, but low attenuation is fairly common and used to be more common. There is no such thing as a Liverpool or Manchester IPA. Not sure what's going on there. Personally I usually use liquid yeasts for a bitter, 1318 and recently A38 Juice. Which is similar if not the same thing I think. 1469 is great but I've not used it for a while. Liberty Bell does a decent job as a dry yeast. I sometimes use a low attenuating dry yeast in a low ABV bitter, I don't do milds. For a stout or porter I tend to use Nottingham. Another observation is that a lot of American versions of English recipes seem to have large amounts of crystal malts, which perhaps is to counter the use of high attenuation yeasts? 5% crystal is typical in English ales that use crystal. I've yet to use London ESB but I will do when I can get hold of it again, the crisis has made things tricky to get.

As far as yeast for an ESB goes, yes I wouldn't go for a low attenuator. 1968 or 1318. Probably Nottingham if dry. Liberty Bell might be worth a whirl, more character and medium attenuation.

 

I don't know which strain you're referring to, but FWIW, Lallemand/Danstar London ESB and Wyeast 1968 (both called "London ESB") are very different. Lallemand/Danstar London ESB is a weak attenuator, in spite of the fact that the manufacturer calls it "medium."

 

I'm referring to Danstar London ESB and yes, I'm aware it is very different from 1968, which I have used a fair bit. I've not bothered with the Danstar because of the feedback it's had, but I had a home brewed beer made with it not long ago and it was good. There were a lot of freshly picked green hops in the beer, mind you.

 

It would appear you created a less fermentable wort than I do.

Just out of curiosity did you utilize specialty (e.g., crystal) malts in these beers? Were they at a significant proportion of the grain bill?

Cheers!

 

I did use the same grain bill in both beers. 9% Crystal 60 and the balance Maris Otter. Target mash temperature was 153, but I did not record my actual mash temperature since I'm usually satisfied if it's within a few degrees of target.

 

FWIW that is pretty much my grain bill (I use Medium English Crystal Malt - 55 degrees L).

Cheers!

 

It was actually a bit of an experiment for me. I typically use higher lovibond crystal malts in my British bitters, sometimes in combination with medium lovibond malts like crystal 60. Definitely made for a very sessionable spring weather beer.