I'm leaning towards doubling up my next brewing opening to make something in the mild-brown ale spectrum, in addition to the Classic American Pils I posted about last week. I want to pick a yeast for the ale. What I want to know is: (1) Has anyone used WY NB NeoBritannia (WY 1945, available only from Northern Brewer) and what do you think about it in general? I can't say I've ever seen anyone post about it. (2) What do you think about it in a nearly sessionable brown ale (og 1.042) with 35 ibus plus one ounce each of aroma additions of simcoe and amarillo? Do you think the yeast will produce flavors that work or clash with the hops? (3) You got a better idea for a yeast? My current alternate plan is WY 1272. I'm looking to use a yeast that I haven't used before (e.g., no Chico or Fuller's strain, which I have used with some frequency)
Peter, I have zero experience with WY1945. I recently placed a big order with Northern Brewer and I purchased WY1469 for a Bitter Ale that I will be making in a few weeks. I personally have never used WY1469 but I sure sounded tasty here: http://beeradvocate.com/community/threads/wyeast-1469-west-yorkshire-yeast-timothy-taylor-anyone-familiar-with-it.6912/#post-81484 Cheers!
That one's on my list of yeasts to try, perhaps with a more-to-style ordinary bitter that I have planned for later in the summer; tentatively, I had planned to use 1028 with that one because of Homebrew42's high reviews of that yeast. Maybe 1028 would work well in this mild? It's another one of those yeasts I have not tried. (When it comes to American and to a lesser degree English styles, I probably have used dry yeasts >75% of the time) For the mild, I'm a little concerned that those intriguingly described 1469 yeast flavors, when combined with simcoe, will make mud in my mouth. I know from Marquis' past chidings that these American hops have found their way to the UK, but in my mind, I conceived of this as an "American mild" and perhaps naively worry that those English yeast strains don't work well with these American hops. Although I have no idea of the true lineage of NeoBritannia, and only a virtual understanding of it's properties, Northern Brewer's choice of name for the yeast fit the hybrid concept I had in mind.
I am not sure of the actual origin of Wyeast 1945 but it is apparently from England. Hopefully somebody who has brewed with this strain will provide you some input. “This traditional English ale strain works well for a wide range of beer styles, from low-gravity bitters and milds to strong stouts, porters, and old ales. Due to the cells’ chain-forming characteristics, it is an excellent top-cropping yeast. Moderate ester profile makes it a great match for hop-driven beers like bitter and pale ale, but attenuative enough to handle higher-gravity malty styles.” Cheers!
I haven't used 1945, but I have used 1028 (London Ale) quite a bit, including once in a mild/brown, and I think it worked quite well. It attenuates a little more than some of the other english strains, but I mashed high for my mild/brown and it was not too dry at all.
1945 is ok, I used it in a PA once in place of 1469. 1469 is nice and chewy with some fruity esters, 1945 was like a more subdued version - IMO it was closer to 1028, but didn't flocc out nearly as well. I prefer 1469, but 1945 made a decent beer.
"Traditional" is a difficult concept as it depends on how far back you look for the tradition! The weak, dark brews usually associated with the word are a recent development; before WW1 all mild was strong and pale! http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/18371/56616 Some milds are little more than bitters with added caramel to darken and alter their profile.So there are some reasonably hoppy "milds" around.As for American hops, as I've said before we've used them since the 19th century.But on the whole if you are going to add those hops to a 35 IBU brew it wouldn't really fit in to the profile of a present day mild.But I've had beers such as you intend and lovely stuff they were too.The problem is what to call them.Dark bitter? or just "Dark Ale"?
Thanks for the history lesson. I knew about stronger and paler milds, but didn't realize that the weaker darker ones were a 20th century addition to the legacy. I guess it doesn't matter too much how to categorize the beer, provided it falls into the "tasty" sub-category. Your experience with "dark bitter" sounds promising.
I used WY 1945 in 2 beers now, all different styles actually... First use was in my Cherry Winter Warmer which was a dark caramel with bits of chocolate beer which I added 3 lbs of Oregon Cherry Puree in the secondary. The yeast blew me away in this beer, really came out fantastic, in fact so well when I thought leaving the primary for a week and a half was enough time I then racked onto the cherry puree only to walk into the room the next morning to see my airlock going nuts and full yeast activity again... Second was in my English Style Barley Wine, fermented out great in the primary, and man such wonderful flavors and aromas form that beast. Its still down in the secondary now aging 3 months now on some vanilla bean and bourbon soaked oak chips so I can't say how the final result is but the samples have been incredible.
