OK BA brewers school me on yeast. I keep seeing different types of yeast being used for different brews;so- 1.Is there a 'taste' difference? 2.Do you match up a yeast for a certain style? 3.Good ones to get and bad ones to avoid? 4.Is there a 'top shelf' yeast and why do you like it? Thanks ahead of time to all!
Yes. Each strain has its own characteristics. Yes. Or rather, each style generally has one or more strains that are a good fit, and vice versa. Avoid old (not fresh) yeast if possible. Depends. See #1 and #2 above.
For your education go here: http://www.wyeastlab.com/hb_styleguidelines.cfm And do some clicking. Cheers!
I'm not trying to promote this statement, but I'll go further to conversely say that any yeast will make pretty good beer in any wort, but some yeast strains will impart flavor characteristics that you won't really like with the chosen grains. So there needs to be some purpose to your selection of a yeast when brewing. (Exciting, isn't it!? )
I was recently in San Diego and visited White Labs. They have a unique tasting room and serve their experimental beers. I had a flight of 4 porters all brewed exactly the same but with different yeast strains. The differences were remarkable. Would not be my first stop in IPA country, but worth it for beer geeks.
Every yeast "behave" and produce deferment. "taste" just to make it more complicated, fermentation temperature profile ,yeast volume (# of yeast cell), yeast manufacturing date and many factors more to give you variety of results. If you like to know more about this very well organized organize in beer, get the Yeast: The Practical Guide to Beer Fermentation
