The Yeast Library

[Michael Erwin]

Since the book has come out, maybe there's room for a discussion about various yeasts. What are your favorites? What tips and tricks do you have for coaxing the best fermentation possible from your yeastie friends? How do you make a starter? How do you achieve a good pitching rate? Things like that.

Some of my favorites are the Kölsch yeasts. Currently I'm working with WLP029. According to Kris England (Education Director at the BJCP), this yeast is Weihenstephan 165. I would recommend this (and any other Kölsch yeast) for any beer where you don't want any yeast or yeast byproduct flavors. They just stay completely in the background and let the malts, hops, or other flavorings shine.

I also use them to make pseudo-lagers. I used the Wyeast 2575PC to make my Octoberfest this year, and who would know the difference? I fermented that batch at 55F and had a very active fermentation without any problems. I always have a habit of raising the temperature 5 degrees when activity slows, which I think helps achieve full attenuation and cleans up any diacetyl if there was any thrown off.

Here's an interesting find (you gotta love Google): http://www.hefebank-weihenstephan.de/strains.html

Here's a link to the new book: http://isbn.nu/0937381969

[sirgiovanni]

I'd love to talk about yeast with ya sometime.
It seems innapropriate to do so while not sharing a glass though.