Our club, the Long Beach Homebrewers, conducted a yeast experiment. We brewed an all grain batch of mild pale ale on a 1 barrel system. The recipe is this:
For 30 gallons: The Big Yeast Experiment Pale Ale
41 lbs Klages (American 2 Row Lager malt)
14 oz Cascade Whole hops, 60 minutes in a grain bag
Starting Gravity = 1.042 at 60 deg F
The recipe was simple in order to accentuate the yeast flavor contribution. No finishing hops were used. The beer was then divided into 12-1 gallon cider jugs, 1-6.5 gallon plastic bucket, and 1-15 gallon fermentor. Most of the yeasts were dry but a few second generation yeasts and 1 Wyeast packet were used. Only 1 packet of yeast was used for all dry yeasts and the Scottish Ale yeast. All yeasts were fermented at room temperature (60-75 deg F). Only 1 lager yeast was used and it developed a strong diacetyl flavor. The experiment was a lot of work and took 10 hours to make the beer and 5 hours to bottle but it helped us to appreciate the flavor contribution of yeasts. We would like to do this experiment again using Wyeast Ale Yeasts and then get into lager yeasts but for now, here are the results of the first in a series of tests of commercial yeasts:
2 Hours - No activity
16 April AM - active
16 April PM - active
17 April - done
18 April - clearing
25 April - Gravity 1.009, ok taste
9 May - Tasted not bad
21 May - Not available
2 Hours - No activity
16 April AM - active
16 April PM - most active
17 April - still working
18 April - cloudy, still working
25 April - Gravity 1.004, cidery taste
9 May - cidery and estery taste
21 May - Very carbonated, very clean taste, nice
2 Hours - No activity
16 April AM - active
16 April PM - active
17 April - done
18 April - clearing
25 April - Gravity 1.014, ok taste
9 May - Very clean and good taste
21 May - Soft tasting, watery compared with Glenbrew, smooth and
clean but uneventful
2 Hours - No activity
16 April AM - No activity
16 April PM - No activity
17 April - No activity, add another pack of yeast
18 April - active and cloudy
25 April - Gravity 1.015, very smoky taste
9 May - Smoky taste
21 May - Bread like aroma, kind of clean tasting but not
pleasant to smell, dry taste
2 Hours - Started
16 April AM - active
16 April PM - active
17 April - done
18 April - clearing
25 April - Gravity 1.012, clean taste
9 May - Fruity and sweet tasting
21 May - Big carbonation, loud pop upon opening, slight chill
haze, citrusy taste, dry, not too much hop aroma,
hop bitterness lingers, bitterness comes through.
2 Hours - No activity
16 April AM - Big lump at top of beer
16 April PM - Big lump at top of beer
17 April - Active
18 April - clearing
25 April - Gravity 1.008, slightly smoky taste
9 May - Light sweet taste, mildly smoky
21 May - Big, big carbonation, real loud pop upon opening,
foamy, clear, nice taste, back side of tongue
sweetness, great beer, very little sediment,
settles quickly upon moving bottle around.
2 Hours - No activity
16 April AM - active
16 April PM - active
17 April - done
18 April - clearing
25 April - Gravity 1.016, ok taste
9 May - Slight sweetness, mild smoky aroma
21 May - A little off tasting, taste hop bitterness more, dry sweet
taste
2 Hours - No activity
16 April AM - No activity
16 April PM - No activity
17 April - Started finally
18 April - Still active
25 April - Gravity 1.015, light smoky taste
9 May - Odd taste not characteristic of Nottingham
21 May - Funky, skunky aroma, clear, slight banana taste, a little
overcarbonated, tastes good
2 Hours - No activity
16 April AM - Blew air lock out, very active
16 April PM - active
17 April - done
18 April - clearing
25 April - Gravity 1.012, very good taste
9 May - Very clean like lager, adds no yeast flavor
21 May - Bad initial aroma but dissipates quickly, clean taste,
sweetish finish, citrusy flavor, clear
2 Hours - No activity
16 April AM - active
16 April PM - most active
17 April - active
18 April - clearing
25 April - Gravity 1.011, sulfur aroma
9 May - Very good taste, malty, clean
21 May - Very carbonated, loud pop upon opening bottle, slight chill
haze, stale aroma, very strong diacetyl taste, clean
otherwise.
2 Hours - No activity
16 April AM - active
16 April PM - active
17 April - done
18 April - clear, yeast is compacted
25 April - Gravity 1.015, good taste
9 May - Tasted Good
21 May - Lots of carbonation, nice head, slight chill haze, great
mouth feel, no flavor contribution from yeast, good taste
2 Hours - Started, very active
16 April AM - Almost finished
16 April PM - settling
17 April - Clearing
18 April - Clearing
25 April - Gravity 1.015, good taste
9 May - Tasted great
21 May - Not available
2 Hours - No notes taken
16 April AM - No notes taken
16 April PM - No notes taken
17 April - No notes taken
18 April - No notes taken
25 April - No notes taken
9 May - Tasted Good
21 May - Ok head retention, big bubbles, clean taste, slightly
funky aroma
2 Hours - No activity
16 April AM - No activity
16 April PM - No activity
17 April - No activity
18 April - No activity
25 April - No activity
9 May - No activity
21 May - No activity
| Yeast | FG | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Red Star Bread Ale Yeast | 1.009 |
| 2 | Glenbrew Ale Yeast | 1.004 |
| 3 | Windsor Ale Yeast | 1.014 |
| 4 | Doric Ale Yeast | 1.015 |
| 5 | Munton & Fison Ale Yeast | 1.012 |
| 6 | Wyeast Scottish Ale Yeast | 1.008 |
| 7 | London Ale Yeast | 1.016 |
| 8 | Nottingham Ale Yeast | 1.015 |
| 9 | Coopers Ale Yeast | 1.012 |
| 10 | Wyeast Bohemian Lager Yeast, second generation | 1.011 |
| 11 | Telfords Ale Yeast | 1.015 |
| 12 | Telfords Ale Yeast, second generation | 1.015 |
| 13 | Edme Ale Yeast | Unknown |
From our results, the Glenbrew yeast is the most attenuative, followed by the Wyeast Scottish and Bread Yeasts. The Wyeast strains produced the most yeast flavor in the finished beer and they will be very interesting to test in a future experiment.
Because of problems found in the Doric and Nottingham yeasts, we called the supplier. Our supplier checked his yeasts and came up with similar results from the Doric and Nottingham strains. Apparently, these yeasts were old. We pulled these 2 yeasts from the shelves and got fresh ones.
Michael Froehlich lambicker@hotmail.comSpencer W. Thomas (spencer@umich.edu)