House ale yeast opinions! US-05 vs. ???

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Bigbre04

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Hey yall,

I love my Voss yeast, but it is not always the best option, plus it tends to be pretty expensive.

I am looking for a cheaper alternative for a general house ale yeast. This would primarily be used for ambers, stouts, maybe pale ales, and the occasional golden ale? Im mainly looking for a low ester clean ale yeast for general use.

I got recommended Safale US-05. I can find it for a decent price online for 500g blocks, so I will def try it.

What other yeast would be a good option for a general ale yeast? I prefer dry yeast and buy it in the larger formats.

I will likely continue to use Voss in my Juicy IPAs and some other beers.
 
Bigbre04 said:
I am looking for a cheaper alternative for a general house ale yeast. This would primarily be used for ambers, stouts, maybe pale ales, and the occasional golden ale? I'm mainly looking for a low ester clean ale yeast for general use.
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Nottingham; BRY-97.
 
Bigbre04 said:
I look it up. Just got a recommendation for Apex Sandiego. any experience with that yeast?
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No experience with Apex yeasts, sorry.
 
For dry yeast, I like US-05 and have used it more than anything else. However, the few times I have used BRY-97 it has performed well, though it is more expensive. Some have recommended W-34/70 as a potential house yeast, even though it is typically used for lagers, but it is supposed to be clean and versatile.
Are you amenable to harvesting and using yeast slurry? If yes, get at it since you must produce a big quantity. I have harvested and used slurry from brews made with dry yeast, just because I like keeping things going, like sourdough.
 
Herm brews said:
For dry yeast, I like US-05 and have used it more than anything else. However, the few times I have used BRY-97 it has performed well, though it is more expensive. Some have recommended W-34/70 as a potential house yeast, even though it is typically used for lagers, but it is supposed to be clean and versatile.
Are you amenable to harvesting and using yeast slurry? If yes, get at it since you must produce a big quantity. I have harvested and used slurry from brews made with dry yeast, just because I like keeping things going, like sourdough.
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Yup I use those 1.5L white nalgenes for yeast harvesting. It really depends on my schedule. if i dont have a brew scheduled within about a week, i wont pull it.

I have had decent results getting Voss to go to generation 4, but it is a lot less reliable at that point. Nova lager doesnt do well after gen 3. My problem is that i only have 4 tanks, and 8 draft lines.
 
Donoroto said:
My slurry is easily good for more than a month. Or four.
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Do you feed it and prop it up for batches?

Generally we wouldn't want to use yeast that was more then a week old without doing a cell count. It just loses viability fairly quickly. Not to say that I haven't used old yeast and had good results, but it's a bigger gamble. But we were filling 15.5 gal brinks and testing(cell count, DNA, etc.) it before we would give the go ahead to brew.

I pulled 6 1.5L bottles that settled out to about 2/3s of good yeast in each one. So I had about 3.5L of nova lager that I pitched into a double of my golden lager. I pulled everything that I could since I knew that it was gonna be over a week before I could get it brewed. Plus it was gen 3 which is not the best.
 
Over The Cliff Brewing said:
Look into Cellar Science yeasts. They are 12G per pack and are usually less expensive than Fermentis, or Lallemand. I have been using Cellar Science for a couple of years and have had great success.
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I was looking at apex. It's alot cheaper then both of those guys. Still odd that they don't have a website, but as long as it doesn't have diastaticus I'm happy to try it for the money.
 
Bigbre04 said:
Do you feed it and prop it up for batches?

Generally we wouldn't want to use yeast that was more then a week old without doing a cell count. It just loses viability fairly quickly. Not to say that I haven't used old yeast and had good results, but it's a bigger gamble. But we were filling 15.5 gal brinks and testing(cell count, DNA, etc.) it before we would give the go ahead to brew.

I pulled 6 1.5L bottles that settled out to about 2/3s of good yeast in each one. So I had about 3.5L of nova lager that I pitched into a double of my golden lager. I pulled everything that I could since I knew that it was gonna be over a week before I could get it brewed. Plus it was gen 3 which is not the best.
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If I use the whole jar (about 250 ml) then I just pitch all of it. If it is more than 3 months or less than 'all of it' I'll make a 2 liter starter.

Viability Has never been an issue. But genetic creep over many many generations is a thing, so maybe 4 generations max for me? @Trialben goes for dozens of generations.
 
Donoroto said:
If I use the whole jar (about 250 ml) then I just pitch all of it. If it is more than 3 months or less than 'all of it' I'll make a 2 liter starter.

Viability Has never been an issue. But genetic creep over many many generations is a thing, so maybe 4 generations max for me? @Trialben goes for dozens of generations.
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You make 5 gallon batches, right? I have a jar of slurry from my last batch of stout, harvested about 7 weeks ago. I am tempted to just use it without making a starter for my 2.5 gallon batch of stout, to be brewed tomorrow or Monday. How do you feel about that?
 
Herm brews said:
You make 5 gallon batches, right? I have a jar of slurry from my last batch of stout, harvested about 7 weeks ago. I am tempted to just use it without making a starter for my 2.5 gallon batch of stout, to be brewed tomorrow or Monday. How do you feel about that?
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7 Weeks in the fridge, and you have at least a couple of tablespoons, it'll be fine.

I always pour the liquid on top ('supernatant') off for the most part, but it's not absolutely essential
 
BRY-97, Mangrove Jack M-44 or M-42(44 seems a touch cleaner, 42 flocs better)...I've heaed that M36 Liberty Bell is a blend of Notty and Windsor, but have not tried that one.
 
AEB Brewing FERMOALE AY
In Stock at Williams Brewing, Under $4
This is a very versatile yeast that can be used to brew a wide range of English-, American- and Belgian-style ales, including pale ales, brown ales and porters.

FERMENTATION TEMPERATURE: 16-23°C | 61-73°F
FLOCCULATION: High
ALCOHOL TOLERANCE: 12% ABV
TOTAL ESTERS: Low
This may be my stock yeast . . .Walt
 
Trialben said:
Yup Nova Lager this year 10generations I went if not more.

I found it great in a range of styles.

I rekon 34/70 would make a great house yeast you can ferment it cool for lager or warm for ales.
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Iv got a 3rd gen almost at terminal gravity right now and it is doing great. Gonna split it and do that smoked beer I talked about, but also something else???

Have you noticed any flavor or performance changes when using it at higher then 20C? I had my glycol go down due to a power blip and it allowed the fermenter to get up over 22 or 24C. I got it cooled down fairly quickly but I haven't noticed any real negative flavors. Seems like it just sped up the fermentation time?

I wonder if people have successfully fermented with it up higher?
 
Bigbre04 said:
Iv got a 3rd gen almost at terminal gravity right now and it is doing great. Gonna split it and do that smoked beer I talked about, but also something else???

Have you noticed any flavor or performance changes when using it at higher then 20C? I had my glycol go down due to a power blip and it allowed the fermenter to get up over 22 or 24C. I got it cooled down fairly quickly but I haven't noticed any real negative flavors. Seems like it just sped up the fermentation time?

I wonder if people have successfully fermented with it up higher?
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Yeah I'm sure I did a batch or two at 18c then ramped up over 20c at end.

My beers are pretty simple just rice so nothing to hide behind.

They were quite tasty no off flavours .
 
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