[majorvices]

Which is your favorite one? I don't have many to choose from from my LHBS but currently the selections are S-04 and Nottingham. I've used the former but not the latter.

[dmtaylor]

I haven't used many besides Notty, which is a favorite.  But I think Notty might be too clean and high attenuating (77-78% every time) for most true English beer styles.  I have not been impressed with S-04 yet, but I only used it once.

Now on my last batch I just used the dry Windsor ale yeast, and it seems tasty, but attenuation really sucks.  I mashed at 150 F for 65 minutes, and only got 61% attenuation.  Now the recipe did have 20% crystal, so that might also play a role.  But the beer doesn't taste terribly thick and flabby either, it tastes quite good actually.  Might be worth a shot, but be sure to mash low and slow, and perhaps reserve it for low OG beers <1.050 so the flabbiness isn't too prevalent.  Windsor is also an absolute beast.  I pitched and fermented at 64 F, and it went from 0-61% attenuation in just 48 hours -- no exaggeration.  It is also literally a bottom-fermenting yeast -- you will get virtually zero krauesen, it just settles to the bottom immediately and does all its work down there, and stays there.  I have been swirling the fermenter (still in primary) once or twice a day for the past few days to try to eek a couple more points of attenuation out of it, but it is almost crystal clear again after a few hours, so it might just be time to bottle it now.

[BrewBama]

I pitched Windsor in the Porter in my Primary. It rocked the house for a cpl days like nothing I've ever seen even with liquid yeast and a starter and then hit a brick wall. I haven't put a hydrometer on it yet. So... Jury is still out.

BTW what LHBS?  I didn't know we had one. I order online.

[Joe Sr.]

I don't like Notty.  I get a weird tartness from it in lower gravity beers.

Side by side with WY 1968 (I know, not dry) it has that weird tartness in lower gravity beers, but oddly I like it better in higher gravity beers.

Notty performs well, no argument there.  I just don't think its as clean as people say and I don't care for the characteristic flavor.

I've not used s-04, but I've stocked it as a replacement for Notty.

I've had no bad experiences with Windsor.  Doesn't attenuate as well, IIRC.

[erockrph]

I haven't had good luck with Notty, but those were some brews early on in my brewing experience. I've never used it since, so I can't say how much was the yeast's fault vs mine. I did get the tartness that many have reported, plus a buttload of diacetyl.

S-04 is a good strain, but it does give a slighly odd bready note in some beers. I generally save it for beers like porters and stouts. For ESB's and the like, where I'm really looking for a nice yeast character, I stick to liquid yeast.

[majorvices]

I pitched Windsor in the Porter in my Primary. It rocked the house for a cpl days like nothing I've ever seen even with liquid yeast and a starter and then hit a brick wall. I haven't put a hydrometer on it yet. So... Jury is still out.

BTW what LHBS?  I didn't know we had one. I order online.

Pearly Gates (Now I think it is just called Pearly's) is a health food store that just recently moved from their location of 40 years on the Parkways and now is on Governor's Dr. literally a quarter mile from YHB. They have very limited selection of ingredients but they do carry stuff like US-05 and some specialty malts plus carboys, buckets, bungs, air locks, etc. I with more people would go there so they would start carrying liquid yeast.

Also, Wish You Were Beer out in Madison has a pretty good homebrew shop.

[majorvices]

Thanks for the suggestions. I think I will try Windsor if the LHBS has it. I'll probably get it going and then pitch some us-05 to make sure it attenuates properly.

[BrewBama]

I've been to Pearly Gates but everything looks so old so I didn't buy. I did get a siphon and a carboy but no ingredients. I'll check out wish you were beer. I heard they were starting to get some stuff in.

[majorvices]

Yeah, you have got to be pretty picky there. I would never buy hops there, especially since they don't even refrigerate them. But most of their malts are actually pretty fresh and they move through the dry yeast selection pretty fast.

The new location is a lot nicer. If you need dry yeast or airlocks or a pound of roasted barley or something like in a jiffy and don't mind spending a little more it's not a bad place to go.

There used to be a shop in town called "BamaBrew" which is what your name should be. He actually had a really nice shop. Too bad he didn't last more than a year or so. I bet if the store opened today it would do a lot better.

[S. cerevisiae]

I decided to brew with dry yeast this year during the warm months in order to avoid having to propagate yeast from slant.  The dry strains used were Bry 97, S-04, US-05, Nottingham, and Windsor.   The state of the art with respect to dry brewing yeast production has come a long way since the bad old days.  The two standouts were Bry 97 and S-04.  I detect absolutely no difference in performance between these strains when used in dry form or off of slant. 

S-04 (Whitbread "B") is a hardy strain that has a unique British ester profile.   Whitebread "B" is kind of like the Worthington Whiteshield strain (Wyeast 1028) in that people either love it or they hate it.  The people who tend to hate it are those who use Bry 96 in everything.   Nottingham does not produce much in the way of a recognizable ester profile.  It's better than US-05, but anything is better than Bry 96 if one is looking for an ale yeast strain with character.   Windsor produces a British-style ester profile, but it does not ferment maltotriose; therefore, it needs to be pitched with a strain that does ferment the trisaccharide to some extent (e.g., Windsor + Nottingham).

[Joe Sr.]

I have done the Windsor+Nottingham combo and found that it worked well.


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[dmtaylor]

Great idea using two yeasts with Windsor -- I think I might give that a try!

[majorvices]

If the shop has Windsor I will give the Win/Notty a try. Thanks for the suggestions!

[dmtaylor]

Now I just tasted my Pete's Wicked Ale again that is still in primary but ready to bottle... and although the attenuation has stopped dead at 61% and FG=1.021, it doesn't taste nearly that heavy, not at all, so I have decided to bottle it as-is without any need for Notty or other additional yeast.  Just thought I should mention it.  Seems a good idea to add more yeast, but in my case, at least, it doesn't seem to be necessary.  I'll admit, I'm surprised, but I try not to argue with my sense of taste versus "the numbers".

[HoosierBrew]

I try not to argue with my sense of taste versus "the numbers".

I agree totally. The numbers don't drink our beers.