[Mathais]

I made my first Pale Ale recently with LAL Windsor. I really enjoyed the flavors that it gave but wanted it to attenuate more.

Going to brew the same recipe again with s-33 which is close to the same strand.

My plan is to ferment for 3-4 days with just s-33 to get the fruity flavors, then pitch some s-04 to finish off the maltotriose.

Is this sound reasoning?
Has anyone ever mixed yeast for similar results?

[ScallyWag]

I too really enjoy the taste of Windsor yeast.  I just posted about this recently on another thread (it was kind of a tangent).

I have never tried S-33, so if it's equivalent, you can extrapolate the below, +/-.

If you use S-04, I wouldn't necessarily wait 3-4 days.  I'd add it earlier, within a few hours of the Windsor or S-33 pitch, but in a smaller proportion.  For me, Windsor often has produced a thick impenetrable krausen within 5-10 hours (on repitches, sometimes 2-3 hours!).  I have waited 4-10 days to pitch the second yeast in combo with Windsor, but I usually got inferior results than with a simultaneous co-pitch.

The classical mix is Windsor + Nottingham, but I did not care for that.  (And I find Nottingham mediocre in all respects, by itself or in combo.)

I have had success combining Windsor with Bry-97, US-05, Verdant, S-04, 1272 (Anchor-Liberty?), 1450 (Denny's Fave), Lallemand's Koln/Kolsch, and even BE-134 (but note that BE-134 is diastaticus, and you need to ferment it very cold, around 55, to keep BE-134 clean.  I got away from that one because it can take over future generations of re-pitch and I can't guarantee a cold ferment temp.  Also, it can eventually attenuate to >90%, and that's too much for most of my beers.  However, it can work in a super-high gravity beer and leave just enough.)

Of all those, I really like Windsor blended with Verdant, and that has become my current "house" yeast (with just a pinch of Bry-97).  Unlike most of those slower yeasts that I mentioned, Verdant and S-04 also tend to take off really quickly, so I give Windsor a larger portion of the pitch, and/or add the Verdant or S-04 10 hours to 24 hours later to give Windsor a headstart.  (With re-pitched next generations, all bets are off as they compete with each other.)

I'm on about the 8th generation of that "house" blend, and my last 5 beers or so have been easily my best/favorites beers I have ever brewed, each exceeding my expectations.

Someone else suggested trying Lal's New England in a blend as it too is slower to take off, and attenuates higher.  I haven't tried this combo yet, but may eventually.

[Mathais]

Awesome I’m glad I wasn’t completely off base with this. What percentage of attenuation do you get with the Windsor and verdant mix

[ScallyWag]

I'm generally getting 79% to 85%, depending on mash temp and non-fermentable content.  I brew mostly higher ABV beers, so hitting 85% for me isn't as thin as it would be on a lower OG beer.  I've made some 'lite' beers recently with OGs around 1.050 and 1.054, and so I adjust the mash temp and/or crystal [if any] to not over-attenuate.  But even at that OG, Windsor alone would still be too underattenuated for my tastes.

I think Verdant + Windsor is a match made in heaven.  Love them both separately; love them even more together.

[denny]

Our next BYO column is about mixing yeasts.