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Author Topic: 4 Englishman walk into a bar....  (Read 5601 times)

RPIScotty

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Re: 4 Englishman walk into a bar....
« Reply #15 on: April 17, 2016, 03:21:17 pm »
Derek, you bottle condition right? Don't forget that you can always use the dregs as a way of "banking" yeast for later.

I typically use Red Star Premier Cuvee when I add bottling yeast.

Thanks Phil, that's an interesting idea. I never thought of it that way.

Offline clibit

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Re: 4 Englishman walk into a bar....
« Reply #16 on: April 17, 2016, 03:36:58 pm »
Englishman here, having a browse. I believe the Standard Muntons is more like 1968 than Muntons Gold. I've read this, and I've used them. The Gold is more neutral and attenuates more, rather like Nottingham. The standard Muntons stops around 1015 so you get residual sweetness. It's pretty good. But no dried yeast will do as good a job as 1968.

RPIScotty

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Re: 4 Englishman walk into a bar....
« Reply #17 on: April 17, 2016, 03:44:41 pm »
Englishman here, having a browse. I believe the Standard Muntons is more like 1968 than Muntons Gold. I've read this, and I've used them. The Gold is more neutral and attenuates more, rather like Nottingham. The standard Muntons stops around 1015 so you get residual sweetness. It's pretty good. But no dried yeast will do as good a job as 1968.

Great info! Thanks a bunch. Nice to have that perspective.

So regular Muntons and Muntons Gold might be worth trying.

But no dried yeast will do as good a job as 1968.

Understood. Just looking for a dry option to use for a while.

Offline clibit

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Re: 4 Englishman walk into a bar....
« Reply #18 on: April 17, 2016, 04:08:43 pm »
I'm not sure I would use the standard Muntons on the higher strength beers you're planning. I've not used it on anything above about 5.5% so I may be wrong but it might leave the FG too high. If you want one yeast for all four beers, I'd personally either go for S04 or Nottingham/Windsor, though I've never done the latter. Muntons Standard will get you closest to a Fullers bitter in my experience. Not really close, but decent, it's given me some nice lower strength English ales.

Offline Joe Sr.

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Re: 4 Englishman walk into a bar....
« Reply #19 on: April 17, 2016, 06:09:24 pm »
I've only used S04 a couple times.  It's OK.  It hasn't grabbed me yet.  But I wouldn't say don't use it.

Windsor/Notty is a great combo.  I do not like Notty by itself, though Windsor is good by itself.  Together, they and I have made some outstanding beers.  I say go this route.
It's all in the reflexes. - Jack Burton

RPIScotty

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Re: 4 Englishman walk into a bar....
« Reply #20 on: April 17, 2016, 07:19:17 pm »
I've only used S04 a couple times.  It's OK.  It hasn't grabbed me yet.  But I wouldn't say don't use it.

Windsor/Notty is a great combo.  I do not like Notty by itself, though Windsor is good by itself.  Together, they and I have made some outstanding beers.  I say go this route.

Thanks for the advice Joe. Will definitely consider it when purchasing.

Offline Phil_M

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Re: 4 Englishman walk into a bar....
« Reply #21 on: April 17, 2016, 08:29:15 pm »

I typically use Red Star Premier Cuvee when I add bottling yeast.

Thanks Phil, that's an interesting idea. I never thought of it that way.

You can definitely brew two of the styles you mention without a need to reyeast. Maybe three, depending on the strength of the porter you mentioned.

You path could be something like this:

Mild --> repitch Bitter --> repitch Barleywine
  |                     |
bottle              bottle
  |                     |
  ----------------------> culture dregs --> porter

If you go with a mixed culture I don't think I'd recommend this approach. But it would be a way to stretch a single smack pack of 1968 into many different beers.
« Last Edit: April 17, 2016, 08:30:49 pm by Phil_M »
Corn is a fine adjunct in beer.

And don't buy stale beer.

Offline 69franx

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Re: 4 Englishman walk into a bar....
« Reply #22 on: April 17, 2016, 09:50:15 pm »

I typically use Red Star Premier Cuvee when I add bottling yeast.

Thanks Phil, that's an interesting idea. I never thought of it that way.

You can definitely brew two of the styles you mention without a need to reyeast. Maybe three, depending on the strength of the porter you mentioned.

You path could be something like this:

Mild --> repitch Bitter --> repitch Barleywine
  |                     |
bottle              bottle
  |                     |
  ----------------------> culture dregs --> porter

If you go with a mixed culture I don't think I'd recommend this approach. But it would be a way to stretch a single smack pack of 1968 into many different beers.
Really liking that plan Phil, come late summer, I just might take a run at it as you plotted out
Frank L.
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Conditioning: Nothing (UGH!)
In keg: Nothing (Double UGH!)
In the works:  House IPA, Dark Mild, Ballantine Ale clone(still trying to work this one into the schedule)

Offline Steve Ruch

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Re: 4 Englishman walk into a bar....
« Reply #23 on: April 18, 2016, 04:17:24 pm »
Englishman here, having a browse. I believe the Standard Muntons is more like 1968 than Muntons Gold. I've read this, and I've used them. The Gold is more neutral and attenuates more, rather like Nottingham. The standard Muntons stops around 1015 so you get residual sweetness. It's pretty good. But no dried yeast will do as good a job as 1968.

The last beer that I brewed with regular Munton's (all-grain British pale ale) went from 1.050 to 1.009.
I love to go swimmin'
with hairy old women

Offline markpotts

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Re: 4 Englishman walk into a bar....
« Reply #24 on: April 20, 2016, 04:37:24 am »
For the low/mid gravity ales I would throw WYeast 1469 in to the equation. Great flavour profile for the lower gravity stuff and it doesn't attenuate too far. It is balanced and lets the malt and hop profile through.
I like both Nottingham and SO4, but they do strip some hop character and are fairly neutral taste wise.

I don't think that yeast charachter is so important for the barley wine and on the rare occasions I brew high gravity, I would just use a couple of packets of Nottingham.
Yorkshire, England

RPIScotty

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Re: 4 Englishman walk into a bar....
« Reply #25 on: April 20, 2016, 05:41:38 am »
For the low/mid gravity ales I would throw WYeast 1469 in to the equation. Great flavour profile for the lower gravity stuff and it doesn't attenuate too far. It is balanced and lets the malt and hop profile through.
I like both Nottingham and SO4, but they do strip some hop character and are fairly neutral taste wise.

I don't think that yeast charachter is so important for the barley wine and on the rare occasions I brew high gravity, I would just use a couple of packets of Nottingham.

I very much appreciated the input from everyone but i'm looking for opinions on just the following:

Munton's Regular, Munton's Gold
Notty/Windsor
S-04

I have used the liquid strains and love them but am looking for dry options for a while.

Offline Joe Sr.

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Re: 4 Englishman walk into a bar....
« Reply #26 on: April 20, 2016, 08:23:30 am »
I very much appreciated the input from everyone but i'm looking for opinions on just the following:

Munton's Regular, Munton's Gold
Notty/Windsor
S-04

I have used the liquid strains and love them but am looking for dry options for a while.

Maybe you need to do a couple of split batches and see which you prefer.
It's all in the reflexes. - Jack Burton

Offline stpug

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Re: 4 Englishman walk into a bar....
« Reply #27 on: April 20, 2016, 08:26:14 am »
A year is a long time to work with a single strain, and also kind of an arbitrary confine with the exception that it's 1 year long.  Being the only truly flavor-versatile and biodynamic component of beer, I'd feel bummed to only get one yeast to work with for the year.  The expression of a yeast can - for the most part - be fleshed out over a few brews, in my experience, which would not take me a year to complete.  How about, rather than brew the same 4 beers over and over again, all year long, with the same exact yeast, what if you instead brewed the same 4 beers but each time you use one of your dry yeast options? Dry yeast has a storage shelf life of years, and can even be extended by putting it in a freezer. You should not run into a viability problem by owning several of your choices and just storing them in the freezer.  I know this strays from your goal a bit, but I'm just kind of thinking out loud here. Good luck (and where's your blog where you'll be posting your results :D)

RPIScotty

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Re: 4 Englishman walk into a bar....
« Reply #28 on: April 20, 2016, 08:35:33 am »
I very much appreciated the input from everyone but i'm looking for opinions on just the following:

Munton's Regular, Munton's Gold
Notty/Windsor
S-04

I have used the liquid strains and love them but am looking for dry options for a while.

That seems like a good plan.

Maybe you need to do a couple of split batches and see which you prefer.

RPIScotty

  • Guest
Re: 4 Englishman walk into a bar....
« Reply #29 on: April 20, 2016, 08:37:25 am »
A year is a long time to work with a single strain, and also kind of an arbitrary confine with the exception that it's 1 year long.  Being the only truly flavor-versatile and biodynamic component of beer, I'd feel bummed to only get one yeast to work with for the year.  The expression of a yeast can - for the most part - be fleshed out over a few brews, in my experience, which would not take me a year to complete.  How about, rather than brew the same 4 beers over and over again, all year long, with the same exact yeast, what if you instead brewed the same 4 beers but each time you use one of your dry yeast options? Dry yeast has a storage shelf life of years, and can even be extended by putting it in a freezer. You should not run into a viability problem by owning several of your choices and just storing them in the freezer.  I know this strays from your goal a bit, but I'm just kind of thinking out loud here. Good luck (and where's your blog where you'll be posting your results :D)

I'm looking to nail down and consistently brew the same recipes. As a brewer, I'm not into variety from a homebrewing standpoint. I'd be much happier brewing the same good beers over and over again.

Variety tends to come from the commercial beers I drink.

Thanks for the suggestion though!

Once life settles down a bit I hope to rework some of the aspects of my blog.