[denny]

Coincidentally, I received this email this AM...

Hi Denny & Drew,

I did an informal test recently on yeast strains.  I brewed the same mild 3 times.  The only difference in all of these was the yeast strains used.  I picked 3 yeasts(WYEAST 1275 Thames Valley, WYEAST 1968 London ESB and WYEAST 1450 Denny's Favorite 50) pitched and fermented.  The tasters did not know they were being used as guinea pigs.  I asked each of the 12 people(of varying tasting experience) 3 questions:  Which beer do you like the best? Why? Was there anything off-putting about the 2 you didn't pick?

Here are the results by strain:

    1275 : 4 Favorite votes - Described by those 4: It is the smoothest, the Chocolatey taste is not harsh - like a milk chocolate more than dark chocolate.
    1968: 2 Favorite votes - Described by the 2: Like the slight sweetness, the grain is more prevelant
    1450: 6 favorite votes - Described by the 6: Most balanced, dryer than the others but still feels thick on the palate, I feel like I could taste the hops and the grain together more than the other 2.

No one has any off-putting information on the other 2 Milds and said they liked all of them.  Most said that picking between the 3 was like splitting hairs but that the 1450 stood out the most(this was even in the ones that did not pick it as a favorite.)

[vista]

Ha! Go figure, professor recommends a yeast that resembles the one from Ballantine, and Denny recommends dennys favorite. This post could have been written 10 years ago on the good ol' northern brewer forums and it would have turned out exactly the same.

[blatz]

its going to come down to a coinflip for me, I think. 

I am splitting a 10gal batch of old ale later this year, using my BOS recipe, and that uses 1028.  so part of me thinks, well youre using 1028 there, why not use 1450 on the ESB/RIS run. 

thanks for those that shared their experiences - especially TheProfessor - I think its been ages since I've seen him post!