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Author Topic: Mixing Lager Yeasts - Pros and Cons  (Read 12337 times)

Offline denny

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Re: Mixing Lager Yeasts - Pros and Cons
« Reply #15 on: May 19, 2012, 10:07:49 am »
Denny & Major, I hear ya. There might be nothing to gain in the end at all. Ehhh, saying that I did it...that doesnt matter either I suppose. I do really like the feedback though. It is always appreciated when seasoned veterans are approachable and active in this community. Cheers to that for sure! Once again - thanks for the replies. It is about a week into fermentation @ 48 degrees, in a couple of weeks I will know the outcome.

are you saying Denny and Major are old? well, Denny, okay I'll give you Denny but Major still has lots of life in him.

I thought it meant they were covered with salt & pepper... :)

That's how I prefer to think of it, Tony!  I generally feel like I'm full of life, although more than a few people will tell you I'm full of something else....
« Last Edit: May 19, 2012, 10:09:26 am by denny »
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Offline kylekohlmorgen

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Re: Mixing Lager Yeasts - Pros and Cons
« Reply #16 on: May 21, 2012, 07:38:26 am »
A few years ago, Sun King made a great Belgian Golden with what they said was a "mixture of 7 yeast strains". If I ever get a chance, I'd really like to ask the SK guys how they did this...

Can you match up the Belgian strains with similar behaviors/attenuation ranges this way? Kind of like Hopfen described with the PU strains.

If you dump enough yeast in, will it give you something different (and worth the price of all that yeast)?
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Offline bluesman

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Re: Mixing Lager Yeasts - Pros and Cons
« Reply #17 on: May 21, 2012, 07:50:12 am »
Typically speaking, when I want the characteristics of two or more yeasts in a beer, I'll ferment them separately and blend the beer together after fermentation. This way you'll be able to achieve the desirable characteristics of each yeast in a desired proportion in the finished beer.  I recently used this technique for a BDS using Trappist and Abbey Ale yeasts.  Amazing results.
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Offline mmitchem

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Re: Mixing Lager Yeasts - Pros and Cons
« Reply #18 on: May 21, 2012, 08:03:45 am »
I am a big fan of blending brews as well, and I also love the results. But it would be nice to brew half the batch and get the same result. It is getting towards the ned of fermentation now. Probably in a few days the refractometer will read good and I can start lagering. Soon we will have the verdict...
Michael P Mitchem
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Offline denny

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Re: Mixing Lager Yeasts - Pros and Cons
« Reply #19 on: May 21, 2012, 09:39:47 am »
A few years ago, Sun King made a great Belgian Golden with what they said was a "mixture of 7 yeast strains". If I ever get a chance, I'd really like to ask the SK guys how they did this...

Can you match up the Belgian strains with similar behaviors/attenuation ranges this way? Kind of like Hopfen described with the PU strains.

If you dump enough yeast in, will it give you something different (and worth the price of all that yeast)?

Sure, you can put 7 or 70 yeasts into a beer, but how do you know that it made a difference?
Life begins at 60.....1.060, that is!

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Offline kylekohlmorgen

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Re: Mixing Lager Yeasts - Pros and Cons
« Reply #20 on: May 21, 2012, 09:51:31 am »
Typically speaking, when I want the characteristics of two or more yeasts in a beer, I'll ferment them separately and blend the beer together after fermentation. This way you'll be able to achieve the desirable characteristics of each yeast in a desired proportion in the finished beer.  I recently used this technique for a BDS using Trappist and Abbey Ale yeasts.  Amazing results.

Currently trying this with a Flanders Red/Lambic-type beer - half with Roselare, and half with a concoction of dregs. Otherwise the fresh strains in the Roselare take up too many sugars/nutrients and give off too much acidity to revive the several strains from the dregs.

Also gives me some room to blend, hopefully creating a Flanders and a lambic from the same wort. We'll see.
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Offline mmitchem

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Re: Mixing Lager Yeasts - Pros and Cons
« Reply #21 on: June 11, 2012, 09:23:22 pm »
Update - the beer tastes pretty good. It fermented out all the way, and has a pretty good flavor.

Denny & Ron - I will say that I think you were right all along...I think I would have been better off blending as it isnt's quite what I was going for. A blend of the two beers fermented with different yeasts IS the way to go. Doing it this way, I am tied to whatever the final outcome of the fermentation is. Through blending at different amounts I think I might find that balance I am looking for.

Though the beer isn't bad - I have serious doubts it is the best it can be. Good call guys, thanks for the advice as I will be taking it my next batch :)
Michael P Mitchem
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Offline Wildgoose

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Re: Mixing Lager Yeasts - Pros and Cons
« Reply #22 on: January 17, 2018, 12:32:58 pm »
looks like the boston beer company tried mixing ale and lager fermentation as well.  We'll see how successfule they were later this year.  https://www.drinks-insight-network.com/news/samuel-adams-launches-sam-76-us/

Offline James K

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Re: Mixing Lager Yeasts - Pros and Cons
« Reply #23 on: January 17, 2018, 06:08:46 pm »
The only time I have used two strains is when one strain did not take off or finish completely. I wouldn’t try this but if I wanted the best of both worlds I would probably blend the beers.

What I have been thinking of doing lately is doing a 5 gallon batch along side a 1 gallon batch, I have 4 1 gallon fermenters, this could be a fun sour project with blends.
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Offline Steve Ruch

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Re: Mixing Lager Yeasts - Pros and Cons
« Reply #24 on: January 18, 2018, 11:00:40 am »
The only time that I've ever mixed lager yeasts is when I've started my brew day and realized that I don't have enough of one strain to pitch.
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