[Saccharomyces]

What is interesting is that BRY-97 is under pitched even at 19 grams per five gallon batch (100 grams per hectoliter).   At 5 million cells per ml, that pitch rate provides half of the cell density of a 1L starter.  Pitching a 1L starter into 19 liters of wort results in a pitching rate of 10 million cells per ml (200B / 20 / 1000 = 10 million cells per ml).  That just goes to show that yeast cultures are like nuclear weapons in that close is good enough.

[skyler]

BRY-97 data point...yesterday at 2 PM I pitched one pack, not rehydrated, into 5.5 gal. of 1.067 wort at 65F.  No aeration was done other than pumping the wort to a bucket fermenter.  This morning at 10 AM I had positive pressure in the airlock and flecks of bubbles starting to form on the wort. So 20 hours from pitching to seeing signs of beginning fermentation

That sounds like BRY-97. Usually I will pitch 1 pack into ~1.045-1.065 wort at 62-64F and won't see any obvious fermentation for 36-48 hours. If I am doing it in something clear, I might see some early bubbles forming, but I typically just glance (and have learned not to worry). With US-05 or S-04, I would pitch cooler (58-60F) and expect it to be rocking hard 12 hours later.

WLP802 is even more stress-inducing. I NEVER see major obvious fermentation. I pitch at 48-50F and it always looks like it is just beginning to ferment until it's done; no more than 1/4" of bubbles on top. I only know it's really going because it smells like sulfur and it's cloudy. Then it smells like ale fermentation and its still cloudy. Then I see it slightly clearer up top than in the middle and I know it's time to crash chill soon.

[Big Monk]

I have never really had a house yeast culture because studying yeast has always been big part of the hobby.  BrewTek CL-170 Classic British Ale came close, but it was more of a re-occuring theme than a house culture.  I recently watched a White Labs video where Chris White and Charlie P. discussed the renaming of Cry Havoc and its history.  What struck me my was Charlie's assertion that he used it for everything because he wanted to know what altering the ingredients and process brought to the table.  In essence, it was his one constant in complex set of variables.

With that said, how many people have what they would consider to be a house culture?  I know that Denny is fond of CL-50 and BrewBama uses BRY-97 because it best fits his brewing situation.  What about everyone else?  I am thinking about limiting myself to one ale culture and one lager culture.  I am pretty much dialed into W-34/70 as my lager culture, but my ale culture is still undecided.  It will probably be a while before I start a new yeast bank; therefore, I am looking for a stable culture that I can repitch indefinitely.  To me, that means true top-cropper to me because it is easier to select what part of the culture I want to crop. It helps that I prefer British-style bitter to American-style ale.

I brew Trappist “style” ales and 3787 has long been my go to. Not that it helps you here though!

[narvin]

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I knew you'd like that!  And just to be clear for other people, it's not that I ignore the recommendations completely.  I try it their way, then I try it my way before I decide.

100% this, read the recommendations but do what works for you.   Brewed an IPA on Sunday using harvested yeast (WLP007) that was stored in the fridge under beer since april.  I made a starter 10 days earlier and let it ferment out and then put it back in the fridge because I had no idea which day I'd have a chance to brew.  Took off like a rocket, airlock was pounding at 24 hours and it's mostly finished on day 4.  Oh, and it tastes great.

[Big Monk]

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I knew you'd like that!  And just to be clear for other people, it's not that I ignore the recommendations completely.  I try it their way, then I try it my way before I decide.

100% this, read the recommendations but do what works for you.   Brewed an IPA on Sunday using harvested yeast (WLP007) that was stored in the fridge under beer since april.  I made a starter 10 days earlier and let it ferment out and then put it back in the fridge because I had no idea which day I'd have a chance to brew.  Took off like a rocket, airlock was pounding at 24 hours and it's mostly finished on day 4.  Oh, and it tastes great.

Healthy yeast has a way of turning our expectations on their head.

[Megary]

.... Both have a 24-48 hour delay that I don't get from other dry yeasts.

When the proper pitch rate recommended by the mfr is used, I consistently see 16 hrs +/- 2 hr lag.  I brew in the AM which puts me in the fermenter by noon-ish and the next morning I can see where the first ‘blip’ on the Tilt was as I slept. It’s 14 hrs more often than not, but I have seen up to 18 hrs.  It is very predictable.

This has been my (admittedly limited) experience with BRY-97.  I usually add a Servo. capsule to the boil and put 3 gallons into the fermenter.  I pitch 1 pack as the fermenter is filling which, depending on gravity, might be a slight overpitch, but probably not by much.

I have to say, aside from the occasional Saison, I could probably brew all of my beers with either Denny’s Favorite 1450 or Bama’s Favorite BRY-97.

I do like to try and mix it up though, for kicks.

Well I just used Bry-97 in a Stout (1.066 OG, 3 gallons) and I had visible air-lock activity in 5 hours. I hadn’t ever seen it take off so quickly.

[reverseapachemaster]

I hang on to a few strains but I guess that doesn't really make them house cultures. I found a local lab that releases the Andechs strain at homebrew volumes and that seems like it is in the running to become a house lager strain. I'm partial to London Ale III mostly for English beers and US05 for most American styles because it's the expected yeast profile. Wyeast lambic blend is my go to option for sour beer. That still leaves holes to fill for other expressive yeast styles like all sorts of Belgian beers and German wheat beers. I have a blend of saison yeast I use which is a house culture for all of my mixed culture saisons but it has a singular purpose.

So I guess, no, I don't have a house yeast culture.

[coolman26]

I generally keep wlp007, wy3864, giga021, and wlp565 all the time.  I rarely brew with anything else anymore.  I use wy1450 in my stouts, but usually just purchase it fresh.  First 4 are probably 10+ gen now.  I harvest from a starter every time, I guess that is considered a generation.   

[Northern_Brewer]

Mangrove Jack's M36 Liberty Bell is quickly becoming my house yeast.

From the culture's name and fermentation characteristics, my bet is on this culture being Anchor's ale strain in dry form.

I would pay zero attention to MJ names - as mentioned elsewhere in this thread, they seem to be selling Notty as "New World". I think they've merely worked out that the US is the biggest market for homebrew, and adopted "home team" names as a result. The thought is that M54 California Lager is probably a repack of Mauri lager 497, Liberty Bell is a bit of a mystery but may well be Mauri ale 514.

MJ don't dry any of their own yeast, they're just repacking other people's so it's not going to be something novel. And with roots in New Zealand, you'd expect the first place they'd go to for yeast would be somewhere like Mauri.

[Kel]

I don’t have a house yeast as such but like yourself I’m partial to English bitter. On slants I have Fullers, Timothy Taylor but the one I’m using quite a lot of is Sussex Yeast from supposedly Harvey’s Brewery in Sussex. Really like that one.