[chumley]

After a 3 month hiatus I have got back into brewing mode (as I was low on beer).

First up, a couple of English bitters.  Brewed 10 gallons of 1.055 wort (overshot my target of 1.048), and fermented those in two fermentors, split between WY1469 Timothy Taylor yeast and WY1968 Fuller's yeast.

After two weeks in the primary, both were done. This fortunately coincided with my annual harvest of Cascade hops from the garden. So I brewed 10 gallons of a 1.073 West Coast IPA with said Cascades, plus Centennial, Chinook and Amarillo. Wort then placed on the two 1469 and 1968 yeast cakes.

Before I give up on those yeasts, I have been contemplating a 5 gallon batch of 19th century stock ale, like those in Ron Pattinson's recipes. 25-30 lbs. of Maris Otter, a pound of hops (they all call for Goldings, but I have Willamette which I think is a reasonable substitute).  My question is, which yeast cake to use?  Or should I take measured volumes of yeast slurry out of what I have?  The 1469 already has 5 inches of krausen in the Better Bottle that it is fermenting in.

Open for suggestions.

[Northern_Brewer]

The obvious response would be - the one that you preferred for the bitter....

For me the only thing that WLP002 has going for it is its flocculation, whatever the claims made for its origins it certainly doesn't have the orange that is so utterly characteristic of the real Fuller's yeast. (same with 1968); I've not tried it but supposedly Imperial A09 Pub does give results that at least vaguely resemble Fuller's).

So I'd use 1469, or perhaps tip in some WLP002 when the 1469 is at high krausen.

[chumley]

Well.......not sure why you are so down on a yeast you have never tried.    I just tapped my 1968 keg tonight, and find it excellent....and there is a little hint of orange marmalade ester.

Today the 1469 krausen peaked and started overflowing despite 8 inches of headspace in the fermentor. 1968 is almost done and is clearing. I am now leaning towards using both strains, scooping some into a fresh fermentation bucket. Multi-strain would seem to be realistic for 19th century stock ale, anyway.

[Northern_Brewer]

For clarity, it's the Imperial I haven't tried - they've had certification issues with exporting to Europe so they weren't available here at all for a good while, and in the meantime other companies took their place so they're struggling a bit to get back into the market.

Real Fuller's yeast doesn't have a "little hint", it hits you over the head with marmalade...