[firedog23]

How many people have brewed and then when it came to fermenting have broken down the brew into smaller batches and used different yeast strains for fermentation?  I am looking to do that and was wondering what different types of beer you ended up with from the original wort.

[tygo]

I've done it a couple of times.  It's a good way to learn about the differences between yeasts.  I'm still in the process of nailing down the yeast that I want as my house strain for lagers but I've definitely pared down the field by doing split batches.

I think I'll probably do the same for my ESB once I get the grain bill where I want it.  

[jeffy]

I often brew 10 gallons of wort and split the fermentations into two with different yeasts.  I have an IPA fermenting right now with Ardennes yeast in half and US-05 in half.  It's fun to get two different beers from the same batch.

[tschmidlin]

I do the same as Jeff - different yeasts for a split 5-gallon batch.  As you'd expect, the differences vary based on the yeasts used.

[firedog23]

What kind of differences have found taste wise?  Although it may be a pale for example are the tastes subtle or do some of them find their ways to different ends of the spectrum?

[jeffy]

An American IPA fermented with a Belgian yeast is a different beer, a Belgian IPA.  The yeast adds phenolic spiciness to the flavor, where the US-05 ferments very clean.
Lots of folks split batches and use more similar ale yeasts, to compare between an English yeast and a California yeast to see which one works best for future reference.
Home brew is all about experimenting and yeast is one of the biggest flavor contributors.

[richardt]

Split batching is a great way of discovering which yeast you might like best for a particular style as well as creating more variety.
My brew days are few and far between so split batching allows me to essentially get two different beers out of one session.
Once, I have even quadruple-split a batch, e.g., 10 gallons-->5 gallons w/ one yeast and 5 gallons w/ another yeast-->draw off 2.5 gallons from each and add spices/fruit in secondary.  Results in 2.5 gallons each of 4 different beers.

[corkybstewart]

What kind of differences have found taste wise?  Although it may be a pale for example are the tastes subtle or do some of them find their ways to different ends of the spectrum?

Some yeasts will give you subtle differences, some not so subtle.  I did a saison this summer, half with wyeast saison yeast, half with brett and the saison yeast.  These are two completely different beers.  A couple of years ago I did a 15 gallon batch of mild with Safale-04, WLP 004 and Nottingham.  There were differences but they were much more subtle than in the saison example.

[wingnut]

For the most part, I break yeast into the following mjor categories:

Lager
Belgian Ale
English Ale
American Ale
Weisen Ale

From  there each one may have 5 to 50 yeast strains that add subtle chracter differences. 

My advice would be to brew a recipe with a base malt bill (keep it simple, and possibly low in roast and hops to let the yeast shine through) and then toss in a yeast from the major types and see what you get. 

Once you decide on a beer style you like, brew it a few times with many different sub yeast strains. (wlp001, wyeast 1056, WLP 090, denny's favorite (wyeast), US-05, California V, cream ale blend, american ale blend....and find the strain that does what you want.  (these are just a few of the american ale strains)

THen take that strain and put it into different enviornments... 65, 70, 75 F  extra O2, no O2, Air only, O2 only, ferment in Carboy, ferment in buckets...

And then write a book called YEAST II... :-) 

What I have been doing is taking 5 gallons and fermenting in 5 1 gallon jugs.  I have found I love Mexican Lager Yeast from Whitelabs for lagers.  It is clean, low sulfer, quick to ferment, flocks well,and both the malt and hops are "bright and distinctive" compared to WLP830 and WLP 833.

Essentially, there are a ton of yeasts to try, and a lot of different ways to use them.  Just make sure your experiments change a single variable in each one, and you will learn a lot.  Reading is no substitute for experiance)

[denny]

Good on ya, wingnut!

[wingnut]

Good on ya, wingnut!
[/quote

If you like that... I have also converted a 2 gallon igloo for use as a mash tun and make 1 gallon batches to test malt and hops too... again just change one thing and compare.. and don't be afraid to try the same experiment over to make sure the results are repeatable!