How important is the specific strain of yeast?

Lars

I've been looking at beertools.com for recipes(still deliberating over my first extract recipe). Thing is, I'm finding recipes that I like the look of but the yeasts dont seem to be too easy to get from the usual online Irish suppliers.
For example: WYeast 1056 American Ale
or
White Labs WLP029
Is that a common problem using 'American' recipes? What do people normally do? I never imagined there would be so many different yeast strains.
Is there some way of figuring out appropriate substitutions or do you simply email the online suppliers and request that they order it?
Will changing the yeast from the original recipe completely change the end result?

Thanks

L

mayto

Ye there really is a lot of different yeast strains out there, which can be a bit daunting at the start . If you are brewing an american type pale ale fairly neutral dried yeasts like SafaleUS-05 or Danstar Nottingham would do just fine. For an english type ale you might want a slighty fruity angle and Safale S04 or Danstar Windsor would suit that fine . Of course there are many other dried yeast but these should brew most ales for you. There are many liquid yeast strains available but just by their title and description you will know what type of beer they are meant for.

Lars

I see the white labs stuff is quite expensive. Does this mean its 'better' and will always give better results? Are there any yeast that I should avoid other than the obvious(lager and wine yeasts!)?

Blisterman

Expensive doesn't necessarily mean better. The advantage of Wyeast and White Labs yeasts is that you can get a very specific type of yeast if that's what you need. A lot of the flavour of a Weissbier for example comes from the yeast.

Dry yeasts however, are cheaper and tend to fement better, so for a beer type such as an American ale, where most of the flavour comes from the choice of Hops, I'd go with US05 as Mayto mentioned, which is a really good yeast. In fact the best beer I ever made (an American Pale Ale) used that.

mayto

The liquid yeasts are a bit dearer alright, whether they are better is debatable . You can get a lot more specific type of yeasts with the liquid types, like budvar type yeast and so on. I use both types but like using wyeast weihenstephan if I am making a wheat beer.

guildofevil

Liquid yeast is better in that you have a wider selection of strains to choose from. The down side is that it is more expensive and is more troublesome to use, as you need to make a starter a couple of days in advance of brewing your beer in order to get the cell count up.

I use liquid yeast where dry yeast doesn't give the results I want. If I want to make a Weißbier or a Belgian Trappist beer I will use a liquid yeast, as I have never found a dry yeast I am happy with for this style of beer. If I am making an IPA or blonde ale I will use SafAle-us05 or Danstar Nottingham as either of theses yeasts will produce the beer I am looking for without the added expense and hassle of a liquid yeast.

If you are looking at making your first extract brew I would advise you to use a dry yeast. You will be learning a new process anyway, you don't need to be worrying about liquid yeast starters too.

Lars

guildofevil wrote: »

The down side is that it is more expensive and is more troublesome to use, as you need to make a starter a couple of days in advance of brewing your beer in order to get the cell count up.

Thanks. Just put me off the use of liquid yeast for the moment. Will go with dried....