Help with a yeast experiment recipe

[humpadilo]

Hey guys! I am wanting to do an experiment. I was listening to the last podcast with White Labs and it made me want to try out more types of yeast. I usually rely on the San Diego Super Yeast for the majority of my brewing. So I was thinking of a recipe and I have a bunch of 2-row, some Chinook, and maybe a package of Magnum on hand. I was thinking about making 6 gallons of wort and dividing them into one gallon fermenters. I am not sure which yeast strains I want to use, but I am thinking I am going to use 001, San Diego super yeast, and 4 others. I primarily want to use the grain and hops I have on hand, but I am gonna have to go to the LHBS to get the yeast, so I can easily pick up a few other ingredients. Here is my plan on the recipe, What do you guys think? Should I change it?

12 lbs 2-row
.5 oz. Magnum 60 min
.5 oz. magnum 15 min
1 oz. Chinook 0 min

Then 6 different yeast strains.

Also, I am planning on getting 6 tubes of White Labs yeast and adding them with out a starter. I can ferment two different temps: a pretty constant 70F in my closet and a temp controlled minifreezer.

[dmtaylor]

Excellent idea -- you will learn a lot from doing this.

Why not throw some English, Belgian, and German yeasts into the mix? WLP002 or 007, WLP400 or 530, and WLP029 are all some of my favorite yeasts and should all give really interesting results. You might find something you like, to give you a special sort of "house" flavor perhaps.

All of these will probably work best closer to 65 F, but skipping temperature control isn't a deal breaker either.

[humpadilo]

So, based of what my LHBS has on hand I think my line up is going to consist of the following yeast:

WLP090- San Diego Super Yest, this will be my base because I am pretty used to it.
WLP 041- Pacific Ale
WLP 080- Cream Ale
WLP 566- Saison II
WLP 644- Brettanomyces Bruxellensis Trois
WLP 655- Belgian Sour Mix

I am not familiar with souring yeasts, so this is really my first experience with them. Am I correct in assuming that I can use the 644 and 655 alone, or are they strictly for second fermentation?

[Ozwald]

I've never used those specific strains, but I don't see why you couldn't use them in primary.

[Charlie]

I would add WLP-007 to the list. Lots of breweries use it instead of WLP-001, and the contrast might be interesting. Two others to try, if you can get them, are Wyeast Green Belt (an Austin Homebrew special release, and available there) and WLP-862 Cry Havoc. Greenbelt accentuates citrus flavors (and perhaps others), and Cry Havoc is Charlie Papazian's lager turned ale yeast. It is rumored to have started out as a Budweiser lager strain.

I don't recommend pitching the entire tube/pack of yeast into the 1 gal fermentor. Overpitching is not a common thing, but a full 5 gal pack of yeast into 1 gal might just do it. Maybe prepare 1L starters for each of the yeast, pitch 1/4 of the pack into the fermentor, and the rest in its respective starter culture. Refrigerate the starters when they're finished and store for future experiments.

[brewinhard]

So, based of what my LHBS has on hand I think my line up is going to consist of the following yeast:

WLP090- San Diego Super Yest, this will be my base because I am pretty used to it.
WLP 041- Pacific Ale
WLP 080- Cream Ale
WLP 566- Saison II
WLP 644- Brettanomyces Bruxellensis Trois
WLP 655- Belgian Sour Mix

I am not familiar with souring yeasts, so this is really my first experience with them. Am I correct in assuming that I can use the 644 and 655 alone, or are they strictly for second fermentation?

Both can most definitely be used in primary with fantastic results. IIRC, the trois has a small pitch in it since it is a brett. For one gallon, I would not hesitate pitching the vial (even though it may seem small) for a gallon providing your sanitation is up to par. But you may want to consider making a small 500mL starter that you can cold crash and decant prior to pitching to reduce additional wort filling your gallon jugs (if that is what you are fermenting in).
The last lambic I made used the Sour mix (no starter for 5 gallons) and came out great. Give it minimum 12-16 mos unless you are looking to sample it earlier for whatever reason. Cool experiment and keep us posted on what you decide!

[Kbar]

Our club did this kind of experiment last year. This year was base malts.

We used a local brewery with a 3 barrel system to produce 18, 5 gallon batches of the same beer. The club members then pitched a yeast of their choice with no repeats. Was a great experiment. Took two days to get to all the beers and judge/take-notes.

Recipe below;

Amt Name Type # %/IBU
9 lbs 0.5 oz Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 1 84.0 %
12.0 oz Vienna Malt (3.5 SRM) Grain 2 7.0 %
5.2 oz Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 3 3.0 %
5.2 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM) Grain 4 3.0 %
5.2 oz White Wheat Malt (2.4 SRM) Grain 5 3.0 %
0.50 oz Magnum [14.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 6 27.1 IBUs
1.00 oz Crystal [3.50 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 7 6.7 IBUs
1.00 oz Crystal [3.50 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 8 2.7 IBUs

[humpadilo]

I finished my brew experiment today. I ended up going with:
California Ale V 051
English Ale 002
Belgian Saison II 566
San Francisco Lager 810
Cream Ale 080
San Diego Super Yeast 090

The 090 and 002 are from my reused test I use for my IPA and Stout. I decided to not use the souring yeast because I didn't want a long term beer. I might do this again and use all souring yeast to see which I like best.