National Homebrew Club Ireland

Just wondering have people noticed the lees of different yeast varieties tasting different? I had a bottle of White Hag IPA the other day and the first sip I had before emptying the bottle was great but when I poured the lees in it wasn't particularly nice anymore. The overriding thought I had in my head was that it had a homebrew twang to it but also, my own homebrews don't taste bad when I pour the yeast into the glass. Not sure what yeast White Hag use but I generally use notty or WLP007 and happily dump the entire contents into the glass. My cousin had the same thoughts and he's not a brewer at all (but knows good beer from bad).

Obviously certain beers like hefeweizen are supposed to be drunk with the yeast swirled through the drink so it got me thinking do certain yeasts lend themselves better to bottle conditioning if you're not gonna pour carefully?

I always avoid the yeast, and I don't want it throwing off the flavours of the beer. I find the English yeasts in particular too bready if I accidentally pour some into my beer. But they generally compact well in the bottle anyway.

The Belgian yeasts are the only exception, a little bit of the yeast can be nice, particularly in the lighters styles, and I'm not as fastidious about not stirring up the yeast.

There are some dry yeasts I can't stand the taste of. I think I can smell them and I identify them but it could be nonsense...

Some of the big boys use dry yeast and others want to so I hope it's not just my snobbery of dry yeast coming out.

Quote from: Rossa on January 23, 2015, 12:40:20 PM
Some of the big boys use dry yeast and others want to so I hope it's not just my snobbery of dry yeast coming out.

They certainly do.. My understanding is that O'Haras, Metalman and Galway Bay all use Nottingham. For their "regular" ales, that is..

Galway Hooker (and probably lots of others here) use US-05. I think Blacks use it too.

Cheers lads. I pretty much never use US-05 so I'm not sure what it normally tastes like in my own brews. I'll have to try and get one for comparison.

Quote from: Bubbles on January 23, 2015, 12:49:25 PM

Quote from: Rossa on January 23, 2015, 12:40:20 PM
Some of the big boys use dry yeast and others want to so I hope it's not just my snobbery of dry yeast coming out.

They certainly do.. My understanding is that O'Haras, Metalman and Galway Bay all use Nottingham. For their "regular" ales, that is..

Galway Hooker (and probably lots of others here) use US-05. I think Blacks use it too.

I mean vitamin H!

Quote from: irish_goat on January 23, 2015, 01:04:10 PM
Cheers lads. I pretty much never use US-05 so I'm not sure what it normally tastes like in my own brews. I'll have to try and get one for comparison.

That's one I just don't like anymore. I used to use it all the time.

Quote from: Rossa on January 23, 2015, 04:29:06 PM

Quote from: irish_goat on January 23, 2015, 01:04:10 PM
Cheers lads. I pretty much never use US-05 so I'm not sure what it normally tastes like in my own brews. I'll have to try and get one for comparison.

That's one I just don't like anymore. I used to use it all the time.

Why did you give up on it?

Quote from: Bubbles on January 23, 2015, 04:47:42 PM

Quote from: Rossa on January 23, 2015, 04:29:06 PM

Quote from: irish_goat on January 23, 2015, 01:04:10 PM
Cheers lads. I pretty much never use US-05 so I'm not sure what it normally tastes like in my own brews. I'll have to try and get one for comparison.

That's one I just don't like anymore. I used to use it all the time.

Why did you give up on it?

Aaah sure he just following the herd :P ;D. No really there seems to be alot of people commenting on the web about US-05 as not being what it was. :-\

Going to try some of it soon instead of 001 in a blue moon clone. I'm thinking any weird flavour will be hidden under the Orange flavours :)

Quote from: DEMPSEY on January 23, 2015, 05:13:32 PM

Quote from: Bubbles on January 23, 2015, 04:47:42 PM

Quote from: Rossa on January 23, 2015, 04:29:06 PM

Quote from: irish_goat on January 23, 2015, 01:04:10 PM
Cheers lads. I pretty much never use US-05 so I'm not sure what it normally tastes like in my own brews. I'll have to try and get one for comparison.

That's one I just don't like anymore. I used to use it all the time.

Why did you give up on it?

Aaah sure he just following the herd :P ;D. No really there seems to be alot of people commenting on the web about US-05 as not being what it was. :-\

Yeah. I haven't used it in a couple of years.

Quote from: Bubbles on January 23, 2015, 12:49:25 PM

Quote from: Rossa on January 23, 2015, 12:40:20 PM
Some of the big boys use dry yeast and others want to so I hope it's not just my snobbery of dry yeast coming out.

They certainly do.. My understanding is that O'Haras, Metalman and Galway Bay all use Nottingham. For their "regular" ales, that is..

Galway Hooker (and probably lots of others here) use US-05. I think Blacks use it too.

Bru use Notty for their main beers too. And I'm told they ferment quite hot with it.

Quote from: DEMPSEY on January 23, 2015, 05:13:32 PM

Quote from: Bubbles on January 23, 2015, 04:47:42 PM

Quote from: Rossa on January 23, 2015, 04:29:06 PM

Quote from: irish_goat on January 23, 2015, 01:04:10 PM
Cheers lads. I pretty much never use US-05 so I'm not sure what it normally tastes like in my own brews. I'll have to try and get one for comparison.

That's one I just don't like anymore. I used to use it all the time.

Why did you give up on it?

Aaah sure he just following the herd :P ;D. No really there seems to be alot of people commenting on the web about US-05 as not being what it was. :-\

I still love the yeast, and use it in about 75% of the beers I brew, but I have noticed that it's more flocculant than it used to be. When I first started using it, it was a bitch to use. Generally involved giving the fermenter a shake to encourage the yeast to drop.

I love how attenuative it is, especially as I'm lazy about my mash temps... ️

Quote from: Qs on January 23, 2015, 06:24:03 PM

Quote from: Bubbles on January 23, 2015, 12:49:25 PM

Quote from: Rossa on January 23, 2015, 12:40:20 PM
Some of the big boys use dry yeast and others want to so I hope it's not just my snobbery of dry yeast coming out.

They certainly do.. My understanding is that O'Haras, Metalman and Galway Bay all use Nottingham. For their "regular" ales, that is..

Galway Hooker (and probably lots of others here) use US-05. I think Blacks use it too.

Bru use Notty for their main beers too. And I'm told they ferment quite hot with it.

Good info. Though Notty can be the worst strain to push to its limit as far as temperature goes. Fermented warm it really tastes rubbish..

I was talking to one of the brewers at a meet the brewer thing and he said they ferment at 25C, I said that was nuts and if fermented notty at that it'd be a mess, but their beer is pretty clean. He reckoned its to do with their open top FVs, I knew nothing about that so I just nodded and smiled then.

Weight is an issue for fermentation. A large body of wort is more dense and so the pressure on the yeast is different than for us brewing a 5 gallon batch. Guinness ferment at higher than normal because the vertical vessel put so much pressure on the yeast. Some Belgium brewers used horizontal fermenter's rather than vertical ones to help counteract this ;).

Quote from: Qs on January 23, 2015, 06:24:03 PM

Quote from: Bubbles on January 23, 2015, 12:49:25 PM

Quote from: Rossa on January 23, 2015, 12:40:20 PM
Some of the big boys use dry yeast and others want to so I hope it's not just my snobbery of dry yeast coming out.

They certainly do.. My understanding is that O'Haras, Metalman and Galway Bay all use Nottingham. For their "regular" ales, that is..

Galway Hooker (and probably lots of others here) use US-05. I think Blacks use it too.

Bru use Notty for their main beers too. And I'm told they ferment quite hot with it.

Yep. Around 26c.

Quote from: irish_goat on January 23, 2015, 11:20:18 AM
Just wondering have people noticed the lees of different yeast varieties tasting different? I had a bottle of White Hag IPA the other day and the first sip I had before emptying the bottle was great but when I poured the lees in it wasn't particularly nice anymore. The overriding thought I had in my head was that it had a homebrew twang to it but also, my own homebrews don't taste bad when I pour the yeast into the glass. Not sure what yeast White Hag use but I generally use notty or WLP007 and happily dump the entire contents into the glass. My cousin had the same thoughts and he's not a brewer at all (but knows good beer from bad).

Obviously certain beers like hefeweizen are supposed to be drunk with the yeast swirled through the drink so it got me thinking do certain yeasts lend themselves better to bottle conditioning if you're not gonna pour carefully?

About a week an and half ago I got a bottle of white hag that had such a bad taste of autolysed yeast that it was undrinkable! Had another bottle from a different source a week later and it was back to bring my favourite Irish IPA.. Yes I'd generally avoid the sediment.

I don't drink the sediment either :)

Notty got the boot from GBB a few months ago. US05 for the hoppy beers & US04 on the malty ones at present. The speciality beers get the Wyeast treatment.

Quote from: ferg on January 25, 2015, 10:48:53 AM
About a week an and half ago I got a bottle of white hag that had such a bad taste of autolysed yeast that it was undrinkable! Had another bottle from a different source a week later and it was back to bring my favourite Irish IPA.. Yes I'd generally avoid the sediment.

Not sure I actually know what autolysed yeast tastes like so maybe that was the problem and not the yeast variety itself. 

Quote from: irish_goat on January 28, 2015, 04:17:18 PM
Not sure I actually know what autolysed yeast tastes like so maybe that was the problem and not the yeast variety itself.

Marmite ? ?

Quote from: Will_D on January 28, 2015, 09:44:57 PM

Quote from: irish_goat on January 28, 2015, 04:17:18 PM
Not sure I actually know what autolysed yeast tastes like so maybe that was the problem and not the yeast variety itself.

Marmite ? ?

Haven't actually tasted that stuff in years but I have been meaning to give it a go again.

Quote from: ferg on January 25, 2015, 10:48:53 AM

Quote from: irish_goat on January 23, 2015, 11:20:18 AM
Just wondering have people noticed the lees of different yeast varieties tasting different? I had a bottle of White Hag IPA the other day and the first sip I had before emptying the bottle was great but when I poured the lees in it wasn't particularly nice anymore. The overriding thought I had in my head was that it had a homebrew twang to it but also, my own homebrews don't taste bad when I pour the yeast into the glass. Not sure what yeast White Hag use but I generally use notty or WLP007 and happily dump the entire contents into the glass. My cousin had the same thoughts and he's not a brewer at all (but knows good beer from bad).

Obviously certain beers like hefeweizen are supposed to be drunk with the yeast swirled through the drink so it got me thinking do certain yeasts lend themselves better to bottle conditioning if you're not gonna pour carefully?

About a week an and half ago I got a bottle of white hag that had such a bad taste of autolysed yeast that it was undrinkable! Had another bottle from a different source a week later and it was back to bring my favourite Irish IPA.. Yes I'd generally avoid the sediment.

I must have got a bottle from the same batch at the weekend... tasted pretty shit.. yeasty, slightly astringent, slightly marmitey. Didn't finish it.

Once again we're back to the lack of quality consistency coming from some of the Irish craft breweries.

Quote from: Hop Bomb on January 28, 2015, 03:58:35 PMUS04 on the malty ones at present.

Surprised to hear that.. I know a lot of home brewers (myself included) who wouldn't have a good word to say about the strain.

Then again, a lot of us wouldn't have access to the fermentation temperature control and ability to do controlled crash cooling that GBB has.

I said that exact thing when we made the switch but Stormy Port, Buried etc all tasting great.

yeah, might be a case of knowing how to get the best out of it. I never could, and moved to WhiteLabs for my English ale yeasts.

I think part of the problem is that the yeast itself tastes like ass. So you have to use long and/or cold conditioning to get it to totally drop out.

I'm in the Dark Horse later this evening, and a pint of Stormy Port is first on my list..  ;)

Ahh Stormy port. Over the last few years it's really involved into a very tasty drink. Was pretty bland when it first started...

The recipe got a make a year ago. RE: s04 -  We got some 4000L conditioning tanks around the same time we switched yeast & as a result stormy, bay ale & buried at sea all get an extra week conditioning so that probably helps things a lot.

Quote from: ferg on January 25, 2015, 10:48:53 AM

Quote from: irish_goat on January 23, 2015, 11:20:18 AM
Just wondering have people noticed the lees of different yeast varieties tasting different? I had a bottle of White Hag IPA the other day and the first sip I had before emptying the bottle was great but when I poured the lees in it wasn't particularly nice anymore. The overriding thought I had in my head was that it had a homebrew twang to it but also, my own homebrews don't taste bad when I pour the yeast into the glass. Not sure what yeast White Hag use but I generally use notty or WLP007 and happily dump the entire contents into the glass. My cousin had the same thoughts and he's not a brewer at all (but knows good beer from bad).

Obviously certain beers like hefeweizen are supposed to be drunk with the yeast swirled through the drink so it got me thinking do certain yeasts lend themselves better to bottle conditioning if you're not gonna pour carefully?

About a week an and half ago I got a bottle of white hag that had such a bad taste of autolysed yeast that it was undrinkable! Had another bottle from a different source a week later and it was back to bring my favourite Irish IPA.. Yes I'd generally avoid the sediment.

Funny to come across this post by accident - I just drank a bottle of White Hag IPA this evening for the first time and I actually couldn't finish it. It tasted exactly like a terrible IPA kit that I brewed very early on in my career where I had placed it on top of a radiator nightly while fermenting as the temperature had gotten too low during the day. I couldn't finish that batch either...