Yeast poll for Irish Ale

Grains, malts, hops, yeast, water and other ingredients used to brew. Recipe reviews and suggestions.

Moderator: slothrob

Post Reply
spgriffin
Pale Ale
Pale Ale
Posts: 57
Joined: Wed Mar 18, 2009 8:49 am
Location: Chicago

Yeast poll for Irish Ale

Post by spgriffin »

I got to thinking about this recently when I used an Irish Ale yeast for an Amber Wheat. Bottomline it turned out awful, too sweet...too sweet. So I want to educate self and others on what you may rec or use for an Irish Red Ale.

Some of what came to mind:
Irish Ale
American
California
American II
German
ESB
London
British
Other?
Keg 1: Rye stout
Keg 2: Irish honey red
User avatar
slothrob
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 1831
Joined: Mon Apr 10, 2006 1:36 pm
Location: Greater Boston

Irish Ale yeast

Post by slothrob »

I use WLP011, European Ale for a lot of beers like Irish Red and British Brown.

I have also been able to achieve very good attenuation with Irish Ale yeast by using low mash temperatures, low OGs, and controlling the amount of Crystal Malt in the recipe.
BTP v2.0.* Windows XP
spgriffin
Pale Ale
Pale Ale
Posts: 57
Joined: Wed Mar 18, 2009 8:49 am
Location: Chicago

Irish Ale yeast

Post by spgriffin »

Thanks for responding.

I have used Irish Ale yeast and British Ale to date. It was recommended to try AA II next time and wonder how it would take the crystal and add a slight dryness from the small amount or RB.

I havent thought of European, but seems worth a try. Worse case is I made beer and have to drink it. What did the Euro ale end up contributing?

My recipe consists of about 8 ozs of 40, 4 ozs of 120 and 2 ozs or RB. It cmes out around 4.7%
Keg 1: Rye stout
Keg 2: Irish honey red
User avatar
slothrob
Moderator
Moderator
Posts: 1831
Joined: Mon Apr 10, 2006 1:36 pm
Location: Greater Boston

Irish Ale yeast

Post by slothrob »

Like AAII yeast, European Ale yeast tends to complement the malt profile of the beer. It has a mild flavor that gets out of the way, but with a very subtle fruitiness that I think works well for these styles where you want the malt to shine.

When I want my beers to dry out well I usually try to keep the Crystal Malt down around 0-1/4 pound.
BTP v2.0.* Windows XP
bobcat_brewer
Light Lager
Light Lager
Posts: 49
Joined: Mon Jan 18, 2010 9:15 pm

Post by bobcat_brewer »

I'm not good at remembering the yeast numbers, but White Labs has a dry English Ale yeast that might get you where you want. Just remember, crystal malts are not fermentable, overuse of them will always result in a sweet beer no matter what yeast you use.

Honestly, I've reached a point now where I have found the yeast strains that I like and I formulate recipes to work with the yeast. US-05 for American ales, S-04 for British ales. White Labs Bock yeast for my lagers. I'm on the fence between WLP-300 and WB-06 for my hefeweizens. Belgian style beers are about the only place I experiment with yeast any more.

I've found that getting a consistent, predictable fermentation allows me to brew a good beer with every new recipe formulation. I've been able to tweak the recipe to hit specific characteristics on subsequent batches this way and by the second batch of a particular beer, I've usually got a great beer.

Take good notes on your yeast results, and use the same yeast in different beer styles to learn the qualities of that yeast. It might not be that the Irish Ale yeast caused your last batch to be too sweet but your recipe.

Good luck!
Post Reply