Yeast varieties, flavour production

[wicksey]

Hi all,

I'm curious about how much variation 2 different types of ale, or lager yeasts make to the final product. Many people suggest ditching the kit yeast for something else. I'm contemplating splitting my next lager batch into 2 FV and using the supplied lager kit yeast vs the Saflager yeast. 

I'd like to start doing this more often and alter 1 variable so I can see how much the brew changes. Has anyone done this, comparing 2 yeasts, am I wasting my time, will there be much difference?

I'm also of the understanding that the kit yeast has a mixture of ale and lager, so it might not be the best comparison.  That aside, the same question still stands, what if I was to use a Saflager-23 vs a Saflager-189, how significant is the use of yeast strain in determining the final flavour? 

Thanks,. 

[Greenyinthewestofsydney]

5 hours ago, wicksey said:

Hi all,

I'm curious about how much variation 2 different types of ale, or lager yeasts make to the final product. Many people suggest ditching the kit yeast for something else. I'm contemplating splitting my next lager batch into 2 FV and using the supplied lager kit yeast vs the Saflager yeast. 

I'd like to start doing this more often and alter 1 variable so I can see how much the brew changes. Has anyone done this, comparing 2 yeasts, am I wasting my time, will there be much difference?

I'm also of the understanding that the kit yeast has a mixture of ale and lager, so it might not be the best comparison.  That aside, the same question still stands, what if I was to use a Saflager-23 vs a Saflager-189, how significant is the use of yeast strain in determining the final flavour? 

Thanks,. 

Can make a lot of difference mate. Take your example. S23 will come out estery and fruity. Makes an OK NZ pilsener if that's your thing. S189 will come out clean and crisp. Think of like a European pilsener.

[Shamus O'Sean]

10 hours ago, wicksey said:

Hi all,

I'm curious about how much variation 2 different types of ale, or lager yeasts make to the final product. Many people suggest ditching the kit yeast for something else. I'm contemplating splitting my next lager batch into 2 FV and using the supplied lager kit yeast vs the Saflager yeast. 

I'd like to start doing this more often and alter 1 variable so I can see how much the brew changes. Has anyone done this, comparing 2 yeasts, am I wasting my time, will there be much difference?

I'm also of the understanding that the kit yeast has a mixture of ale and lager, so it might not be the best comparison.  That aside, the same question still stands, what if I was to use a Saflager-23 vs a Saflager-189, how significant is the use of yeast strain in determining the final flavour? 

Thanks,. 

Hi Mate and welcome to the forum.  Here is a recent post about the types of yeast in each Coopers can.  Note that the Original Series Lager actually comes with an Ale yeast.  So it is not a lager after all.

I have seen people put down the Coopers can yeasts too.  That is disappointing and misleading because they are perfectly fine yeasts.

Some yeasts are quite different and some are very similar.  Your idea of splitting a brew is a great way to compare the differences.  I would be very interested to read about your experiments.

[Pints]

1 hour ago, Shamus O'Sean said:

have seen people put down the Coopers can yeasts too.  That is disappointing and misleading because they are perfectly fine yeasts

Agreed they work great for a K n K. 

Vigorous little fermenters

[Tone boy]

Splitting the batch is a great way to see the difference of various yeasts @wicksey  Just remember to stick to the recommended temperature range of the yeasts. 
If you do experiments and want to report back (please do) there is a yeast thread on the forum. 
Cheers and happy brewing

[wicksey]

Thanks for all the feedback everyone, this is a great forum of good people helping each other out.

I ended up splitting the batch between the Coopers kit yeast supplied with the lager, and the saflager-189.  It would be better to compare two lager yeasts, but its all I had, either way I think this combination should result in a more significant difference.  Even the aroma when I was rehydrating the yeasts were quite different. The kit yeast was more 'sweet' and the 189 was more like a bread yeast aroma. I've got the kit yeast batch fermenting at ~18 and the 189 at ~13.

I'll report back once it's ready to sample in a few months time.

Cheers.

Edited June 19, 2022 by wicksey