13 replies to this topic

[nigel]

Hi,Wondering if anyone's combined two different yeasts in one batch.I was considering doing this just to see the flavor outcome. Thoughts? Any negatives that could come from it on a technical/scientific level?Thanks,Nige

[MakeMeHoppy]

I think one big negative is that it would be very hard to replicate the yeast profile batch to batch. I suspect any change in environment would cause one yeast to dominate over the other. What are you thinking of doing?

[MolBasser]

Brewers do this all the time.Life and Limb, for instance, was made with a combo of the SNBC yeast with Dogfishhead's yeast.I say go for it.MolBasser

[MyaCullen]

I know this is a bad example, but back in the bad old days it was common to ue one each of the 5 gram packs of Nottingham and Windsor dry yeasts. Used to be a standard go to at my LHBS to get malty yet attenuated well.

[drewseslu]

I use a 50/50 blend of WL500 and 530 for (most of) my Belgians.

[nigel]

What are you thinking of doing?

I was considering mixing White Labs WLP002 with WLP028 (English Ale with Edinburgh Ale) for a super-malty/sweet and well flocculating combo that would stand up to decent amounts of ABV (maybe 10 or 12, which the 028 can definitely handle). Hoping for a strong fermentation that'll retain a lot of residual sweetness and possibly add a bit of nice fruitiness.

[chadm75]

I use a of mix US05 (american ale) and US23 (lager) for my cream ale...and ferment at 68...smooooooooooth!

[denny]

I was considering mixing White Labs WLP002 with WLP028 (English Ale with Edinburgh Ale) for a super-malty/sweet and well flocculating combo that would stand up to decent amounts of ABV (maybe 10 or 12, which the 028 can definitely handle). Hoping for a strong fermentation that'll retain a lot of residual sweetness and possibly add a bit of nice fruitiness.

The problem with mixing yeasts is that you don't know and can't control what you'll get. In your scenario, what's to keep one from dominating so that you won't get any benefits from the other?

[lowendfrequency]

I've always wanted to stagger yeast additions. Maybe start with something clean and then finish up with something funky. However, I think the problem Denny brings up will only be compounded with this method. I'd imagine the second addition would require pitching a huge amount of viable yeast to be able to overcome the already dominant initial strain. The practical application might be when a strain putters out due to high abv and a stronger one is pitched to finished the job.

[denny]

AFAIAC, the best way to use multiple strains is to split the batch, ferment each with a different yeast, then blend them back together. That's what we do with the Old Stoner BW. 5 gal. gets 1272 or 1056, 5 gal. gets 1450, blend at bottling.

[MolBasser]

The problem with mixing yeasts is that you don't know and can't control what you'll get. In your scenario, what's to keep one from dominating so that you won't get any benefits from the other?

Pitch rate. At good pitching rates the yeast are not competing to grow, they are fermenting.If you are reasonable about how you mix the two you should get similar results batch to batch.MolBasser

[earthtone]

AFAIAC, the best way to use multiple strains is to split the batch, ferment each with a different yeast, then blend them back together. That's what we do with the Old Stoner BW. 5 gal. gets 1272 or 1056, 5 gal. gets 1450, blend at bottling.

This is an idea I have been mulling over... I have a 15 gallon keg I'd love to brew a couple carboys full of complimentary brew with different yeasts and blend into a big keg. Seems like a really great way to do the yeast blending and probably will give a more distinct "blending" profile than just tossing two yeasts in and seeing what flavours come out. $0.02

[denny]

Pitch rate. At good pitching rates the yeast are not competing to grow, they are fermenting.If you are reasonable about how you mix the two you should get similar results batch to batch.MolBasser

Thanks....that's a good point. And probably something you can control in the commercial world more easily than we can control it in homebrewland.

[Jimmy James]

The thing with critters like yeast is that you could get a different result from pitching two yeast strains into the same wort, than you would from blending two beers after fermentation. The former would allow for interplay between the strains which could be noticeable. It could be that one strain cleans up a byproduct of fermentation by the other strain making the beer cleaner than it otherwise would be. Or the lower attenuating strain could start to floc out and pull down the normally higher attenuating strain with it, leaving the beer sweeter than normal. Who knows until you try. FWIW White Labs sells various blends in pitchable vials and I've used some of those with interesting results. I doubt one yeast would dominate too much provided you were near the optimal fermentation temperature for both, but if you were worried you could work up separate starters of each and then pitch simultaneously.