Info On Yeasts And Hops

[dags333]

g,day all. just been doing some reading on the forum and see that a lot of people piss of the normal yeast you get with the kit and pinch the better yeast .just want to know if anybody can give me a link to a website which tells you what yeast goes with what beer . like salbrew wb-06 for wheat beer. only know this one because i made a German erdinger wheat beer (my fav ) and its coming along well. also if there is a site with what hops go with what beer . thanks guys

ps. also have a yeast from a coppers wheat beer in the fridge just want to know if i can pinch this in any beer or does it have to be a wheat beer . just learning

 

[manticle]

Just check out product websites.

Dried yeast - fermentis and danstar
Liquid yeast - wyeast, proculture and Whitelabs.

There are probably others I'm not thinking of right now but you should find good descriptions at those.

Here's a link for hop characteristics: http://www.franklinbrew.org/brewinfo/hopschar.html

There are some other good ones around.

Nutshell summary:

English hops like fuggles, goldings, northern brewer are earthy, minty types and are good for english styles like IPA, amber, brown, porter, stout

German hops, including noble hops like hallertauer and variations, tettnanger, spalt, saaz etc are good for many european styles including pilsners, pilseners, alts, kolsch, lagers and some Belgian styles. Generally described as floral, spicy and sometimes grassy, low alpha acid and subtle characteristics.

American Hops like amarillo, cascade, centennial etc are often quite citrussy and quite pronounced in terms of flavour. Generally the aa is higher than many other hops. Suitable for american ales whether brown, amber or pale.

Aussie hops include galaxy, pride of ringwood and super pride. Suitable for aussie lagers and ales.

Obviously you can mix and match to your heart's content. New Zealand also has a thriving hops growing industry. never used any of those myself but they have a good reputation.

 

[bum]

Craftbrewer's (sponsor above) product description are usually pretty informative too. Good one stop shop for that sort of info - even if it isn't your one stop shop for shopping.

 

[Scruffy]

Here's a useful link (Click me!)

Coopers yeast grown from the dregs of your stubbie (or tallie) is quite popular - I did my first Aussie ever brew with a starter* made from my first Pale Ale... enough romance.

Wheat beer? You could spend $10 or $15 on a 3942 or a WLP380 - but it might be a bit over the top for a kit...

Try some of the cheaper packs S-05/WB-06 or S-33 and work your way through the rest!!

*pop the yeast into a container with some fresh wort (100g Light Malt Extract in 1 Litre of water), let the yeast eat the wort - like a mini ferment, and it multiplies, when you've 'got enough' (read this chapter...), pitch the yeast into your brew... generally.

 

[datou]

I don't think that the yeast you get with the kits is necessarily bad, it is just that it is usually transported and stored in the heat (along with the rest of the kit). This reduces the amount of viable yeast in the pack. This plus the fact that the kits usually only come with 7-8g of yeast means that you are putting a bit of stress on the yeast when you pitch (not pinch ) it. As such, you are generally better of getting the dry yeast from your LHBS that has hopefully been stored in the fridge.

I've only just started moving on to the liquid yeasts lately so can't give you much help on that front.