Lager Yeasts, Much Difference?

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morry

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Hi,

I have wyeast 2007 and it seems to do the job fine, but I was wondering if there is much difference in lager yeasts. I love the maltier kind of lagers so I was thinking about using the bavarian or munich lager yeast next time. But since I play around with my own yeast, I have enough for about 10 brews or so. So if there is little difference, I will continue to use 2007, if not, I might have to go culture up another one.

Cheers.
 
Hi Morry

I don't make a lot of lagers but I recently made a split batch so can give results from a side by side comparison. The beer was a German Pilsner, 100% Weyermann pils malt (OG 1.052, a bit high for style) with 100% Tettnang Tettnanger (38 IBUs) added at 60, 15 and flame out.

This was split and half pitched with Danish (2042) and the other half (2308). Both were fermented at approx 10C for two weeks then racked to kegs.

The Danish has a more assertive hop bitterness which works well for the German pilsner style. It is very crisp and clean tasting. The Munich has more subtle bitterness, it's mellower. It's also very clean tasting. Overall the Munich is a much smoother beer, the flavours are nicely balanced and there it's more malt orientated. However I find myself drinking more of the Danish, as it has a lovely crispness.

Although there are differences in these beers, they're subtle. Maybe a yeast like Bohemian (2124) would show a greater difference (will have to do a 3 way test).

Cheers
MAH

PS: the Danish took longer to drop bright.
 
Thanks for the reply MAH.
I really like my helles lagers, so from your notes, the Munich would probably be preferable. Which is what I thought would be the case, but its good to get someone to confirm it for me.
 
I've tasted the ESB Pils kit with two different yeasts now, WLP800 Pils yeast, and the san fran lager yeast. Two totally different beers. THe 800 produces a nice malty flavour profile, but takes at least 4 weeks for the diacetyl to clear.
 
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