Yeast Of The Week 12/7/10: Wyeast 1056

[peas_and_corn]

Wyeast 1056. From their website:

YEAST STRAIN: 1056 | American Ale™

Back to Yeast Strain List

Very clean, crisp flavor characteristics. Low fruitiness and mild ester production. Slightly citrus like with cool (60-66F, 15-19C) fermentation temperatures. Versatile yeast, which produces many beer styles allowing malt and hop character to dominate the beer profile. Flocculation improves with dark malts in grain bill. Normally requires filtration for bright beers. DE or pad filtration recommended.

Origin:
Flocculation: Medium-Low
Attenuation: 73-77%
Temperature Range: 60-72F, 15-22C
Alcohol Tolerance: 10% ABV

Styles:
American Amber Ale
American Barleywine
American Brown Ale
American IPA
American Pale Ale
American Stout
Braggot
Brown Porter
Christmas/Winter Specialty Spiced Beer
Cream Ale
Dry Stout
Fruit Beer
Imperial IPA
Irish Red Ale
Other Smoked Beer
Russian Imperial Stout
Spice, Herb, or Vegetable Beer
Strong Scotch Ale
Wood-Aged Beer

So is this a regular yeast in your brewery? What beers do you use it in most? Thoughts incomparing it to US-05?

Discuss!

 

[Gout]

i mostly brew ales and as such this is my most common yeast. I have never brewed a bad beer with it, and i like to think of it as a consistent performer.

I use it most in USA ales, but also some clean pale ales for the masses its a good yeast in my mind

 

[raven19]

This yeast is always in at least one of my kegged beers.

I have used 1056 in pseudo lagers (with rice and polenta), ales, porters, and currently have a RIS fermenting away with it also.

A good allround base yeast if you are not looking for much yeast flavour in the beer.

Never had an issue with it taking off in a ferment, its pretty hardy as a yeast and great for top cropping also.

 

[bum]

What about as a direct comparison to US05? I've used that many times but haven't tried 1056 as it is usually said they are the same thing and the reason I went to liquid yeasts is to add something different to my beers. Is there enough of a difference for me to give 1056 a crack to see which I prefer (when I could be using something like 1272 instead)?

 

[jimi]

While I find 1056 a bit boring and don't use it anymore, I like having the US05 (dried version of yeast) in the fridge as a back up incase the yeast I'd rather use doesn't fire. I figure it can cover for 'almost' any other yeast if they aren't firing. I think that it's lack of character is what makes it so versatile, which is both it's strength and weakness.

 

[peas_and_corn]

I've used it in American wheat beers before and it's been quite successful.

 

[rude]

I switched to liquid yeast years ago in my k&k days never looked back.

Have been brewing a few apa's of late using 1272 but never tried 1056

The last one I thought I'de give the us05 a go suppose to be the same. Ready to taste in a couple of weeks which will be 4 weeks in the bottle

I find the liquid yeast ready to drink quite early but havent had any experince with the us05, is it ok after 2 weeks or does it take a little longer?

Interested in seeing the comparisons from people here on the 2 yeasts , Do they both floculate the same?

I hope my beer is as clear with the us05 as the 1272 very impressed with it.

 

[jbirbeck]

I've used both the US-05 and teh wy 1056 and didn't notice any difference. neither of them have any flavour

Both are incredibly versatile and great if you want to focus on the malt or hops but favour neither. I have US-05 as a back up yeast in the fridge at the mo and some older slants of 1056 but they are essentially bottom of the list for yeast choice for me.

 

[MeLoveBeer]

1056 is a great dependable neutral backup yeast and easier to keep in reserve than the US-05 (I've started splitting 1056 into test tubes so I have multiple backups on hand).

Never had a 1056 fail and always get low flocculation (you can almost pour and drink 100% of the beer in bottles with very little impact to the flavour or clarity of the beer)

 

[vykuza]

I switched to liquid yeast years ago in my k&k days never looked back.

Have been brewing a few apa's of late using 1272 but never tried 1056

The last one I thought I'de give the us05 a go suppose to be the same. Ready to taste in a couple of weeks which will be 4 weeks in the bottle

I find the liquid yeast ready to drink quite early but havent had any experince with the us05, is it ok after 2 weeks or does it take a little longer?

Interested in seeing the comparisons from people here on the 2 yeasts , Do they both floculate the same?

I hope my beer is as clear with the us05 as the 1272 very impressed with it.

I've recently been converted from 1056 to 1272. I find 1272 fermented low has a really nice clean citrussy flavour. It finishes in about the same time, but flocculates so much better than 1056.

That said, I've still got some US-05 in the fridge for just in case, and for use as a purely neutral US ale yeast.

 

[MeLoveBeer]

I've recently been converted from 1056 to 1272. I find 1272 fermented low has a really nice clean citrussy flavour. It finishes in about the same time, but flocculates so much better than 1056.

Might have to give the 1272 a crack Nick; sounds good.

 

[Pennywise]

This would have to be the best yeast IMO, not because it's got anything special or particular about it flavour wise, because there isn't much. But because you really can't go wrong with it in any style. The only thing I would say that I'm not a fan of is that (well for me anyway) sedementation is easily disturbed and yeast takes quite a while to floc out, this is where 1272 comes in front, 1272 is also quite fruity, even at low temps.

 

[argon]

This would have to be the best yeast IMO, not because it's got anything special or particular about it flavour wise, because there isn't much. But because you really can't go wrong with it in any style. The only thing I would say that I'm not a fan of is that (well for me anyway) sedementation is easily disturbed and yeast takes quite a while to floc out, this is where 1272 comes in front, 1272 is also quite fruity, even at low temps.

1056 has always been a staple in my fridge... has never failed and always flocs out nicely... solid performer.... starts quickly on the back of a solid starter. Done Porters, APAs and Ambers all with clean profiles.

Reading the above reminds me I did a NS Summer Ale a while back split 3 ways with 1272, 1007 and 1214. Loooved the 1272 variety... fruity citrusy was exactly what I got compared to the other 2. Not a comparison to 1056, but worth a run again... thanks for the reminder :icon_cheers:

 

[silvana]

What temps are people frementing at?

What differences are there between say a 16c or 20c fermentation.

Ive just moved to this yeast from US05, spilt a batch ot Tastys Jannets Brown one US05 the other 1056, interested to see if there is much of a difference.

So many styles can use this yeast it will definetely be a staple ... or will 1272 now...

 

[Pennywise]

I ferment mostly at 17 with 1056 when doing pale beers, up to 20 in darker worts.

 

[Dazza_devil]

So many styles can use this yeast it will definetely be a staple ... or will 1272 now...

I've brewed a few APA's now, only one with 1272 and the rest with US05. Also brewed an AIPA with 1272 but I can't comment on that as it's only 1 week in the bottle. I really like the APA that I brewed with 1272 but wouldn't really disregard US05 because of this, as good as it was. They are both very different animals and both suit the style of APA very well from my experience. They both allow the hops to shine and can push some nice fruity tones. US05 may be a little more neutral than 1272, which is what you want with an American hop-driven beer IMHO. The APA I did with 1272 had a slightly tart finish, which I liked and pushed the hop aroma out nicely. Both are ideal and I couldn't choose one over the other if I had to.
I can't really use one smack pack as a good indicator but I found the 1272 to have a pulsating fermentation in both brews I used it in, subsiding and taking off in spasms almost, this never happened with any of my US05 brews.

 

[warra48]

Never used WY1056, but have done quite a few with US05 with good results.
The best results, however, have been with WLP001, which I understand to be much the same yeast.

I like it because it leaves a clean beer without much, if any, esters from the yeast, and allowing the hops to shine through. Perfect for my APAs and AIPAs.

 

[chadjaja]

I use 1056 constantly. I experimented with pacman and found it better in my amarillo ale but my all cascade ale was better using the original 1056. Used it before in ******* lagers too with good results at low temps.

Can't see a huge difference between the dry and liquid apart from the fact that dry costs more when you take into consideration splitting up a wyeast pack and making starters from them.