what yeast to use?

[Stewartal]

Hi from Scotland. One of my favourite breweries is Fyne Ales (from Scotland) - http://www.fyneales.com/ - their Avalanche beer is my favourite beer at the moment and their Jarl is a competition winner. They're very good on their website at saying what hops they put in it - Cascade and Liberty - and i have both, but I'm trying to guess which yeast (I usually use Wyeast) would be most appropriate. Any good guesses - or even better - anyone tried it and tried to brew it? I thought maybe American Ale II?
Any idea of how much of each hop and when? I'm a full grain brewer. Cheers

 

[LarryBrewer]

I'd try contacting the brewery or local home brew shops to see what they say. The brewery might not be much help, but no doubt there is a clone recipe out there somewhere.

Getting it all nailed down is part of the fun of doing a clone, but also the frustration.

 

[Nosybear]

Most of the time, if they know you're a homebrewer, the brewers will be happy to talk with you about their brews, at least here in the States. For example, I know all the secrets of the Dry Dock Brewery's award-winning Hefeweizen, even down to the fact that their yeast is proprietary (but I get strangely similar results in my Kolleweizen using WLP 380). They might even give you a yeast sample. Alternately, if they bottle condition, you can propagate the yeast in the beer up to usable amounts. But chat with the brewer. The Disciples of St Arnold are a pretty gregarious bunch when it deals with our favorite four things in the world (hops, barley, water and yeast). I've yet to meet a real brewer, even brewers from Coors, who won't talk with you at length about their brews and how they come to be.

 

[Nosybear]

And in regards to Larry's comment concerning clones, I generally don't try to clone but I will do "inspired by." My "Koelleweizen" is inspired by St Arnold Brewery's "Fancy Weedwhacker," I'm doing a Dogfish Head Theobroma-inspired brew right now, I have a Saison finishing up that's inspired by Tank 7 Saison. Cloning to me is frustrating work. Getting the best brew I can out of my setup inspired by a great brew is to me very satisfying, so that's my approach to copying. Got an idea last night for a Hofbrau Oktoberfest inspired Oktoberfest....

So many beers, so little brewing capacity!

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

as I read the site

YEAST

We work with our own strain of yeast, which originally came from the Fountainbridge brewery in Edinburgh, and has a 200 year history. The yeast is now stored for us at a yeast bank and we get a fresh culture every three months to preserve its vitality. Once the fermentation is finished we skim the yeast off the top of each brew and pitch it onto one of the next brews.

 

[Nosybear]

My next brewing read may be the book "Yeast" to get a better idea of what favors the little buggers are really doing for us!

 

[Stewartal]

Thank you to all who took the trouble to post a reply. I'll try the brewery to see what they say but will have a go with a Wyeast 1272 and see what it comes out like. I'm after "something like" rather than a true clone - that's too much like hard work! Looking forward to trying these Americal hops. Can anyone advise on timing and quantities for cascade and Liberty for a hoppy flavoursome pale ale? Cheers all.

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

one of the things thats interesting in cloning a batch is most breweries filter their beer , and the beer we try to clone is that batch after its filtered

we no nothing about their process and most of the time they don't want us to know so its a guessing game

 

[LarryBrewer]

Thank you to all who took the trouble to post a reply. I'll try the brewery to see what they say but will have a go with a Wyeast 1272 and see what it comes out like. I'm after "something like" rather than a true clone - that's too much like hard work! Looking forward to trying these Americal hops. Can anyone advise on timing and quantities for cascade and Liberty for a hoppy flavoursome pale ale? Cheers all.

Wyeast 1272 is one of my favs - makes clear beer in a fast amount of time with a hint of creaminess and body over 1056.

Target a max of 45 IBUs, and make sure you have hop additions at the start of the boil (bitterness), mid boil (flavor) and in the last 5 minutes (aroma), a flame out addition wouldn't hurt either. You could start with 50/50 of each hop, at each addition. That would be a total of 8 hop lines in the recipe!