Your favorite English ale yeast with personality?

[Swoonara]

+1 for wlp002
Gives a lovely range of flavours but also flexible.

[gnutz2]

Just made a simple bitter with East Midlands 1 (brew Lab) yeast, its a very nice beer with lots of character

[jonnyt]

Thats because they use Notty

[seymour]

Thats because they use Notty

Are you saying Brewlab 2540 East Midlands 1 is just a liquid form of Danstar Nottingham? I've also heard a theory it's the Everards strain of Leicestershire. Are those similar?

[gnutz2]

Thats because they use Notty

It acted quite different to notty, it decided to stop at 1.022 and just sit on top of the beer so needed rousing to get it under 1.015, notty does the job in a few days and drops like a stone.

To me East Midlands has quite a strong ester profile and is very malty.

[floydmeddler]

My new favourite is Danstar Windsor. I've used this 3 times now, yesterday being the latest. It gives low attenuation so I mash at the 63c/64c mark. This will bring a 1.050 beer down to around 1.013 / 1.014. This yeast creates a VERY malty / chewy / full bodied ale. Definitely the best English yeast I've come across to date. Plus, it ferments out in 3 days - could be because it's vacuum packed?

I ferment at 18c as the 20s give banana esters.

People hate it because of the low attenuation thing; they mash too high so have yet to discover its beauty . People also say it is a bugger to clear. I do 3 weeks in primary, rack, then a week later I'll stir in the gelatine. One week later it's crystal!

Yep... I like WIndsor a lot these days.

[seymour]

Summarized results so far:

Timothy Taylor strain, available as Wyeast 1469 "West Yorkshire"

Draught Bass, anyone know how to get it?

Boddingtons strain, available as WY1318 "London Ale III"

Henley of Thames/Brakspear Bitter strain, available as WY1275 "Thames Valley Ale" and White Labs WLP023 "Burton Ale"

St Austell's strain, available from bottle cultures, anyone know a commercial source

Ringwood strain, possibly from Swedish Pripps Porter originally, available as Wyeast 1187 "Ringwood Ale"

Fullers Strain, available from bottle cultures or White Labs WLP002 and Wyeast 1968

BrewLab East Midlands 1, possibly the Everards strain of Leicestershire?, probably not the Nottingham strain

Danstar Windsor, popular dry yeast

[Dennis King]

As Graham said a while ago can't believe Boddingtons is a London strain and Henleys a Burton.
Apart from the geographical distant I don't see any likeness.

[seymour]

As Graham said a while ago can't believe Boddingtons is a London strain and Henleys a Burton.
Apart from the geographical distant I don't see any likeness.

So, Dennis, are you saying you think this is an error, or you're just surprised/confused why Wyeast and White Labs label them as they do?

[barney]

WLP 022 is my favourite so far. I am trying two new yeasts tonight wlp013 wlp023 which I believe are Brakespear and Bass they are both going into the same brew, split batch. 82% tipple, 15% pale crystal and 3% dark crystal mashed high at 68°C. should get two different beers. I hope they are as good as 022.

[seymour]

I could be wrong, but my research indicates:
WLP022 "Essex Ale" is the Ridley's strain (now defunct but still used by Crouch Vale and Wibblers)
WLP013 "London Ale" is the Worthington White Shield strain
WLP023 "Burton Ale" is the Henley of Thames/Brakspear Bitter strain, though I have noticed most Draught Bass clone recipes call for WLP023, does anyone know if these breweries are related or share yeast?

[Dr. Dextrin]

A yeast I've used successfully recently was cultured from a bottle of Shepherd Neame 1698. I've no idea if this is a Shepherd Neame strain, or something else, but it worked very well brewing a Bishops Finger clone (although my gravity was a bit high). In particular, it gave a characteristic SN-like dark toffee note from the crystal malt that matches the bottled BF pretty well.

I'm thinking of trying this yeast with brews that need more of a toffee note than I've been able to get so far - like Black Sheep Ale, for example.

[barney]

A yeast I've used successfully recently was cultured from a bottle of Shepherd Neame 1698. I've no idea if this is a Shepherd Neame strain, or something else, but it worked very well brewing a Bishops Finger clone (although my gravity was a bit high). In particular, it gave a characteristic SN-like dark toffee note from the crystal malt that matches the bottled BF pretty well.

I'm thinking of trying this yeast with brews that need more of a toffee note than I've been able to get so far - like Black Sheep Ale, for example.

Very handy info that DR, thanks.

[Dennis King]

I could be wrong, but my research indicates:
WLP022 "Essex Ale" is the Ridley's strain (now defunct but still used by Crouch Vale and Wibblers)
WLP013 "London Ale" is the Worthington White Shield strain
WLP023 "Burton Ale" is the Henley of Thames/Brakspear Bitter strain, though I have noticed most Draught Bass clone recipes call for WLP023, does anyone know if these breweries are related or share yeast?

There was a heated argument here a while back between Graham Wheeler and an American, who's name escapes me, about the validity of the Whitelabs/Wyeast origins circulating on the net. Graham puts a strong case for most of that research being flawed. To put in American terms it would be like calling a yeast from a California brewery a "New York" yeast. Burton yeast should be more akin to Bass than Brakspear.

[oz11]

This thread? Kristen England, I believe, is Graham's "sparring partner". If I am wrong apologies in advance