US-05 Advice

[robbarwell]

Eh up,

Does anyone have any ideas as to the downsides of using US05...I will be brewing mainly pale hoppy jobs and british bitters...going in kegs and bottles...The big problem I have is that the fermenter temp control is a bit wayward and can be a couple of degrees out..

Never used US05 before, used WLP001 once (which I understand is similar)....

[seymour]

US-05 is just so damned boring. It's almost as neutral as a lager, so it'll be fine on your pale hoppy jobs, but not at all appropriate for true-to-style British Bitters where you want some residual sweetness, a breadier body, some fruity esters. It's an absolutely reliable workhorse, though, and very forgiving, so I wouldn't worry too much about your fermentation control.

Just don't switch your entire brewery over to this one strain like the rest of the world, please! Keep some distinctive English ale yeast around for your better beers.

[Goulders]

I used US-05 in a Coniston Bluebird clone. It was excellent and really let the challenger hops shine. Also doesn't seem to need as much conditioning as English Ale Yeasts

[floydmeddler]

US-05 is just so damned boring. It's almost as neutral as a lager, so it'll be fine on your pale hoppy jobs, but not at all appropriate for true-to-style British Bitters where you want some residual sweetness, a breadier body, some fruity esters. It's an absolutely reliable workhorse, though, and very forgiving, so I wouldn't worry too much about your fermentation control.

Just don't switch your entire brewery over to this one strain like the rest of the world, please! Keep some distinctive English ale yeast around for your better beers.

Agree here totally. Defs use S05 for your hoppy beers. I believe that it is the best. For your bitters though, check out Windsor. Mash at 58c-63c (yes really) though. It's a very low attenuator. My 1.050 beers finish at 1.014 with a 63c mash. The flavours it creates in an English ale though are absolutely superb.

Lots of people will tell you other stories. But they mashed too high!

[cookoff]

currently doing so5 in a stout.

cant wait. just to see what it does.
cook

[AdyG]

I've just used US-05 for the first in a hoppy AIPA, it's been fermenting vigorously for 5 days now so hoping to get down to my predicted 1012!

I'm only using it for hoppy light beers at the moment, using Notts or other English strains for more traditional bitters.

As for the temperature control I'm sure it said on the packet 12-25 degrees but best around 15, which I've tried to stick to this time to get rid of all the fermentables.

[TC2642]

S05 is my mainstay but I do mainly make IPA's and P.A.'s. I do use S04 to good effect in bitters and my less hoppy beers. Munton's Gold is another decent one for lower gravity bitters but it only comes in 5-6gm sachets which is why I don't really use it that much.

[seymour]

US-05 and Munton's together make for an excellent dual-strain fermentation, sorta best-of-both-worlds.

[barry44]

I see that people are calling for S-05 for hoppy beers and that is what i am brewing at the moment, however, i bought a couple of packs of S-04 recently and was wondering what difference i would experience by pitching this into one of my brews.

I usually brew to about 45IBU with flavour hops added late in the boil and at flameout, what would S-04 do to this type of brew?

apologies for the newbie questions.

[TC2642]

I see that people are calling for S-05 for hoppy beers and that is what i am brewing at the moment, however, i bought a couple of packs of S-04 recently and was wondering what difference i would experience by pitching this into one of my brews.

I usually brew to about 45IBU with flavour hops added late in the boil and at flameout, what would S-04 do to this type of brew?

apologies for the newbie questions.

You'll have a higher attenuated beer and the characteristics are more bitter like than the neutral S05. I would imagine that it'll still be a very good beer though.

[robbarwell]

Right...

Trial time. I am brewing my favorite today, Dronfield Pale...12 gallons.4.5% ABV...30IBU with Cascade and Chinook....Loads of Chinook lumped in at the end of the boil and steeped for 20 mins...

Usually with Thwaites yeast as this tuns out quite nice. I am pitching 2 packets of US05 for it today so will see how it goes on

[barry44]

made another amarillo today and wimped out and added S-05 rather than S-04.

Will do it again with S-04 next time as a comparison.

[robbarwell]

Righty ho...

I dumped the 2 packets of US05 into 50 litres at 1048...set the temperature to 20 degrees and left it....after 12 hours I had some movement then....Whoosh...off it went.

After 2 days I got a very white soft pillowy head, this then changed in day 3 to a slightly darker and creamier head and it went off again lifting a good 4 inches higher up the side of the FV.

I have top cropped a dollop for the next brew..Checked the gravity this afternoon and found 1012 so nearly finished. This has now been trundling for 7 days..where i have top cropped, it is still obviously fermenting as it is still chucking up yeast, I have read somewhere that to get the best from this yeast it is good to leave it to clear itself up so i am going to leave it for another 24 hours at 20 degrees then ping the chiller on it to drop it to 5 degrees for a couple of days before kegging it...

So far it smells beautiful, had a little taste but its to early to tell as its still a bit grainy and yeasty. I can imagine that this is a superb yeast as what i have tasted feels like it will be good

[Thorbz]

I`m just drinking an all-Amarillo beer brewed with US-05, and it`s superb. What I find a bit annoying about this yeast is it`s reluctance to flocculate. I currently have a Thornbridge Kipling clone in a FV, and after nine days, it still has a krausen. I left the Amarillo pale ale a month in the FV. I don`t have any temperature control at the moment, so that could make a big difference with dropping the yeast. I understand it performs better with re-use, but I don`t have any first-hand experience of this. It seems pretty tolerant, as I`ve brewed in the Summer, without any dire consequences.

[floydmeddler]

made another amarillo today and wimped out and added S-05 rather than S-04.

Will do it again with S-04 next time as a comparison.

Good call. Used to use 04 a lot in my pale ales... never looked back after using 05. It just isn't as hop friendly. 05 is the best for pale ales and hoppy beers.