Fuller's ESB

[Skotrat]

I think that in the Past brewers were very limited by dry yeast and its availability/quality.

Liquid strains offered variety and usually at least a mental image of freshness (even though many shops lacked product turn over). These days I find myself using about 60% liquid strains and 40% dry strains.

There are still more varieties of liquid but dry strains are picking up.

The quality of dry yeast is also much better than it was even 5 years ago so that makes it a good and easy choice nowadays. You will get a great final product using the S-04.

For Me... If I am taking the time to clone a beer and the actual yeast strain from the brewery is available on a commercial level then that yeast strain will be my first choice for the clone. I love to clone beers and I feel that I learn a lot from it and the different processes that the brewer may have. So it is important for me to research the brewer, the beer and whatever else that I can find.

just my 2 cents

-Scott

[Madbrewer]

Graham Wheeler made an interesting point, though I am paraphrasing he mentioned that the right yeast for the original brewer is not necessarily the best yeast for the home brewer. I think he was saying that making a choice out of say 3 'similar' home brew yeasts could be less irksome than using a yeast that does well only in a certain shaped fermenter/ or with contant rousing etc. That said - if it's tried and tested in a home brew set up and produces the qualities you want ....... what's the harm!

[Barley Water]

I made a London Pride clone a couple of months ago and wanted to use a yeast close to what the Fuller's folks do so I chose WLP002. I was warned on these forums that the yeast would throw off alot of diacetyl and it certainly did. I can not think of another English strain off the top of my head that would add such a distintive taste to the ale. The ale itself drinks a little bigger than it really is and the diacetyl somehow makes it seem very smooth so I am happy with my choice. I have never had London Pride so I can not say if this is true to the commercial example but I have had Fuller's London Porter and I can taste alot of diacetyl in it also (I guess I will have to go to the beer store and find some Fuller's ESB and do a little research). Anyway, the liquid yeasts out there may not be exactly like the commercial strains being used but it would seem to me that if you are cloning, the closer you could get, the better. I would have to agree with Mr. Flack on this one, if you want a "Fulleresque" beer, I would use the Fuller's strain since the taste is so distintive.

Now, before I get flamed by Daab, you might not like diacetyl in your ales or perhaps want to accentuate the hop rather than the malt in your beer. You could use the same malt bill but use a different yeast and perhaps brew up a completely new world class ESB that you like better than the commercial example. The great thing about the liquid yeasts out there is that you can pick and choose the yeast attributes you want in your beer and along with controlling fermentation temperature, heavily influence the way your beer comes out. I think that brewing a clone beer is instructive (you can teach yourself how to come up with different flavor profiles) but the real fun in this hobby is in coming up with your own formulations. Since I am not good enough to just come up with a formulation from scratch, I usually start with a clone I might like and then play around with it to suit my taste.

[Barley Water]

The yanks stay away from diacetyl because it absolutely sucks in lagers (so it must be bad, right?). Actually, I like the taste in ales and was surprised it showed up so nicely in the beer I made. If you look at the style guidelines used over here for most beers (including ales) you notice that only a faint hint is allowed in only some styles. Of course, like anything else, it can be overdone. Once judging in a contest, one entry we tried was similar to munching on a big bag of popcorn loaded with that phoney butter "stuff" they put on in the movie theaters.

[Aleman]

The yanks stay away from diacetyl because it absolutely sucks in lagers (so it must be bad, right?).

Actually its a major component in Bohemian Pilsners, forming one of the holy triumvirate, the other two being Malt and Hops. Without its presence the result is an unbalanced beer. Its for this reason that I stay away from the Budvar and Pilsen strains as I have yet to get them to produce diacetyl consistently in a homebrew environment. I prefer the South German Lager from Whitelabs, and at a pinch the Wyeast 2208 Bohemian Pilsner.

Of course its completely out of character for an American Lager (but then so is flavour ) and I wouldn't want it to rear its ugly head in a CAP for example.

I am unfortunate (??) in that I am relatively insensitive to Diacetyl and can rarely taste it . . . However I can notice its absence, if that makes sense as it shifts the flavour balance