How To Choose Yeast

First, choose dry powdered yeast? Or liquid yeast? Or do you want to brew your own yeast? In comparison, we prefer to brew our own yeast. As the saying goes, you can save a lot of money by learning how to brew your own yeast, but you can also ensure that your beer is of a higher standard.
Both types of yeast have their advantages and disadvantages. Liquid yeast is cultured using pure wort, which is pure, active and low in dead yeast, allowing the characteristics of the original strain to be fully exploited, resulting in a more balanced fermentation, aroma and taste, a faster start and a shorter fermentation cycle, whereas dry yeast has low cellular activity, a high level of impurities and dead yeast, and is prone to producing undesirable flavour substances such as higher alcohols and aldehydes. However, liquid yeast also has its own drawbacks, as it has harsh storage conditions and requires higher costs than dry powder yeast.

Secondly, choosing a suitable yeast definitely depends again on the style and basic parameters of the German wheat. in terms of aroma it is more prominent banana aroma of isoamyl acetate and clove of 4-vinyl guaiacol, hazy body, refreshing and lively finish, original strength of 11-13°P, alcohol at 4.3-5.6% vol. so is it a top fermenting yeast? Or is it a bottom fermenting yeast? There is no doubt that a German-style wheat beer is suitable for a top-fermented wheat yeast, as the esters produced by the bottom-fermented yeast are too small to achieve the aroma and backbone we want from a German-style wheat. What about coagulability? The first thing to do is to pass on yeasts with high coagulability, we don't want a lager-like brightness here, we want a slight haziness. For a fresher, livelier finish, we can choose a yeast with a medium to high fermentation level, 72%-76% apparent fermentation being the most appropriate. Finally, it is best to have a yeast with a balanced aroma of banana and clove, if you choose a yeast with a spicy, peppery aroma, it will be too much.

Thirdly, there are several different yeasts for brewing German-style wheat, such as Fremantis' WB-06, Laman's Munich Tradition, Mangrove jack's M20 Bavarian wheat yeast, Angie's W008 and so on.

      First of all, Fremantis' WB-06, with its extremely intense banana aroma from isoamyl acetate, is, without exaggeration, the most prominent of the four dry powder yeasts. It is also the most suitable in terms of flocculation, settling and fermentation cycle, but its metabolism produces a slight sourness, which is its more obvious flaw; Munich Tradition from Lamann, which ferments extremely vigorously and has a short fermentation cycle, while its estery flavour is really noteworthy and has almost no sourness; M20 Bavarian wheat yeast, which has a longer fermentation cycle at the same temperature, but because of the settling properties of this yeast and The advantages of Anki's W008 are that it is relatively inexpensive and can meet the needs of the basics in terms of fermentation performance, but the aroma and backbone are not as good as the above three. Both liquid yeasts are able to ferment within 24h, with fast fermentation and almost no stray bacteria. The aroma phenotype of JFA1410 produces a high level of isoamyl acetate to highlight the full banana aroma and a small amount of clove, while D303 is the most suitable yeast strain for the performance of German wheat. It has a good balance of phenolic aromas, a moderately high fermentation level, low flocculation, almost no acidity in the metabolism and a skeletal feel to the fermentation product.

One yeast can brew different beer styles and there are also different yeasts for each style. There are many different combinations, and there is still a long way to go to learn. We hope you will enjoy the beer!