Yeast for Brewing Beer

Beer yeast comes in many different strains and can even be a combination of different strains.  This means that you can pick a strain of yeast for making beer to compliment the beer style you are brewing.  

Yeast don't just ferment sugar to alcohol, they also help flavour the beer.  Some beer yeast add a spiciness to the finished beer, some add earthy tones, some add fruit flavours of plums or even tropical fruits like mango.

Yeast also help pull the flavours from the hops if you are dry hopping.  And also help transform flavours via a process of biotransformation.  Basically they eat sugars and other compounds in the wort and as they digest them they transform them into new flavours and compounds.

Yeast can also affect the way the beer feels in the mouth.  Some yeasts can make the beer feel thin, some can add body and some can even help make the beer feel dry.

Years ago, there were only a few strains of beer yeast, now we have a huge range of yeasts for making beer, and this has helped the range of beer styles grow too.  

So, when choosing your beer yeast, think about what beer you are making and then choose a yeast to suit your beer style.