Charlottesville Area Masters of Real Ale

I just read in BYO that the Fall Wyeast Private Collection yeasts will include three special English ale varities.  These include:

Wyeast 1026 - British Cask Ale
Wyeast 1469 - West Yorkshire Ale
Wyeast 1768 - English Special Bitter

I know that several of you, like me, love to brew British ales.  I am particularly excited about the 1026, as I love Cask Ale and would be curious if the yeast could help reproduce some of those flavors in my normally kegged beer.

I'm glad to hear there are some English Ale fans in town. I've just started brewing again and am attempting the English Bitters style. I have made 2 extract batches with limited success using White Labs Burton Ale yeast only because it was all I could get at the time.

Do any of you have a favorite yeast for English Bitters?

rick

Welcome Rick!
UK brews are my favorite style to brew and can (hopefully) give you a few tips and pointers here and there.
I've got an awesome "English Real Ale" extract recipe that I posted here: http://cvillebrewing.com/forum/index.php/topic,66.0.html

-Christopher

I did an special bitter not to long ago and it turned out really nice with the Wyeast Extra Special Bitter yeast (I can't remember what the number is).  I have also used the Wyeast London Ale yeast in the past and it has worked well.  If you want to try dry yeast, the Danstar Nottingham yeast works well, though it does not have quite the same yeast character as the liquid yeasts.