American Ale 1056 vs American Ale 1272

[mikebiewer]

A friend of mine made a 10 gallon batch, split it into 2 five gallon batches and used the American Ale 1056 and American Ale 1272 from wyeast.

After fermentation was complete we found some distinct differences with his experiment.

Wyeast American Ale 1056 vs Wyeast American Ale II 1272

Some of the main differences we found are as follows.

• 1272 trub was very tight and didn’t get sucked up by my siphon.
• 1272 was less cloudy and had a bit more brightness to the color.
• 1272 had a cleaner finish and smoother mouthfeel.
• 1272 allowed us to pick out more hoppiness and balanced the sweetness of the malts better.
• 1272 started sooner and seemed to attenuate more.

Has anyone else done this experiment? What were your results? Have you done any other experiments?

[herbaljoe]

While I haven't done this exact controlled experiment, I have found almost exactly the same thing as you with regard to comparing these two yeasts. I also find that 1272 seems to be more tolerant of cooler temps, like 55F - 65F. The only downside that I've run into with 1272 is the lower alcohol tolerance.

[Kbar]

Nice experiment! Good stuff!

[mikebiewer]

Good point.

We didn't test the ABV. Jay doesn't really care about those things so our experiment was more for taste than style or technical readings.

Thanks though.

Have you done any other experiments like this? I love these little tests, I think they are cool!

[Thirsty Boy]

In my brewery, 1272 is not as "clean" as 1056 - it can take cool temps, and needs it, or you get too strong an ester profile (ethyl acetate mainly).

I love the stuff and its my yeast of choice for most beers where I would have previously used 1056, but it goes from nicely fruity to nail polish a bit too suddenly, so you have to watch it. If you dont want any fruit, you have to ferment it quite cold, virtually down to hybrid level temps.

[mikebiewer]

Interesting.

One thing I'm still learning as a brewer is all the "off flavors." I think books do a decent job of categorizing and explaining those flavors, but until you taste it, I don't think you can really understand...