American Ale Yeast List

For a master list of all beer yeasts, check out my primer on yeast.

American Ale

This one’s considered a jack-of-all-trades, an all-purpose yeast that produces a clean and neutral character. It’s durable yeast—it can handle temperatures as low as 13°C. It typically has medium attenuation and low to medium flocculation. Here are the most common strains available, by lab, and the manufacturers’ flavour profiles.

Wyeast American Ale 1056

  • Type: Liquid
  • Flocculation: Low/Med
  • Attenuation: 73-77%
  • Temperature: 60-72°F, 15-22°C
  • Flavour: Very clean, crisp flavor characteristics with low fruitiness and mild ester production. A very versatile yeast for styles that desire dominant malt and hop character. This strain makes a wonderful “House” strain. Mild citrus notes develop with cooler 60-66°F (15-19ºC) fermentations. Normally requires filtration for bright beers.

Wyeast American Ale II 1272

  • Type: Liquid
  • Flocculation: Medium
  • Attenuation: 72-76%
  • Temperature: 60-72°F, 15-22°C
  • Flavour: With many of the best qualities that brewers look for when brewing American styles of beer, this strain’s performance is consistent and it makes great beer. This versatile strain is a very good choice for a “House” strain. Expect a soft, clean profile with hints of nut, and a slightly tart finish. Ferment at warmer temperatures to accentuate hop character with an increased fruitiness. Or, ferment cool for a clean, light citrus character. It attenuates well and is reliably flocculent, producing bright beer without filtration.

Wyeast Denny’s Favorite 50 1450

  • Type: Liquid
  • Flocculation: Low
  • Attenuation: 74-76%
  • Temperature: 60-70°F, 15-21°C
  • Flavour: This terrific all-round yeast can be used for almost any beer style, and is a mainstay of one of Wyeast’s local homebrewers, Mr. Denny Conn. It is unique in that it produces a big mouthfeel and accentuates the malt, caramel, or fruit character of a beer without being sweet or under-attenuated.

Wyeast Northwest Ale 1332

  • Type: Liquid
  • Flocculation: High
  • Attenuation: 67-71%
  • Temperature: 65-75°F, 18-24°C
  • Flavour: One of the classic ale strains from a Northwest U.S. Brewery. It produces a malty and mildly fruity ale with good depth and complexity.

Wyeast Ringwood Ale 1187

  • Type: Liquid
  • Flocculation: High
  • Attenuation: 68-72%
  • Temperature: 64-74°F, 18-23°C
  • Flavour: A top cropping yeast strain with unique fermentation and flavour characteristics. Expect distinct fruit esters with a malty, complex profile. Flocculation is high, and the beer will clear well without filtration. A thorough diacetyl rest is recommended after fermentation is complete. This strain can be a slow starter and fermenter.

Siebel Inst. American Ale BRY 96

  • Type: Liquid
  • Flocculation: Medium
  • Attenuation: High
  • Temperature: 64-72°
  • Flavour: Clean ale strain

White Labs American Ale Yeast Blend WLP060

  • Type: Liquid
  • Flocculation: Medium
  • Attenuation: 72-80%
  • Temperature: 68-72°F, 20-22°C
  • Flavour: This blend celebrates the strengths of California- clean, neutral fermentation, versatile usage, and adds two other strains that belong to the same ‘clean/neutral’ flavor category. The additional strains create complexity to the finished beer. This blend tastes more lager like than WLP001. Hop flavors and bitterness are accentuated, but not to the extreme of California. Slight sulfur will be produced during fermentation.

White Labs California Ale V WLP051

  • Type: Liquid
  • Flocculation: Med/High
  • Attenuation: 70-75%
  • Temperature: 66-70°F, 18-21°C
  • Flavour: From Northern California. This strain is more fruity than WLP001, and slightly more flocculent. Attenuation is lower, resulting in a fuller bodied beer than with WLP001.

White Labs California Ale WLP001

  • Type: Liquid
  • Flocculation: Medium
  • Attenuation: 73-80%
  • Temperature: 68-73°F, 20-23°C
  • Flavour: This yeast is famous for its clean flavors, balance and ability to be used in almost any style ale. It accentuates the hop flavors and is extremely versatile.

White Labs Old Sonoma Ale WLP076

  • Type: Liquid
  • Flocculation: Medium
  • Attenuation: 70-74%
  • Temperature: 66-70°F, 18-21°C
  • Flavour: Yeast from an historic brewery in Northern California, this strain was embraced by the early pioneers of craft beer in America and continues to be a great choice for those seeking to use a traditional British-style yeast. A neutral and versatile strain, it is a great choice for pale ales, porters, and stouts.

White Labs Pacific Ale WLP041

  • Type: Liquid
  • Flocculation: High
  • Attenuation: 65-70%
  • Temperature: 65-68°F, 18-20°C
  • Flavour: A popular ale yeast from the Pacific Northwest. The yeast will clear from the beer well, and leave a malty profile. More fruity than WLP002, English Ale Yeast. Good yeast for English style ales including milds, bitters, IPA, porters, and English style stouts.

White Labs East Coast Ale WLP008

  • Type: Liquid
  • Flocculation: Low/Med
  • Attenuation: 70-75%
  • Temperature: 68-73°F, 20-23°C
  • Flavour: White Labs’ “Brewer Patriot” strain can be used to reproduce many of the American versions of classic beer styles. Similar neutral character of WLP001, but less attenuation, less accentuation of hop bitterness, slightly less flocculation, and a little tartness. Very clean and low esters. Great yeast for golden, blonde, honey, pales and German alt style ales.

White Labs East Midlands Ale WLP039

  • Type: Liquid
  • Flocculation: Med/High
  • Attenuation: 73-82%
  • Temperature: 66-70°, 18-21°C
  • Flavour: British style ale yeast with a very dry finish. Medium to low fruit and fusel alcohol production. Good top fermenting yeast strain, is well suited for top cropping (collecting). This yeast is well suited for pale ales, ambers, porters, and stouts.

White Labs San Diego Super Yeast WLP090

  • Type: Liquid
  • Flocculation: Med/High
  • Attenuation: 76-83% +
  • Temperature: 65-68°F, 18-20°C
  • Flavour: A super clean, super-fast fermenting strain. A low ester-producing strain that results in a balanced, neutral flavor and aroma profile. Alcohol-tolerant and very versatile for a wide variety of styles. Similar to California Ale Yeast WLP001 but it generally ferments faster.

White Labs San Francisco Lager WLP810

  • Type: Liquid
  • Flocculation: High
  • Attenuation: 65-70%
  • Temperature: 58-65°F, 14-18°C
  • Flavour: This yeast is used to produce the “California Common” style beer. A unique lager strain which has the ability to ferment up to 65 degrees while retaining lager characteristics. Can also be fermented down to 50 degrees for production of marzens, pilsners and other style lagers.

White Labs Neutral Grain WLP078

  • Type: Liquid
  • Flocculation: Medium
  • Attenuation: 77-84%
  • Temperature: 76-85°F, 24-29°C
  • Flavour: Marked by a clean, fast fermentation, this strain is ideal for any neutral grain spirit. Alcohol and temperature tolerant. Used in high-gravity beers.

Lallemand American West Coast Ale BRY-97

  • Type: Dry
  • Flocculation: Medium
  • Attenuation: Med/High
  • Temperature: 63°
  • Flavour: Very clean ale flavor. BRY-97 is used by a number of commercial breweries to produce different types of ale. The aroma is slightly estery, almost neutral and does not display malodours when properly handled.

Lallemand CBC-1 (Cask and Bottle Conditioning)

  • Type: Dry
  • Flocculation: Low/Med
  • Attenuation: N/A
  • Temperature: 59-77°F, 15-25°C
  • Flavour: Valued for its refermentation ability and is recommended for Cask and Bottle Conditioning. Does not produce flavours – conserves the original character of the beer.

Brewferm Top

  • Type: Dry
  • Flocculation: Med/High
  • Attenuation: NA
  • Temperature: 64-77°F, 18-25 °C
  • Flavour: Universal top-fermenting beer yeast. Fast fermentation with low residual sugar. Formation of fruity esters.

Coopers Pure Brewers’ Yeast

  • Type: Dry
  • Flocculation: Med/High
  • Attenuation: Med/High
  • Temperature: 68-80°F, 20-27°C
  • Flavour: An all-purpose dry ale yeast with a clean, round flavour profile. It produces a complex woody, fruity beer at warm temperatures More heat tolerant than other strains.

Fermentis US-05

  • Type: Dry
  • Flocculation: Medium
  • Attenuation: 77-81%
  • Temperature: 54-77°F, 12-25°C
  • Flavour: American ale yeast producing well balanced beers with low diacetyl and a very clean, crisp end palate. Forms a firm foam head and presents a very good ability to stay in suspension during fermentation.

Real Brewers Yeast Lucky #7

  • Type: Liquid
  • Flocculation: High
  • Attenuation: 70-80%
  • Temperature: 68-75°F
  • Flavour: Southern California ale yeast that ferments higher gravity worts up to 10% ABV. Dry and neutral with plumb and raisin notes.

Muntons Premium Gold

  • Type: Dry
  • Flocculation: High
  • Attenuation: High
  • Temperature: 57-77°F, 14-25°C
  • Flavour: Clean balanced ale yeast for 100% malt recipes.

Muntons Standard Yeast

  • Type: Dry
  • Flocculation: High
  • Attenuation: High
  • Temperature: 57-77°F, 14-25°C
  • Flavour: Clean well balanced ale yeast.

East Coast Yeast Northeast Ale ECY29

  • Type: Liquid
  • Flocculation: High
  • Attenuation: High
  • Temperature: 66-72°F, 19-22°C
  • Flavour: Replication of the famous Conan strand of yeast. Unique strand with an abundance of citrusy esters accentuating American Style hops in and IPA, Double IPA, or strong ale.

East Coast Yeast Old Newark Ale ECY10

  • Type: Liquid
  • Flocculation: High
  • Attenuation: Low
  • Temperature: 60-68°F, 15-20°C
  • Flavour: Sourced from a now defunct east coast brewery, this pure strain was identified as the brewery’s ale pitching yeast. Good for all styles of American and English ales.

East Coast Yeast Old Newark Beer ECY12

  • Type: Liquid
  • Flocculation: Medium
  • Attenuation: Medium
  • Temperature: 58-68°F, 15-20°C
  • Flavour: Sourced from the same defunct east coast brewery as ECY10, this pure strain was used as the brewery’s “beer pitching yeast”. The strain has been identified as S. cerevisae, hence it is not a true lager strain, but should ferment at lager temperatures.

Fermentis Safale US-05

  • Type: Dry
  • Flocculation: Medium
  • Attenuation: High
  • Temperature: 59-72°F, 15-22°C
  • Flavour: American ale yeast producing well balanced beers with low diacetyl and a very clean, crisp end palate. Forms a firm foam head and presents a very good ability to stay in suspension during fermentation.

Fermentis Safbrew T-58

  • Type:Dry
  • Flocculation: Low
  • Attenuation: 75%
  • Temperature: 54-77°F, 12-25°C
  • Flavour: Specialty yeast selected for its estery somewhat peppery and spicy flavor development. Yeast with a good sedimentation: forms no clumps but a
    powdery haze when resuspended in the beer.

Real Brewers Yeast The One

  • Type: Dry
  • Flocculation: High
  • Attenuation: 70-80%
  • Temperature: 68-75°F, 20-24°C
  • Flavour: This guy is a brewing workhorse. If you like the taste of Stone Pale Ales, Green Flash, and Sierra-type ales, then all you need is “The One”. Like most California ale yeasts, it prefers a higher fermentation temperature and flocculates nicely.

Mangrove Jack US West Coast Yeast

  • Type: Dry
  • Flocculation: High
  • Attenuation: High
  • Temperature: 59-74°F, 18-23°C
  • Flavour: A top fermenting ale strain suitable for American style ales. This yeast produces an exceptionally clean flavour, ideal for when you want the hop character to really punch through.

Mangrove Jack Workhorse Beer Yeast

  • Type: Dry
  • Flocculation: Medium
  • Attenuation: High
  • Temperature: 59-68°F, 15-20°C
  • Flavour: produces a clean, crisp flavour suitable for a wide variety of styles with different fermenting temperatures. This versatile yeast is well suited to making cask or bottle conditioned beer.