Newbie here, Just 7 extract kits under my belt, but have the bug in a big way…
I’m hoping to get some thoughts from folks on what is actually happening differently in the beer when one yeast is used vs. another.
I understand the basics of the process…yeast eat the sugars and produce alcohol, CO2, and…according to papazian…“beer flavor.”
In all the reading I’ve done over the past few months I’ve not come across an answer to this question:What is the actual mechanism behind Yeast A producing flavor A and Yeast B producing flavor B?
It would be great to get both a chemical/biology answer as well as an explanation in layman’s terms.
Its likeif you took two different people and asked them to build a wall. Both of them are probably going to be able to do it but they will most likely do it differently. One person maybuild it with brick(we’ll say thats a yeast that likes to produce phenolic flavors) one of them might use concrete(we’ll say thats a yeast with a really clean profile).
Different strains simply produce different amounts of different flavors. Some produce a lot of esters or even fruity flavors. Some produce very little. Its like comparing apples and oranges really. Some strains are very subtle some are not.
So thats my laymans answer. Hopefully someone with a chemical answer can come in now, but essentially your dealing with different types of workers when you have two different yeasts.
