Verdant IPA yeast from Lallemand is a variant of London III from Verdant Brewing in the UK. SafAle S-04 is the old standby for many homebrewers and some commercial breweries. Both have a clean and dry but malty English profile.
For this comparison I brewed a double batch of a Hazy Session IPA - you won't find the style in the BJCP list - I actually used British Golden as a framework for the recipe.
RESULTS: I rushed these through fermentation, dry-hopping, cold crash, and kegging in less than a week. The Verdant batch was fine with that. S-04 needed to be pulled for a couple of days for diacetyl rest - it had a tinge of butterscotch that went away after the time outside the keezer. Before resting the S-04 it was obvious and I could tell the difference between these beers. After the rest I tried a triangle test and could not tell them apart. For a hazy I'd feel comfortable with either yeast; just be sure to give S-04 a couple of extra days and don't try to keg too soon.
The full recipe is on BrewersFriend but here's the TL;DR:
- 2020-10-31: brewday
- Malts: Maris Otter, Munich, Flaked oats
- Hops: [Centennial] (Mosaic, Citra, El Dorado) {Galaxy}
- Yeasts: Lallemand Verdant OR SafAle S-04
- OG: 11°P; FG: 2.5°P; ABV: 4.5%
- 2020-11-7: kegged
Nothing fancy here - got these on sale at King Soopers
Brew session beer: Barmen Pils comes in cans now (if you're in CO)!
Using the Juicy Bits water profile
Lots of hops
early and late boil additions - the late hops were only in for 2 minutes before chilling; but it's still more bitter than I wanted. Next time I'll move the late addition to a hop stand.
Floor Manager Steve in his Halloween costume
into the fermenters
Fresh pitch of each yeast
Kegged samples - looking and smelling nice!
They look exactly the same so it doesn't matter which one this is. But here's a full pour.
