Blending Yeasts -- A new depth of flavor

I can't recall finding a recipe which includes more than one yeast.  I'm sure they're out there and you've seen one, but it's uncommon nonetheless.  I recently created my finest brew to date and it used a blend of two very different, yet complementary yeast strains.  This occurred when I was assembling the ingredients for a 9% Belgian Ale and was about to pick up that second Wyeast "Belgian Yeast" package to provide a reasonable cell count for the nine points of alcohol.  As exemplerary Belgian beers are known for their depth, why not include a different strain and add some undertones to the finished product.  The "Belgian Yeast's" partner was a German strain of "Hefeweizen Yeast." 

After fermenting and carbonating the Belgian ale we were coming up on hosting an engagement party and, after only three weeks from the brew date, liked the immature flavor of the Belgian ale more than the kolsch which was intended for the party.  It was fully attenuated and should have sat for months, but it was a phenomenal beer reminescent of St. Bernardus.  I'm conservative in the promotion of the quality of my brews, but this was the best American made Belgian I'd ever had.  At the end of the party a gallon of this brew remained, mainly though, because of its strength and the availability of an easy drinking spiced pumpkin ale also at the party.  I put it back in the storage fridge so I could wow people in the future.

Two weeks later I bottled it to use the keg for other purposes.  The Hefeweizen yeast had strongly entered the arena and presented beautiful banana and clove flavors!  This was the deceptively strong offspring of St. Bernardus and Schneider Aventinus!  The chemistry and biology surrounding the blending of yeast strains are deep waters, but "Truth in Taste" will always be the litmus test for any brew. 

I intend to repitch this combination several times with an eager anticipation of unexpected delicious outcomes and have already begun fantisizing about other potentially optimal pairings.  If you have done this, tell us what you've experienced.



PS- My computer has not been working with the picture uploader recently.  I'm working on it and hope to have pictures for the last several posts soon.