Liquid Yeast

Hi,
This is my first post to the Extract Brewing forum, and wanted to introduce myself first. I'm Jake, I live in Orlando, FL. Been brewing off and on (more off though) since 2006. I recently decided to dust off the fermenter and try brewing some beer again.

So my first question is: I just received a beer recipe kit through the mail, and I opted to get the Wyeast 1056 American Ale instead of dry yeast. This is my first experience with anything but dry yeast, so I'm a little concerned.
When it arrived today, the package is slightly ballooned up already (it's 90 degrees outside). Should there be anything to worry about??
I put it in the fridge so, thats that for now (plan to brew this Sunday). I'm
sure it's probably just a little ballooned up from the temp difference in shipping (Minnesota to Central Florida), but I just wanted to see if any other southern brewers have experience with the Wyeast stuff. Thanks!!!
-J

Can you still feel the nutrient pack inside of it? It is probably okay, I would think, though it may have suffered a bit from the shipping. Were you planning on making a starter?

I haven't made a starter before, and didn't know that you need a few days to do it. Should I do it now??

--I just did some reading on starters, and think I may skip it this time around. Any input?--

As long as your beer is going to be below around 1.060 OG, you should be alright without a starter. If you were brewing Sunday, you still have time, but it's not super important. I was just wondering.

the nutrient pack inside probably got popped during shipping which is why it's swollen up

90° prob isn't enough to kill the yeast but a starter may be a good idea to make sure that you have plenty of viable yeast still

it doesn't take very long and if you have some extra extract on hand it's easy to do

Well I'm headed up to my local shop to get some sanitizer tomorrow morning, and I can grab some extract while I'm there. If I can get it going by mid-day tomorrow, it will still be better than not using a starter at all, right?

def - 24 hours or so is usually enough time to get it going

as long as you sanitize properly, only good can come of making a starter IMO

use 10g DME to 100ml of water

what is your projected OG for your recipe?

Pick up some US-05. It is the same strain of yeast as 1056.

logan3825 said:

Pick up some US-05. It is the same strain of yeast as 1056.

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This is a good idea in general. Have some US-05 and US-04 on hand as a backup for this and future brews. They're cheap and last a long time in the fridge.

The OG for this recipe is supposed to be 1.052
So pick up some extra yeast as a backup in case I pitch this and don't see any action?

Starting to wonder if I shoulda just went with dry for my first try in two years hahaa!

.

whiskeyfoot said:

The OG for this recipe is supposed to be 1.052
So pick up some extra yeast as a backup in case I pitch this and don't see any action?

Starting to wonder if I shoulda just went with dry for my first try in two years hahaa!

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Don't sweat it. I often just pitch the smack pack (ok, I'll admit it... I always do it) without doing a starter and it does just fine. Keeping some dry yeast in your fridge is always a good idea. Lets you go ahead and brew if you ever do a starter and find your yeast has croaked.

whiskeyfoot said:

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I agree completely.

whiskeyfoot said:

The OG for this recipe is supposed to be 1.052
So pick up some extra yeast as a backup in case I pitch this and don't see any action?

Starting to wonder if I shoulda just went with dry for my first try in two years hahaa!

Click to expand...

You are probably fine. With this particular yeast the dry is the same strain as the liquid. I believe so anyway. I used 1056 for a couple of the first few beers. Probably under pitched but things turned out ok.

I actually switched over to almost exclusively dry yeast except for Belgian and Wheat beers because of price and simplicity.

Headed to the homebrew store now. Later than I wanted to, but I need some sanitizer anyways, so I'll try my hand at a yeast starter. Thanks!!

Yeah, thanks for the advice, this yeast I got through the mail is totally ballooned up compared to the one I just got from the local shop, its nearly flat in comparison.

that just means that the yeast is active - a good sign

So last night I decided to remove both from the fridge and smack the new one I just bought, and leave both out. (I couldn't find the nutrient pack in the mail order pack, so I just took it out of the fridge also) The mail order pack hasn't ballooned up any more than it looked when I received it in the mail, while the brand new (local) one has ballooned up to the point that it looks like it could explode at any minute! Seems like much more activity in the local purchase -vs- the mail order.

Should I pitch both into my wort this evening? Or should I only pitch the one that seems most active?

(Just also want to say that when I received the beer kit, it was at least 90 degrees outside, and all the contents of the box were warm. The ice pack in the yeast envelope was completely warm, and it was the second attempt for Fedex to deliver, so an extra day cruising around hot central Florida.)

Thanks for the help so far. Liquid yeast is a new adventure and I'm glad I have an outlet for some advice!

whiskeyfoot said:

Starting to wonder if I shoulda just went with dry for my first try in two years hahaa!

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I think that's a good thought, Whiskey, for two reasons: 1) it's easier and eliminates one potential problem area for you as you gain brewing experience and 2) the weather where you live increases the risk that you'll receive heat-damaged yeast with your orders.

FWIW, any brew that I would use the strain you're using or White Labs WLP001 California Ale, I use Fermentis' Safale US-05.

It sounds like you've got things in hand for this brew - have fun!

if you've already popped them both you may as well pitch them both

it's the most expensive option but will provide you peace of mind since it sounds like you decided to skip the starter

Pitch them both. If one is dead, the dead yeast will just act as nutrient for the living yeast.

But they both sound like they should be viable.

This is my first post. I started back in 2004 and really got into it for a while and used to have at least 2 or 3 going at a time, then along came son number two and a job that kept me much busier. Just brewed my first beer in about 2 1/2 years. I was the opposite, I always used nothing but liquid. I got my order from MW and my WLP001 was dead. I tried a starter as usual, but after over two days with no activity, I just put the dry M&F Ale yeast I ordered as backup. It started within a few hours but was a little slow, so I stepped it up and it krausened really quick and fermented out in less than a day. I brewed my favorite honey wheat this morning and it started bubbling within a couple hours. Hopefully going that quick I can transfer to secondary before I head to Texas to join my family at the end of the week. I forgot how good it smells to cut into a fresh bag of hops out of the freezer. They still smell awesome even though they've been vacu-packed in the freezer for several years now. I'm still enjoying the smell of the brew day lingering in the house.

Awesome slseals!! I feel the exact same way. Its like cooking your favorite soup, the aroma's linger for hours after the brew day is done. Our brew session went extremely well last night. I had my brother and Dad, a good buddy I served in the Navy with (just happens he lives down the road), and two other good friends. Since I didn't have any homebrew to enjoy while brewing, I purchased the Sierra Nevada Beercamp 12 pack, and we sampled the different beers while waiting for the boil and between hop additions. Everyone got to try some different beers so that was great, especially since my one friend brought a sixer of Corona! lol

Got everything into the fermenter, pitched both packets of yeast, and sealed the fermenter up in my chiller that I built. Finished the night off with some delicious italian sausages with peppers and onions and some cigars. So great to have some quality time with friends and family.

Checked the fermenter this morning, and she's bubbling away, ambient air temp in chiller is maintaining 60 degrees. All I can do is smile!

Its great to be back!!

This is the first time I have used the Munton and Fison ale yeast. I'm a little concerned that this is fermenting at too high a temp. Everything I can find says it will ferment at a high range of temps, but the specs say 64 to 70. My fermometer on the pail says it's about 77, but I thought that was too high, so I just checked it with my brewing thermometer, and I think it's really in the 74-75 range. Will that generate any off flavors?