Dry Stout -- Which Yeast?

So, I was looking to brew up a dry stout (extract + steeping grains) tomorrow. I have a packet of Coopers Brewing Yeast and Muntons Premium Gold in the fridge right now. Which should I use?

I've read Coopers can produce some fruitiness -- but I've also read that's not a big deal in a stout. I've also read some terrible things about Muntons, but Muntons Premium Gold might be OK. Both appear to be high attenuators (according to BYO). Thoughts?

Alternatively, I could postpone the brew a week and pick up a different yeast.

I've never used Coopers but I've had OK luck with the Muntons Gold Yeast. A lot of people swear by the Irish Ale yeast from WhiteLabs but I always found it left too high of a final gravity for a dry stout. I like Nottingham for my dry stout so if you can get a sachet of that I would go with it, otherwise the Muntons would probably be your best bet if you don't want to wait. Just try and keep the fermentation temperature a little on the low side, I found Muntons generated a lot of fruity esters otherwise.

StickyWicket said:

So, I was looking to brew up a dry stout (extract + steeping grains) tomorrow. I have a packet of Coopers Brewing Yeast and Muntons Premium Gold in the fridge right now. Which should I use?
Alternatively, I could postpone the brew a week and pick up a different yeast.

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Same here. I have everything worked out for a dry stout this weekend except for the yeast. My top picks in no special order are:

Irish Ale
London Ale
S-04

I'm interested in hearing the response to your post.

AnOldUR said:

Same here. I have everything worked out for a dry stout this weekend except for the yeast. My top picks in no special order are:

Irish Ale
London Ale
S-04

I'm interested in hearing the response to your post.

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I like that list...add WLP007 Dry English Ale as my go-to dry stout yeast, first preference.

for stouts I like wyeast London ale or wyeast Irish ale or even white labs East Coast ale. Supposedly the Essex ale ferments really dry but I never tried it. For dry yeast I've used safale 04 for everything from APAs, british and american ipas and stouts.

So, Munton's Gold is in the lead. I've used S04 for an ESB and a cider. Worked great. But don't have any on hand right now. I'll save the Coopers for summer when the temps get higher.

Coopers is quite fruity. I don't think that's a liability in stout, especially if the ferment temperatures are kept relatively low. Munton's will do the job! You can use either and get a good beer out of it.

+2164 to whoever advised you to avoid Wyeast's Irish Ale yeast for Dry Irish Stout. I have never, ever had success with that yeast. I like a drier, crisper yeast for that style.

Bob

Oof. If it were me, which it's not, I would avoid both the Coopers and the Muntons. I'm afraid of both of them. I have a Munton's in the fridge that I'm contemplating throwing away, just because I don't think I'll ever use it. (Or even remember where I got it from???)

I'd pitch a packet of S-04, or I'd use WLP023 Burton Ale Yeast, or I'd try WLP028 Edinburgh Ale Yeast (less sweet than the Irish Ale WLP004 usually comes out?).

Chriso said:

Oof. If it were me, which it's not, I would avoid both the Coopers and the Muntons. I'm afraid of both of them. I have a Munton's in the fridge that I'm contemplating throwing away, just because I don't think I'll ever use it. (Or even remember where I got it from???)

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Munton's Premium Gold or regular dry? I can understand fearing the latter...

McGarnigle said:

Munton's Premium Gold or regular dry? I can understand fearing the latter...

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+ 1 for WLP028 Edinburgh Ale Yeast, great for darker roasty beers and can be used for almost anything

I'm considering using the Premium Gold -- which has a somewhat better rep than the regular Muntons.

What happened was that I bought a variety of yeasts at the LHBS last time I was there since it's a good 30 minute drive from me. I've used up my S04 packets -- only have the Coopers and Muntons Premium Gold left.

I know yeast isn't expensive -- but I got the itch and the other ingredients and want to brew! :rockin:

Go with the Muntons then.

StickyWicket said:

. . . it's a good 30 minute drive from me . . . I know yeast isn't expensive -- but I got the itch and the other ingredients and want to brew!

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Dry Stouts are supposed to use yeast with attenuation of 75-77%. I did a little searching around but couldn’t find what the attenuation of the Muntons Premium Gold was. The S-04 I have on hand comes in at 73%. It was a nice day yesterday, so I took the 45 minute (one way) ride to the LHBS and picked up the London Ale (75%.) Seemed like the best choice.

What did you end up using? How’d the brewday go?

For a dry stout, a clean-finishing yeast.

I always go with Nottingham.

Munton's Premium Gold is in that neighborhood, or close enough.

The White Labs Irish is good, too, if you want to go liquid.

Nottingham is my go-to yeast for the attributes you describe.

I used the MPG, and so far so good. A bit of a mess on day 2 as the krausen overwhelmed the blow-off tube, but it's settled down and is bubbling quite nicely at this point.

So, here's the update. No activity in the airlock for days now, so thought I'd sneak a SG reading. 1.020. Crap. That's a few streets away from the ballpark where dry stouts play. I put the top back on and I'll just leave it. Hoping it drops another 10 points, but I'm skeptical.

That's the classic problem I had with the Muntons yeasts and is why I don't use them anymore. If you can get in some Nottingham in the meantime you can just pitch it whenever you get it to finish it off if the gravity doesn't drop anymore.

Very troubling. Repitched with S-05. Several days later, still at 1.020. How much longer can I leave it in the primary and wait? Will there come a point where too much time on the sediment will start to mess with the beer? And if it doesn't go down, can I bottle it at 20? Bottle bombs scare me.

I know I'm being impatient, but everything "looks" like fermentation is done, but my FG is much different than qbrew tells me it should be.

brewt00l said:

...add WLP007 Dry English Ale as my go-to dry stout yeast, first preference.

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Ditto. It is the only thing I will use for my Dry Irish Stout. You can wait it out or pick up some of the WLP007 and try it. What temp is it sitting at?

StickyWicket said:

Very troubling. Repitched with S-05. Several days later, still at 1.020. How much longer can I leave it in the primary and wait? Will there come a point where too much time on the sediment will start to mess with the beer? And if it doesn't go down, can I bottle it at 20? Bottle bombs scare me.

I know I'm being impatient, but everything "looks" like fermentation is done, but my FG is much different than qbrew tells me it should be.

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Try swirling the fermenter and raise the temperature a bit if you can. You have lots of time before you need to even consider worrying about off-flavours so don't worry about that.

Ambient temp is about 64-65. I'll move it upstairs where temps are closer to 70.

I would try for the 70-72˚ range as you mentioned, and let it sit at that temp for at least a week. You might eke a few more points out of it with the warmer temp. But I suspect it's finished.

Well, as they say, it will still be beer. Just not as dry expected.