Liquid or Dry Yeast?

I am just curious what you guys think is best and why? I've been using dry yeast since I started in December (4 batches total) but used a liquid yeast the other day. Only down side was that the liquid yeast kind of blew up in my hands when I opened it.

I prefer the liquid yeast when used with a starter. It does have tendance to blow up. You just need to crack the top slowly to let the CO2 out to prevent that.

Dry yeast is good too. I use it for specific recipes like blondes and ciders. I like Nottingham a lot.

Dry yeast is easy to store and works well in a lot of beers but quite a few will be better if the proper strain of yeast is used and the number of strains of dry yeast is more limited. You might make a hundred different beers with dry yeast and be happy with all of them but for a specific style of beer it would not have the right flavor profile.

There are many good dry yeasts available, but they are somewhat limited to certain styles. There is a much bigger selection of liquid yeasts.

Some styles you are pretty much limited to liquid yeasts.

For certain styles I often uses dry, if a good choice is available.

I use dry yeast for most ales. there's enough ale strains to usually have one for the beer I'm making, but occasionally I want a specific yeast and have to use liquid. to make a real kolsch for example, you need kolsch yeast. there is no dry kolsch yeast, but both White Labs and Wyeast carry it.

for lagers, I like liquid. I have only tried s-23 for dry lager yeast, and didn't like it. the liquid strains have been better. There are a couple other dry lager yeasts, but they are almost as expensive as the liquid, and I know I like the liquid, so haven't bothered trying them.

Hope your hand and vial was sanitized well. I did the same thing even opening it slowy,apparantly not slow enough. I had a few slowly infected batches from doing that, that were still good, I just put them in the fridge faster than all of my beer which I normally just leave in my basement and pull out random batches to drink and to check on any potential overcarbonation going on,to keep it safe.

Neither is better than the other. They both have their purposes. Form most general purpose beers a standard dry ale yeast if fine...like for 99% of the beers. Liquid yeasts have more strains. And most of them are for specific styles of beer. The reason those don't come dry is simply because those strains can't survive the drying process.

Get out of the habit of thinking that in brewing there is ever a "best" or a "Better" there are contests....there rarely if ever is a better in brewing, just different ways to achieve the same end. Those things people think are bests or betters are usually just PREFERENCES. You can ask 10 different brewers the same questions and get 12 different answers, and they will all be right.

Is a starter mandatory for liquid yeast? Is there a way to make a starter without a stir plate? I have been using dry yeast because I don't have the equipment to make a starter.

BansheeRider said:

Is a starter mandatory for liquid yeast? Is there a way to make a starter without a stir plate? I have been using dry yeast because I don't have the equipment to make a starter.

Click to expand...

Both Wyeast and White Labs claim there are enough yeast cells in their product to ferment a 1.050 (I think) 5 gallon batch without making a starter. Others have questioned that and claim much more is needed.

A stir plate will give you the best results but putting the yeast into starter wort and shaking it every time you walk by will be OK.

BansheeRider said:

Is a starter mandatory for liquid yeast? Is there a way to make a starter without a stir plate? I have been using dry yeast because I don't have the equipment to make a starter.

Click to expand...

I have been making my starters without a stir plate, check out the graphic that was given to me when I first started making starters. I used 600ml of water, and 60gm of DME in my 1000 ml flask, once the starter is finished I merely keep it in a 70 degree environment, and swirl the flask when I walk by. My son has the warmest room in the house, and he stays up playing games late night so I put it in his room and told him to swirl it periodically during the night. It worked awesome, I'm cold crashing it over night, then tomorrow in the AM I will take it out, pour off 80% of the liquid (now beer) let come to room temp for pitching in my brew tomorrow in morning.

RM-MN said:

Both Wyeast and White Labs claim there are enough yeast cells in their product to ferment a 1.050 (I think) 5 gallon batch without making a starter. Others have questioned that and claim much more is needed.

A stir plate will give you the best results but putting the yeast into starter wort and shaking it every time you walk by will be OK.

Click to expand...

Wort from what? Do you make a separate batch?

Buy a couple pounds of DME to have on hand to make it with.

I have never rehydrated dry yeast b4, and was told it was unnecessary. My first brew I dry pitched safeale-05 and my fermentation was quite furious, and took off within 12 hours. I know some do rehydrate for some reason, why I don't know yet, maybe just to try to get the yeasties active prior to pitching to help insure that your beer is quick to ferment.

Cbaddad said:

Buy a couple pounds of DME to have on hand to make it with.

Click to expand...

Got it thanks!

BrewMasta said:

I have never rehydrated dry yeast b4, and was told it was unnecessary. My first brew I dry pitched safeale-05 and my fermentation was quite furious, and took off within 12 hours. I know some do rehydrate for some reason, why I don't know yet, maybe just to try to get the yeasties active prior to pitching to help insure that your beer is quick to ferment.

Click to expand...

Because the manufacturer recommends it.

BrewMasta said:

I have never rehydrated dry yeast b4, and was told it was unnecessary. My first brew I dry pitched safeale-05 and my fermentation was quite furious, and took off within 12 hours. I know some do rehydrate for some reason, why I don't know yet, maybe just to try to get the yeasties active prior to pitching to help insure that your beer is quick to ferment.

Click to expand...

Rehydrating is like stretching before a marathon. Sure you don't need to do it, but you might wish you had. The sugars help prevent the yeast from being able to pull in the proper amount of water. According to the book Yeast you can lose up to 50% by not hydrating properly.

Do you always do what your told? ......JK. Why do u think they tell you to rehydrate it?

kaconga said:

Rehydrating is like stretching before a marathon. Sure you don't need to do it, but you might wish you had. The sugars help prevent the yeast from being able to pull in the proper amount of water. According to the book Yeast you can lose up to 50% by not hydrating properly.

Click to expand...

Nice analogy, as an avid gym goer I understand that quite well, thank you.

BrewMasta said:

I have been making my starters without a stir plate, check out the graphic that was given to me when I first started making starters. I used 600ml of water, and 60gm of DME in my 1000 ml flask, once the starter is finished I merely keep it in a 70 degree environment, and swirl the flask when I walk by. My son has the warmest room in the house, and he stays up playing games late night so I put it in his room and told him to swirl it periodically during the night. It worked awesome, I'm cold crashing it over night, then tomorrow in the AM I will take it out, pour off 80% of the liquid (now beer) let come to room temp for pitching in my brew tomorrow in morning.

Click to expand...

That's cool! Gonna save this thread so I can refer back to the pics. Does the DME mess with the flavor of the batch? Can you use any style DME?

You'll be using about half a cup of DME to make the starter and then you pour off 80% of that before pitching your starter into the 5 gallon batch of wort. I doubt you can taste that little amount and if you could, it's just DME that has been fermented, beer without the hops.

I add a few pellots to the starter, I doubt your really only decanting only beer unless you crash it in the fridge. Make shure you sanitize the rim good also before adding it to the fermenter.I dump the whole thing,I want all the yeast. My starters have been too cloudy to tell what Im pourning off unless I cold crash it. Plus it smells good with hops .

RM-MN said:

You'll be using about half a cup of DME to make the starter and then you pour off 80% of that before pitching your starter into the 5 gallon batch of wort. I doubt you can taste that little amount and if you could, it's just DME that has been fermented, beer without the hops.

Click to expand...

Why pour 80% out? Isn't that wasting yeast?

BansheeRider said:

Why pour 80% out? Isn't that wasting yeast?

Click to expand...

I would add it,its a small starter.Im not really comfortable with 24 hours either,I visually see it fermenting still up to two days that is below 70 deg temps also. Ideally you want 70 deg temps for the 24 hr starter and a stirplate will generate more yeast also-thats why they make them. Either way you will still make more yeast. And its better than not making a starter to begin with. Youll want to swish it around often if you can but at least shake the hell out of it good before starting,then agitating it sometimes.That is without using a stirplate, when you think about it also or just agitating it when you walk by it-that works too.

Kind of off topic in this thread and I apologize too. But there is a how to make a starter thread you can check out.

jonmohno said:

I add a few pellots to the starter, I doubt your really only decanting only beer unless you crash it in the fridge. Make shure you sanitize the rim good also before adding it to the fermenter.I dump the whole thing,I want all the yeast. My starters have been too cloudy to tell what Im pourning off unless I cold crash it. Plus it smells good with hops .

Click to expand...

Wouldn't cold crashing make the yeast go dormant?

Revvy said:

Neither is better than the other. They both have their purposes. Form most general purpose beers a standard dry ale yeast if fine...like for 99% of the beers. Liquid yeasts have more strains. And most of them are for specific styles of beer. The reason those don't come dry is simply because those strains can't survive the drying process.

Get out of the habit of thinking that in brewing there is ever a "best" or a "Better" there are contests....there rarely if ever is a better in brewing, just different ways to achieve the same end. Those things people think are bests or betters are usually just PREFERENCES. You can ask 10 different brewers the same questions and get 12 different answers, and they will all be right.

Click to expand...

Beautiful post! This pretty much says all you need to know.

I've been thinking that dry yeast gets you much closer to the recommended 200B pitching rate than with a simple liquid yeast for people not interested in starters.

BansheeRider said:

Why pour 80% out? Isn't that wasting yeast?

Click to expand...

Cold crashing the starter makes the yeast settles to the bottom, so you can then decant the wort off the top of yeast, this is some peoples preferred method.
This method can be done a few days before brewing.

Then there is also the argument that you want to use the whole yeast starter while the yeast are still active.
This method requires starting the starter closer to the time of brewing

BansheeRider said:

Wouldn't cold crashing make the yeast go dormant?

Click to expand...

Yes but its for when its done and your ready to make your beer that then you can decant the beer off the yeast,it should clear with crashing so you then are pouring almost pure yeast with maybe a bit of beer. I wouldnt do it,I would just make up your starter 2 days before your ready to pitch uless you have a good 70+ deg for the starter-because it will ferment faster.People decant because they ferment the starter warmer which can cause those esters we generally dont want in a full ferment,but with a small amount I doubt(yet dont know from my personal experience) that it would be noticable in the finished beer. Plus some people seem to be anti-dme- its such a small amount though. So much so that they dont want any of it in their beer. I dont see the point of wasting it and I cant possibly imagine making an insane 1 gallon starter that people do for big beers and decanting that-what a waste of beer but I guess if it effects the rest of the beer dramatically then I see why,but still what a waste.

thewurzel said:

Cold crashing the starter makes the yeast settles to the bottom, so you can then decant the wort off the top of yeast, this is some peoples preferred method.
This method can be done a few days before brewing.

Then there is also the argument that you want to use the whole yeast starter while the yeast are still active.
This method requires starting the starter closer to the time of brewing

Click to expand...

After cold crashing do you bring back to room temp before pitching?

Yes, I take it out of the fridge, pour off most the beer that the starter produced, I save only enough to swirl the yeast back into suspension for pitching, but I let it come to room temp prior to yet swirl, and pitching. IMO it's not really advisable to pour the whole starter in because the beer in your starter is aerated, and not of the best caliber. There is still yeast in the beer you created with the starter, but most has formed a yeast cake on the bottom of the flask, and is more than enough to get a 5 gal batch kickin. GL, and happy brewing, making yeast starter is easy and fun, just keep sanitary, it's like brewing a mini batch of beer.

BrewMasta said:

Yes, I take it out of the fridge, pour off most the beer that the starter produced, I save only enough to swirl the yeast back into suspension for pitching, but I let it come to room temp prior to yet swirl, and pitching. IMO it's not really advisable to pour the whole starter in because the beer in your starter is aerated, and not of the best caliber. There is still yeast in the beer you created with the starter, but most has formed a yeast cake on the bottom of the flask, and is more than enough to get a 5 gal batch kickin. GL, and happy brewing, making yeast starter is easy and fun, just keep sanitary, it's like brewing a mini batch of beer.

Click to expand...

Do you cover the opening with anything while its fermenting? Such as an airlock or something?

I've done about 20 batches now. First 5 were kits, used the dry yeast that came with the kits. Beer was ok, but not great. Really doubt that can be blamed on the yeast. As I progressed I moved to full boils, and built a temp control fridge. Learned better sanitization techniques. Learned to use software to design my own recipes.

Since then I've done 16 more batches, about half partial mash and half all grain. Beer keeps getting better and better. Have 2 or 3 recipes on 3rd iteration moving towards Eric's Haus Ale, IPA, CDA and Amber. Funny thing is I've yet to explore yeast. Since I started designing my own recipes I've used 2 packs of US-05. What I do is start with a batch of Amber Ale, about 1.050 OG and 40 IBU, no dry hops. That yeast cake fills 2 quart mason jars, after settling I get about a quart of firm, clean cake. I divide the cake into 4 pint jars, use these for my next 4 batches (using between 1/4 and 1 cup of yeast depending on gravity and age of the cake). Batch 3 or 4 is another Amber, harvest a new cake...after 4 generations I bought a new pack of yeast and started over.

Beer keeps getting better and seems I've still got a lot to learn. Am sure at some point I'll try another yeast...but I do kind of like having that one variable controlled while I experiment with other variables. Not to mention I like being Thrifty think about it, I've brewed 16 batches for $8 worth of yeast...

At some point when I've really dialed in the recipes and understand what they are supposed to taste like using US05 I'll try those same recipes with different yeasts. Probably get a pack of Nottingham and brew up a batch of Eric's Amber...

I provided a cartoon pictorial on the first page of this thread, take a look at it. I use sanitized tinfoil on my starter flasks.

BrewMasta said:

I provided a cartoon pictorial on the first page of this thread, take a look at it. I use sanitized tinfoil on my starter flasks.

Click to expand...

I saw the pics. Guess I missed that part, thanks!