Tom Roeder's Dry Yeast vs Liquid Yeast Experiment

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Sometimes the over-analytical-ness of some of the comments on this board (this thread included) can get over the top.

This experiment is anecdotal, and for me, extremely informative regardless of how it turns out. I won't base my brewing life on it, but will absolutely learn from it. :mug:
 
I think the reasonable expectation of anyone running this type of thing is to just be clear about what they did. Misinterpretation of the results is the onus of the audience who cares to read about it. No one is being paid. Tom could have just as easily made a video of tasting the two beers by himself and making a claim to which yeast appears to produce a beer with these qualities "in his personal opinion". He went a step further and involved a few extra people to make it more meaningful to whoever deems it so. There's a significant difference between a youtube VLOG type channel and a brewing publication like Zymurgy and BYO as far as how scientifically accurate an experiment should be.

This is the by far the most enlightened post on this very interesting thread!
 
Look people....dry yeast.... liquid yeast...who cares....I love 'em either way.
 
I vote that they forget about the last guy that has bottles from this experiment and post up the results.
 
I have been glancing at this thread periodically for the result, then saw the last post-- it has been 3 months?! wtf, but maybe the last guy lost his house in one of the storms(?) or something.

Anyways, everyone can do this w/ their equipment- obviously take your 5 gal batch & split into 2 fermenters and pitch yeast.
then figure out which YOU like best.
It might not be scientific enough for some, but doesnt it matter most which taste profile you like better?
My two cents.
 
I completely agree with you Midfielder, but it is nice to get other people's input on a topic to help hone your own beer evaluation skills. Currently we have 40 minutes of video that is rendered useless by not knowing which beer is which.
 
I wouldn't hold your breath on that. The experiment and video was done 3 months ago.

Sure..the first video was 3 months ago, but Bobby and Jake just posted their videos at the end of April (less than 2 weeks ago). So Nige is only about 2 weeks late at this point. Still, I think the trend is obvious - it'd be nice to know which beer was which.
 
I have been glancing at this thread periodically for the result, then saw the last post-- it has been 3 months?! wtf, but maybe the last guy lost his house in one of the storms(?) or something.

Anyways, everyone can do this w/ their equipment- obviously take your 5 gal batch & split into 2 fermenters and pitch yeast.
then figure out which YOU like best.
It might not be scientific enough for some, but doesnt it matter most which taste profile you like better?
My two cents.

From youtube:

Uploaded by tomroeder on Feb 14, 2011
 
but Tom had to send the samples to Jake, Bobby, and Nige. My guess is he only did that recently because Jake and Bobby both posted their youtube videos within 2 days of each other.
 
Sure..the first video was 3 months ago, but Bobby and Jake just posted their videos at the end of April (less than 2 weeks ago). So Nige is only about 2 weeks late at this point. Still, I think the trend is obvious - it'd be nice to know which beer was which.

What's the relevance of the video's other than the one by Tom where he details the process of the experiment? I don't have to see someone sipping a glass to believe they tasted the 2 beers. I'd actually rather read their impressions than spend 10 minutes watching them on youtube. But it's Tom's experiment so he can do it any way he wants. I'm not chomping at the bit to see the outcome, it's just that when folks come to the thread and say I can't wait for the results, I think it is relevant to point out ot them that this beer was probably brewed last year.
 
The relevance of the video at this point is that the unveiling is only waiting for the final reviewer to post his youtube video. So if the 2 out of 3 were posted about 2 weeks ago, it stand to reason the third reviewer's video shouldn't be far behind. My point being, when the beer was actually brewed has nothing to do with when the results will be posted.

FWIW, I agree about the format - video of someone tasting a beer is kind of pointless. Written comments are more than adequate and take less time to get the point across.
 
What's the relevance of the video's other than the one by Tom where he details the process of the experiment? I don't have to see someone sipping a glass to believe they tasted the 2 beers. I'd actually rather read their impressions than spend 10 minutes watching them on youtube. But it's Tom's experiment so he can do it any way he wants. I'm not chomping at the bit to see the outcome, it's just that when folks come to the thread and say I can't wait for the results, I think it is relevant to point out ot them that this beer was probably brewed last year.

Your attitude as it comes across in just a few of the posts in this thread alone make me cringe. It's like I can see you making a stink face as you type the words. What's your problem exactly? :drunk:
 
Ya, another aspect of this experiment was for a group youtubers who often post videos related to brewing, to collaborate on something. Its social media! I guarantee that because of how this experiment was executed, MORE people were aware of it and are following it.
 
Your attitude as it comes across in just a few of the posts in this thread alone make me cringe. It's like I can see you making a stink face as you type the words. What's your problem exactly? :drunk:

You're reading way to much into it. RDWHAHB.:mug:
 
I wouldn't normally make videos tasting beers and I don't watch videos of people reviewing beers for the same reasons you guys note. However, Tom contacted the three people in question around the same time as his first video went up. He wanted to get blind impressions and he chose people that regularly post brewing videos so that it would more closely resemble a bunch of us sitting around a table talking about the beer we're tasting.

He brewed the beer recently but wanted to make sure they were well conditioned and clear before bottling off the kegs. I assume he sent them all out about the same time and I got mine about 5 days prior to my posting of the video.

He's probably not revealing the results yet because his plan was to have three of us post our impressions blindly and he hasn't gotten the 3rd response yet.

How anyone could possibly criticize the intent or execution of this project is beyond me.
 
No disrespect from me.. I think it was generous of Tom to do the experiment and share it with us on youtube - also really cool to send out samples and get a few more opinions from respected brewers.
 
Your attitude as it comes across in just a few of the posts in this thread alone make me cringe. It's like I can see you making a stink face as you type the words. What's your problem exactly? :drunk:

He's still holding out on 99 more experiments, each done a different way so they are meaningless.
 
Ya, another aspect of this experiment was for a group youtubers who often post videos related to brewing, to collaborate on something. Its social media! I guarantee that because of how this experiment was executed, MORE people were aware of it and are following it.

+1

As far as I know, this was a 100% YouTube community project until I took the liberty of posting the videos here (without the consent of Tom and the others). The only reason I did it was because I thought that if this project interested me so much, that others on HBT might be interested as well. Judging by the response to the post, I think I was right!

If anyone doesn't like the video format of the experiment, you can blame that on me for bringing it to HBT.
 
I wouldn't normally make videos tasting beers and I don't watch videos of people reviewing beers for the same reasons you guys note. However, Tom contacted the three people in question around the same time as his first video went up. He wanted to get blind impressions and he chose people that regularly post brewing videos so that it would more closely resemble a bunch of us sitting around a table talking about the beer we're tasting.

He brewed the beer recently but wanted to make sure they were well conditioned and clear before bottling off the kegs. I assume he sent them all out about the same time and I got mine about 5 days prior to my posting of the video.

He's probably not revealing the results yet because his plan was to have three of us post our impressions blindly and he hasn't gotten the 3rd response yet.

How anyone could possibly criticize the intent or execution of this project is beyond me.


First of all it was very cool of him to put this together for all of us. His intent seems to be purely his own curiosity, along with his generosity and willingness to share results with others who might wonder about the differences and similarities of these popular yeast products which are reported to be the same strain.

The execution of this and any experiment on the other hand can always be subject to criticism. For instance there have been a bunch of posts concerning the adequacy of the sample size of the tasters and possible type 1 error. To me this is focusing in the wrong direction when looking at the flaws and limitations of this project. If we were talking about Kellogs vs Post Corn Flakes that might be relevant, but I happen to trust your's and the others palates to detect the differences. On the other hand that doesn't go very far to prove that if it was repeated the same outcome would be found.

I'm older and not really into the social media thing so probably missed the significance of that portion. Anyway, hopefully results will be available soon and maybe written tasting notes can be posted here or in the comments section of Tom's video in addition to the video responses. It should be fun and hopefully discussion won't be perceived as spewing venom. Honestly you seem a bit sensitive.
 
First of all it was very cool of him to put this together for all of us. His intent seems to be purely his own curiosity, along with his generosity and willingness to share results with others who might wonder about the differences and similarities of these popular yeast products which are reported to be the same strain.

The execution of this and any experiment on the other hand can always be subject to criticism. For instance there have been a bunch of posts concerning the adequacy of the sample size of the tasters and possible type 1 error. To me this is focusing in the wrong direction when looking at the flaws and limitations of this project. If we were talking about Kellogs vs Post Corn Flakes that might be relevant, but I happen to trust your's and the others palates to detect the differences. On the other hand that doesn't go very far to prove that if it was repeated the same outcome would be found.

I'm older and not really into the social media thing so probably missed the significance of that portion. Anyway, hopefully results will be available soon and maybe written tasting notes can be posted here or in the comments section of Tom's video in addition to the video responses. It should be fun and hopefully discussion won't be perceived as spewing venom. Honestly you seem a bit sensitive.

Well, to be fair, you were the one that implied there couldn't be an educated conclusion from this experiment, that the experiment is so old that we won't get any results any time soon, and that the results should have been in text and not video. I don't think he is being sensitive at all, and has responded well to your nit picking.

I am glad that you at least gave it this much. So cheers, and hope you watch the videos.
 
This is a very interesting and informative thread, I mean it's beginning to look like you could fine tune the style of beer your shooting for, just by swapping out liquid or dry yeast. The part where the hops are more pronounced in one of the samples, really caught my attention. I'm also curious to know what the FG was. Looking foward to the results.
 
This is a very interesting and informative thread, I mean it's beginning to look like you could fine tune the style of beer your shooting for, just by swapping out liquid or dry yeast. The part where the hops are more pronounced in one of the samples, really caught my attention. I'm also curious to know what the FG was. Looking foward to the results.

Tom said that both samples finished at 1.012.
 
When I first read this thread I was interested, so I subscribed. Then I scrolled through 3 pages of babble and circular bickering - I am no longer interested. How can I unsubscribe??? Can someone just PM when the results come in?
 
Why have they not revealed which is which... this is becoming far too dramatic. Just drink the beer, tell us how it tastes, and tell us which is which... I don't need to see 4 people drink beer on camera and talk about it. I can drink a beer in real life, thank you

I applaud the experiment in itself.. but the whole youtube video - leave everyone guessing thing, i dunno... lame-sauce
 
Although I have critical problems with the way the two beers were brewed for the experiment, I think these types of experiments are nice to see. I hope more people do things like this!
 
Why have they not revealed which is which... this is becoming far too dramatic. Just drink the beer, tell us how it tastes, and tell us which is which... I don't need to see 4 people drink beer on camera and talk about it. I can drink a beer in real life, thank you

I applaud the experiment in itself.. but the whole youtube video - leave everyone guessing thing, i dunno... lame-sauce

Its like watching a tv show that has great promise and so you tune in to watch it and the climax of the action is about to happen and the show cuts to commercial, and so you stick around during those 2 minutes of non-action in anticipation of witnessing the climax when the show comes back on, but then they go ahead and flashback to all of the action that took place right before the commercial break and you think to yourself "what the hell is this? I just want to know what happens." and then they cut to commercial break again and you want to throw something at the tv because all you want to know is HOW DOES IT TURN OUT, and so you waste another 2 minutes of your time watching another commercial and the show comes back on and you are again all ready to see the final culminating action of the plot, but then they go and leave the action to pursue a subplot that has nothing to do with the original story and then the go to commercial break yet again - and then you say to yourself "f#%* this" so you go and walk the dog and the next day you go into work the and someone asks you if you saw that crappy, non-climatic show that was on last night and you say "no", because you have better things to do with your time than watch some stupid tv show that never gets to where it's supposed to go so your co-worker just tells you what happened because they happened to sit through the drudgery that was the show, and you are thankful that they told you want happened in the end and you didn't have to scroll through 4 pages of people complaining about science experiments and double-blind controls and margins of errors and test subjects and 15 minutes of people tasting beer THAT I WANT TO TASTE, because I watching them taste the beer while I am at work and I can't taste beer while I am work...and all you want to know is how this interesting, albeit non-scientific (but who really cares?!!!!) experiment turned out because I brew with 05...:mad:
And there is my analogy-turned-how-I-really-feel-post for the day.
Please PM me with results.:cross:
 
Its like watching a tv show that has great promise and so you tune in to watch it and the climax of the action is about to happen and the show cuts to commercial, and so you stick around during those 2 minutes of non-action in anticipation of witnessing the climax when the show comes back on, but then they go ahead and flashback to all of the action that took place right before the commercial break and you think to yourself "what the hell is this? I just want to know what happens." and then they cut to commercial break again and you want to throw something at the tv because all you want to know is HOW DOES IT TURN OUT, and so you waste another 2 minutes of your time watching another commercial and the show comes back on and you are again all ready to see the final culminating action of the plot, but then they go and leave the action to pursue a subplot that has nothing to do with the original story and then the go to commercial break yet again - and then you say to yourself "f#%* this" so you go and walk the dog and the next day you go into work the and someone asks you if you saw that crappy, non-climatic show that was on last night and you say "no", because you have better things to do with your time than watch some stupid tv show that never gets to where it's supposed to go so your co-worker just tells you what happened because they happened to sit through the drudgery that was the show, and you are thankful that they told you want happened in the end and you didn't have to scroll through 4 pages of people complaining about science experiments and double-blind controls and margins of errors and test subjects and 15 minutes of people tasting beer THAT I WANT TO TASTE, because I watching them taste the beer while I am at work and I can't taste beer while I am work...and all you want to know is how this interesting, albeit non-scientific (but who really cares?!!!!) experiment turned out because I brew with 05...:mad:
And there is my analogy-turned-how-I-really-feel-post for the day.
Please PM me with results.:cross:


Thank you for putting my EXACT thoughts into words (except that I brew with wlp001).
 
When I first read this thread I was interested, so I subscribed. Then I scrolled through 3 pages of babble and circular bickering - I am no longer interested. How can I unsubscribe??? Can someone just PM when the results come in?

You can unsubscribe, close your account, or sledgehammer your computer. All three will make sure you're not subjected to the drama of the internet.

Edit: Actually not true. Even after smashing your computer, a homebrewing friend of yours will ask you in passing if you've been following Tom's yeast experiment on youtube.
 
Why have they not revealed which is which... this is becoming far too dramatic. Just drink the beer, tell us how it tastes, and tell us which is which... I don't need to see 4 people drink beer on camera and talk about it. I can drink a beer in real life, thank you

I applaud the experiment in itself.. but the whole youtube video - leave everyone guessing thing, i dunno... lame-sauce

Keep in mind that it was NOT tom who posted this thread. I also doubt he anticipated one of the tasters to take so damned long to respond. It's out of his control if he wants to stay true to the original plan.
 
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