Does everyone get VERY long lag with w/ Safale US-05 ???

[JulietKilo]

So I use exclusively dry yeasts, for the sake of convenience, I keep a collection of them in my fridge. Been using them for German and Belgian ales for a decade, pale ales/IPA's for about two years, for which I keep Safale US-05, S-04, Nottingham, MJ's M44, etc, on hand for. Of all the yeasts I keep for all types of beers only the Safale US-05 is so terribly sluggish. All others typically show activity in 6 hours and full krausen by 12 hours. But not US-05, used it 6 times so far and not once had any activity before 24 hours? None were past expiration date. Any other yeast that did this I'd hesitate to buy again but US-05 seems to be the most popular yeast out there. Is this typical of US-05 ???

 

[brownni5]

Typical from my experience. One of the reasons I don't really like it (the other being I just don't brew clean pale ales).

 

[bleme]

There are a lot of yeast that don't appear to do anything for that first 24 hours. Each variety has it's own generalities, but each yeast is an individual and follows its own timetable so one pack might krausen in 5 hours and another might take 50. And just because you can't see it doesn't mean that nothing is happening.

 

[McKnuckle]

In my experience, US-05 has a tendency to develop a large, milky colony of yeast just under the surface before finally busting loose with the krausen. So it's working for sure, but its lag phase is on a slightly different timetable than some other yeasts.

 

[thehaze]

US-05 is not bad because it has a longer lag phase. I believe Fermentis came out with a piece of information that a longer lag phase is not detrimental to the yeast growth and / or fermentation. I agree it's slower than many dry yeast out there, but it's reliable and will easily get you the same results every time. If you want quick, go for Kveik, now that Lallemand has outed the dry Voss yeast, which I am yet to try.

 

[day_trippr]

It's funny, I've seen literally dozens of threads like this over the years yet there are still folks that get all worked up if someone suggests US-05 is not the fastest starting strain available

Yes, it's not the most exciting strain to launch, but frankly it always finishes in about the same time as any other strain I use...

Cheers!

 

[thehaze]

If the sluggish start is not to your liking, then give Nottingham a try. I prefer more than US-05. It's still clean, temperature tolerant, good attenuation, clears much faster and better than US-05 without* the use of gelatine and cold crash. It starts fast and it's a pretty agressive fermenter.

 

[JulietKilo]

Thanks all. Mostly I wanted to confirm that US-05's very long lag is typical for all, and not just my batch or some other factor. Still not crazy for such a long lag. Maybe I'll stick with Nottingham, S-04, and M44.

 

[foolsbrew]

It's not that US-05 is slow, it's just you are comparing it against the fastest yeasts. S-04 is pretty much the top ale strain in terms of getting to work and dropping clear. The problem(for some) is, it's got a more characteristic taste than US-05. If you pitch at fermentation temperatures(as opposed to pitching at 20-25C), taking about a day to reach high krausen sounds about normal. I wouldn't call that slow by any means though, it's just not as fast. Personally I don't mind waiting an extra day or two.
Perhaps as a middle ground, you can pitch to yeast cake, it cuts the lag time drastically and pretty much every strain will have a <12hr lag time if you pitch to the full cake or throw out only a little bit.

 

[brew703]

Typically it takes 30 hours or so to get going but I find it takes longer then most to finish. I don't use dry yeast much. I just make starters, harvest from each starter and repeat the process every brew. I keep 4 strains on hand. I can go a year or more on one pack of liquid yeast however it does take a bit more time but IMO the end result is better.

 

[BrewnWKopperKat]

believe Fermentis came out with a piece of information that a longer lag phase is not detrimental to the yeast growth and / or fermentation.

Page 28 of their Oct 2019 "Tips and Tricks" Brochure ([link] to download page) has some information in chart form.

 

[JulietKilo]

So 30 to 36 hours is normal for US-05? Ok that's good to know. I had the idea in my mind that long lags gave bad microbes more of a chance to get a foothold, but I may have made that up. So perhaps US-05 is worth the wait if having an exceptionally neutral yeast is the goal?

 

[dwhite60]

Seems to take a while to start bubbling but lack of bubbling does not mean not working.

I have a blonde ale going now. Took US-05 a couple day to start bubbling as usual. Not quite done yet, it's at 60F, but it smells good. It never fails to make a good tasting beer.

All the Best,
D. White

 

[Carolina_Matt]

I typically ferment 05 at 67 degrees, and pitch a few degrees above that. It almost always takes about 24 hours for bubbling to show up.

Pitch at noon Friday. No bubbling when I go to bed. Typically no bubbling when I wake up. Then I notice some around noon Saturday. By Sunday, it's bubbling a few times each second. By Monday, it's slowing down to once per second. At that point I put on the spunding valve and let it sit for another week.