Greetings from Pennsylvania

[paulbert07]

Hello all, I am a newbie to home brewing but have been watching and learning from you all for a while, I have made the purchase for the necessary equipment, With a friend of mine . We are starting with the extract kits we bought at a local brew shop , the first kit we are doing is a saison, the second kit is a pumpkin spice porter. The man behind the counter at the brew shop told me to use a liquid yeast he got out of the refrigerator instead of the dry yeast that comes with the kit. I was wondering what you all thought about that, should I do a yeast starter for the saison?should I use the liquid and the dry yeast together for the saison ?
Thanks for the help

 

[BGBC]

Welcome! Originally a PA native here.

Which two yeasts are you deciding between? What is the expected OG of the saison (probably says on the recipe sheet somewhere)?

 

[Jayhem]

Liquid yeast won't make much difference over a decent dry yeast for most styles. Sounds like he just wanted to move his liquid yeast before it expires! haha.

Decent quality extract kits make good beer! Read up on this site a lot because the instructions are often worthless once you add the yeast because all beers need at least 14-21 days in the fermenter before you should even consider bottling!

The second thing most new brewers don't realize is temperature. Your instructions might say to ferment around 70F but that is wrong! You want your fermenter to be in a room that is no higher than 60F for the first few days for ales because the beer temp will be 5-10 degrees hotter than the air as it ferments. Beer that ferments too warm will usually have a nasty aftertaste, especially extract kit beers.

Good luck on your en-devour! This is a great and rewarding hobby!

 

[paulbert07]

the liquid yeast is a White labs Saison 2 Ale yeast WLP566 DATE : BEST USED BEFORE 2/17/13. And the dry yeast is a Danstar Belle Saison .338 oz. The OG 1.048 - 1.052. You raise a good point with the fermenting temp. being low , because he mentioned to me to ferment the saison at a high temp.( in the 80's) I don't know if I have a place to ferment in the 60's, will this be a problem ?
thank you for the help

 

[BGBC]

Technically the yeast calculators will tell you to make a starter, but I don't think there's anything wrong with keeping it simple for your first brew. Just get the basics of the process down with this batch and then you can build on that with later brews. The dry saison yeast is a newer product - I haven't heard much about it yet.

A swamp cooler is another option to keep the fermentation temp down. Keep the fermenter in a tub with at least a few inches of water. A little bit of ice in the water or a towel or old tshirt draped over the fermenter will cool it down.

 

[Jayhem]

I don't know much about saison yeasts but they do need warmer temps. 80's seems too high. mid 70's seems more appropriate...do your research before you start.

The Porter using an ale yeast definitely needs to stay in the mid 60's for best taste.

 

[brewslut]

Welcome to HBT!and to the brewing world,sound like you are off to a great start!

 

[rockytop714]

Hey Dillsburg... I'd say welcome to Homebrew Talk, but I'm pretty new to this site, and the hobby, as a whole, myself. I'm also a PA guy, just down the road from you, not quite an hour, in Waynesboro

I can attest to the temperature thing. I got a beginner's brewing kit for my birthday about a year and a half ago and made my first batch, shortly thereafter, in late July/early August. The beer tasted great, at first, but then picked up some off flavors. since then, I've started doing all of my brewing in the late fall/winter/early spring, and leaving the fermenter in a room that doesn't get used all that often so that the room temp probably hovers around 67-ish. even for ale yeasts, a cooler fermentation should result in a "cleaner" taste.

as for the liquid yeast, I've used it in my last two batches and have done a starter with both. From what I've read/heard a starter not only makes more yeast cells, but it makes healthier yeast cells, which ideally, should make a better final product. Now, one of these two batches is in the primary, right now. so I can't say much about it, just yet, but the other one turned out, very well. I am still relatively new to the hobby, so I cant guarantee that it was the yeast starter or just my skills improving, but I know that it made a very nice IPA and I started with an extract kit, as well.

Like a previous poster commented, it's good to start simple and build from there. I try to remind myself of that, all the time.

 

[ffaoe]

Did you go to the mr. Steve's there in camp hill? To help with your yeast question, I've done 6 or 7 saisons. I havnthave used tjhe strain you haveknow but in general for saiasons 75 degrees or higher will put out a lot of esters in almost all yeasts. 70-74 is somewhat estery. Under 70 will be a much cleaner tasting beer. I gaby done any porters so I can't help you there, but I would go for the temperature range white labs suggest. I also wouldn't use the liquid and dry combined, just use the liquid.

 

[paulbert07]

Thank you to all , your help is appreciated and needed, I will keep you posted on how things are going , definitely excited for the first brew-day!