Safale US - 05

[seabrew8]

Hi folks, of late i've been using safale us-05.

I'm curious what are your experiences. I used nottingham almost exclusively the last 1-2 years and its very consistent and usually finishes in 3-5 days.

However, US-05 is very slow. On average it seems to move around 5 points per day.

Batch #1 - 1.050 - 1.011 in 9 days
Batch #2 - 1.052 - 1.012 10 days
Batch #3 - 1.054 - 1.018 9 days

3 of these batches where at the same temp and i checked the gravity 2-3x after the 5 day mark for each batch.

Its seems awful slow to me for ale yeast..

What are your experiences?

 

[Morrey]

Hi folks, of late i've been using safale us-05.

I'm curious what are your experiences. I used nottingham almost exclusively the last 1-2 years and its very consistent and usually finishes in 3-5 days.

However, US-05 is very slow. On average it seems to move around 5 points per day.

Batch #1 - 1.050 - 1.011 in 9 days
Batch #2 - 1.052 - 1.012 10 days
Batch #3 - 1.054 - 1.018 9 days

3 of these batches where at the same temp and i checked the gravity 2-3x after the 5 day mark for each batch.

Its seems awful slow to me for ale yeast..

What are your experiences?

Same experiences as yours, but I leave mine in primary 14 days as an average to keep my cycle routine.

I have two Tilt floating hydrometers which test very accurately beside hydrometers and refractometers.

US-05 in 1.052 wort at 67F took 2 days to start. It was a full week and one day until my gravity hit 1.008 so I thought I was done. But I just left it alone and quit reading the Tilt. When I racked the beer, the Tilt read 1.003 and the hydrometer agreed. It was slow, but just like Brett, it keeps chewing away.

 

[seabrew8]

Thanks, yeah its really slow compared to the few other yeasts i've used.

 

[STMF]

My experience is the same. Compared to Nottingham (for exampel) it is slow and takes alot longer to clear. Besides that I don't really like US-05 much and stopped using it a while back.

However, it is pretty robust and given time it will finish the job.

 

[seabrew8]

My experience is the same. Compared to Nottingham (for exampel) it is slow and takes alot longer to clear. Besides that I don't really like US-05 much and stopped using it a while back.

However, it is pretty robust and given time it will finish the job.

Yeah i think if i continue using this yeast i will just have to get use to a minimum of 2 weeks fermentation.

I've been looking over wyeast i think i might finally take the plunge. The stuff is just so expensive and you have to make starters too with extract! I live on an island so its even more expensive here.

 

[Sadu]

Hmm, I brew lots with repitched s-05 and never had this problem. Pretty much always at FG within 5 days, even on 1.080 DIPAs. Gotta say if a 1.050 beer is having trouble starting there is something wrong.
Agree about it being slow to clear though. Nottingham leaves a far more compact yeast cake in the bottle, which is definitely a benefit.

 

[seabrew8]

Hmm, I brew lots with repitched s-05 and never had this problem. Pretty much always at FG within 5 days, even on 1.080 DIPAs. Gotta say if a 1.050 beer is having trouble starting there is something wrong.
Agree about it being slow to clear though. Nottingham leaves a far more compact yeast cake in the bottle, which is definitely a benefit.

Really, thats why i asked. It does seem awful slow. I have used s-05 before but i didn't track gravity very much then.

 

[mmahu]

I have used Safale US-05 and S-04 and both work great. S-04 leaves a very nice, compact cake, but attenuates less, although the esters are really flavourful. US-05 is pretty clean and does it job.

I have only experienced good things with 05. I usually do not touch my beers or take any gravity readings before day 14-15, no matter the yeast I am using.

But even if it is slow, it will do the job.

Liquid yeasts are definitely nice to consider, as they offer a greater variety and will yield better beers, especially those styles which are not well represented on the dry yeast front.

 

[ericbw]

I know it is always slow to start, but I let everything go 3-4 weeks usually, so I don't really notice if it's slow or not.

 

[ong]

Yeah i think if i continue using this yeast i will just have to get use to a minimum of 2 weeks fermentation.



I've been looking over wyeast i think i might finally take the plunge. The stuff is just so expensive and you have to make starters too with extract! I live on an island so its even more expensive here.

I make starters with pressure canned wort (from 2-row). I've also sometimes mashed to a higher volume than required for a batch, and frozen a couple liters of wort for later starters. Just a thought.

 

[Greytop]

Are you rehydrating or just sprinkling the dry yeast onto your wort? I used to follow the package directions and it always took two weeks for my pales and IPAs. It also took a couple of days to get going. Now I rehydrate on brew day. I just checked a NEIPA in my fermenter and it dropped from 1.072 to 1.017 in 5 days at 63°

 

[kh54s10]

Nottingham appears to be faster. But I never do anything with my beers until day 14. So either is done by then. I don't really care how fast the yeasts are. I like US05. It is easy, clean and has a flavor profile that I like, especially for APAs.

 

[kh54s10]

Are you rehydrating or just sprinkling the dry yeast onto your wort? I used to follow the package directions and it always took two weeks for my pales and IPAs. It also took a couple of days to get going. Now I rehydrate on brew day. I just checked a NEIPA in my fermenter and it dropped from 1.072 to 1.017 in 5 days at 63°

My experience with dry yeast is that if I rehydrate I have fermentation start in as little as 4 hours to about 12. When I sprinkle it on the surface it takes 12-24 hours.

With US05, as I said I don't take gravity readings until day 14, but the krausen usually drops in 5 days or so.

I like Nottingham for malt forward beers and US05 for more hop flavored beers.

 

[Bullshivit-brew]

Yeah i think if i continue using this yeast i will just have to get use to a minimum of 2 weeks fermentation.

I've been looking over wyeast i think i might finally take the plunge. The stuff is just so expensive and you have to make starters too with extract! I live on an island so its even more expensive here.

Wheat is not that expensive if you wash your yeast. I just did my 4th batch with a pack of 1968 and have more in the fridge and will wash what I have in primary giving me more. You can make a lot of beer for 7 bucks

 

[seabrew8]

My experience with dry yeast is that if I rehydrate I have fermentation start in as little as 4 hours to about 12. When I sprinkle it on the surface it takes 12-24 hours.

With US05, as I said I don't take gravity readings until day 14, but the krausen usually drops in 5 days or so.

I like Nottingham for malt forward beers and US05 for more hop flavored beers.

I've been hydrating it. It starts around 12-18 hours. I'm away now but when i left home i had a pale ale that was 12 days in and it still had thick krausen.

 

[kh54s10]

I've been hydrating it. It starts around 12-18 hours. I'm away now but when i left home i had a pale ale that was 12 days in and it still had thick krausen.

I don't know for sure, but if I recall, (I don't always get around to packaging in 2 weeks), I don't think I have ever had krausen on day 14, the earliest that I bottle or keg my beers.

 

[jdonley]

Nottingham appears to be faster. But I never do anything with my beers until day 14. So either is done by then. I don't really care how fast the yeasts are. I like US05. It is easy, clean and has a flavor profile that I like, especially for APAs.

+1. I always leave any style 2 weeks at least in the primary. I re hydrate and contrary to a lot of what I read I actually make a starter with US-05. But I never worry about a stuck fermentation and I really believe its one of the best yeasts to let all the other ingredients shine through.

 

[kh54s10]

+1. I always leave any style 2 weeks at least in the primary. I re hydrate and contrary to a lot of what I read I actually make a starter with US-05. But I never worry about a stuck fermentation and I really believe its one of the best yeasts to let all the other ingredients shine through.

What I have read about making a starter with dry yeasts: If you pitch the yeast into wort the chemistry kills as many as half of the yeast cells. At minimum it is an environment that stresses the yeast. So by making a starter with yeast is either stressed, or you kill half then rebuild the cell counts and end up with what you started with.

The yeast manufacturer has gone to great lengths to produce a product that does not require making a starter.

At best you are just wasting time and DME.

But that is my opinion.

And that is if you are using a new pack and not making a starter reusing yeast from a previous brew.

 

[NSMikeD]

my experience with dry yeast is that if i rehydrate i have fermentation start in as little as 4 hours to about 12. When i sprinkle it on the surface it takes 12-24 hours.

With us05, as i said i don't take gravity readings until day 14, but the krausen usually drops in 5 days or so.

I like nottingham for malt forward beers and us05 for more hop flavored beers.

+1

 

[jdonley]

What I have read about making a starter with dry yeasts: If you pitch the yeast into wort the chemistry kills as many as half of the yeast cells. At minimum it is an environment that stresses the yeast. So by making a starter with yeast is either stressed, or you kill half then rebuild the cell counts and end up with what you started with.

The yeast manufacturer has gone to great lengths to produce a product that does not require making a starter.

At best you are just wasting time and DME.

But that is my opinion.

And that is if you are using a new pack and not making a starter reusing yeast from a previous brew.

I still re hydrate before pitching into starter. I might be mistaken but I thought I remembered reading that %50 of the viable yeast was killed if sprinkled dry directly onto wort?

 

[kh54s10]

I still re hydrate before pitching into starter. I might be mistaken but I thought I remembered reading that %50 of the viable yeast was killed if sprinkled dry directly onto wort?

Well if you rehydrate then then pitch them into wort you strip them of the energy that was engineered into the process. You would then probably have more yeast but possibly not as healthy as just rehydrated.

The yeast manufacturers have produced a product that does not need a starter, so any further action is counter productive, if not worse than using the yeast as intended.

 

[jdonley]

Well if you rehydrate then then pitch them into wort you strip them of the energy that was engineered into the process. You would then probably have more yeast but possibly not as healthy as just rehydrated.

The yeast manufacturers have produced a product that does not need a starter, so any further action is counter productive, if not worse than using the yeast as intended.

huh, duly noted, thanks for the response. I have been doing so for fairly low gravity beers 1.050 - 1.060 so I'll start saving my DME and start pitching my straight rehydrated yeast and see how it plays out. Thank you sir

 

[kh54s10]

huh, duly noted, thanks for the response. I have been doing so for fairly low gravity beers 1.050 - 1.060 so I'll start saving my DME and start pitching my straight rehydrated yeast and see how it plays out. Thank you sir

A starter's purpose is to increase cell counts to the optimum number needed to ferment your beer. And, to save money over buying multiple packs of yeast. Most liquid containers contain about 100 billion cells. Most dry yeast packs have at least 200 billion cells. A 1.050 gravity beer needs about 200 billion so a dry pack is already enough. A liquid is approximately 1/2 what you need. It also depends on the age of the yeast pack.

So making a starter with dry yeast is not necessary, and as I have put forth, maybe worse than if you didn't.

 

[Greytop]

Well if you rehydrate then then pitch them into wort you strip them of the energy that was engineered into the process. You would then probably have more yeast but possibly not as healthy as just rehydrated.

I started rehydrating after attending a brewers session with Jamil Zaniasheff at the California Craft Brewers Summit. He said a lot of home brewers fuss about all kinds of minutia such as water chemistry but miss two of the biggest things: rehydrating the yeast and consistent fermentation temperature. I'm looking at my notes from the session and he said half the yeast dies when you pitch it dry.

 

[brewskiez]

You may know this or its already mentioned... I brew back to back batches so Ill rack a batch from my fermenter bucket into a carboy then pour about a quart of the loose sediment into a pitcher. Clean the bucket and sanitize then put my wort in and dump the pitcher in. Fermentation begins within hours 2-4 vigorously bubbling. I've even done this going from an IPA to light ale and I don't know maybe its all the microwaved foods burning my tongue over the years but they all taste great to me and as they should. I order all grain 5 gallon kits 2 at a time since I get flat rate shipping and just keep reusing the safe al 05. It takes maybe 5 days to hit final gravity.

 

[day_trippr]

Read this: http://www.fermentis.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/SafAle-US-053.pdf

Note which method of use appears first...

Cheers!

 

[ericbw]

You may know this or its already mentioned... I brew back to back batches so Ill rack a batch from my fermenter bucket into a carboy then pour about a quart of the loose sediment into a pitcher. Clean the bucket and sanitize then put my wort in and dump the pitcher in. Fermentation begins within hours 2-4 vigorously bubbling. I've even done this going from an IPA to light ale and I don't know maybe its all the microwaved foods burning my tongue over the years but they all taste great to me and as they should. I order all grain 5 gallon kits 2 at a time since I get flat rate shipping and just keep reusing the safe al 05. It takes maybe 5 days to hit final gravity.

That's what I have found from reusing immediately. You've basically made a giant 5 gallon starter, and the yeast is still ready to go.

I know they say not to go from dark beer to lighter, or to go from high gravity to lower, but I do that as well.

 

[Bullshivit-brew]

That's what I have found from reusing immediately. You've basically made a giant 5 gallon starter, and the yeast is still ready to go.

I know they say not to go from dark beer to lighter, or to go from high gravity to lower, but I do that as well.

I just did a Russian imperial stout using Pac Man then arrogant bastard clone then an Ipa. In that order, totally against what they say you should do. They all came out great. So +1 to ericbw