Brewpastor, plug your ears.
When I first started brewing, I was firmly convinced that liquid yeast was the ONLY way to go. I watched Alton Brown's homebrewing episode of Good Eats, and I read the White Labs and Wyeast propaganda that backed up good ol' Alton's statement that not only is liquid yeast better, it's now available in "pitchable" quantities.
What I didn't realize is that 75% of the recipes out there call for "clean fermenting yeast," and most dry yeast strains are precisely that. I also didn't realize that dry yeast is VERY viable, directly from the package, and it becomes EXTREMELY viable if you rehydrate it.
Yeast has been a real problem for me, especially recently. My last two batches of liquid yeast fermented beer have been pretty sad. One was a dumper because the yeast never took hold, no matter what I did, and the other fermented strangely and has a very fruity profile. There's no need to focus on these problems in this thread, I've already addressed them elsewhere. It's just background info.
I used 4 packets of Nottingham (www.mrmalty.com recommended just over 3 packets), rehyadrated, in my last 15 gallon batch of 1.058 OG pumpkin ale. It fermented down to 1.010 in TWO days. I just dumped the yeast from the conical, and instead of the usual thin yeast soup that I've been getting lately, I got over a half gallon of thick, gooey, beautiful yeast slurry that flowed slower than molasses. I am SO STOKED for this batch of beer!
Are there reasons to use liquid yeast? Absolutely! Specialty strains are only available in liquid form. But...S-04, US-05, Nottingham, and Saflager (among many others) are EXCELLENT choices if you're brewing something that is fairly yeast-neutral in flavor.
When I first started brewing, I was firmly convinced that liquid yeast was the ONLY way to go. I watched Alton Brown's homebrewing episode of Good Eats, and I read the White Labs and Wyeast propaganda that backed up good ol' Alton's statement that not only is liquid yeast better, it's now available in "pitchable" quantities.
What I didn't realize is that 75% of the recipes out there call for "clean fermenting yeast," and most dry yeast strains are precisely that. I also didn't realize that dry yeast is VERY viable, directly from the package, and it becomes EXTREMELY viable if you rehydrate it.
Yeast has been a real problem for me, especially recently. My last two batches of liquid yeast fermented beer have been pretty sad. One was a dumper because the yeast never took hold, no matter what I did, and the other fermented strangely and has a very fruity profile. There's no need to focus on these problems in this thread, I've already addressed them elsewhere. It's just background info.
I used 4 packets of Nottingham (www.mrmalty.com recommended just over 3 packets), rehyadrated, in my last 15 gallon batch of 1.058 OG pumpkin ale. It fermented down to 1.010 in TWO days. I just dumped the yeast from the conical, and instead of the usual thin yeast soup that I've been getting lately, I got over a half gallon of thick, gooey, beautiful yeast slurry that flowed slower than molasses. I am SO STOKED for this batch of beer!
Are there reasons to use liquid yeast? Absolutely! Specialty strains are only available in liquid form. But...S-04, US-05, Nottingham, and Saflager (among many others) are EXCELLENT choices if you're brewing something that is fairly yeast-neutral in flavor.