Singing the praises of dry yeast

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.

KISS Baby.

Welcome on board.

Yuri_Rage said:

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.

Click to expand...

This is profoundly true. I tend to use liquid yeast because of the amount they contribute to my "less neutral" flavor profiles of 99% of the beers I brew.

This being said, I have three out of the four dry yeasts you mention in my fridge right now.

Nice post!

When I first started brewing, before all of the info (good and bad) became available on the net, I had never even heard of liquid yeast. When I came back to brewing a year ago, most people thought it was the only way to go. Now I find myself going back to my old stand by of S-04. It is more convenient, cheaper, and as mentioned, does a good job on brews that dont require a lot of flavor profile from the yeast. KISS indeed!

I'd love to see a chart that matches liquid yeasts with good dry yeast substitutes.

Here are two that I know right of the top of my head:

Wyeast 1056 - US-56 (US-05 might be similar, too)
WLP002 - S-04

Yuri_Rage said:

Here are two that I know right of the top of my head:

Wyeast 1056 - US-56 (US-05 might be similar, too)
WLP002 - S-04

Click to expand...

US-05 is the new name of US-56. They are the same yeast.

I know that there is the list of comparing White Labs and Wyeast liquid strains at http://www.mrmalty.com/yeast.htm. I just sent Kristen an email to see if there is an equivalent table of the various dry strains. I'll post back here when I hear back.

I've washed Safale-56 (dry) and got great results like the really thick slurry you mentioned.

I mainly brew stouts and pale ales so dry is so much easier. I have noticed Nottinghams really makes a huge yeast cake in my primary. I use Safale-05 most of the time.

I pitched a rehydrated packet of s-04 in my oatmeal stout yesterday (I swear, that yeast seems to proof, not just rehydrate, when you put it in warm water). Took off actively within eight hours, blew the top off the bucket overnight. I've been using more and more liquid yeasts lately, but that's because I've been doing styles (hefes, Belgian darks, a bock is next) that require a specialized yeast. I couldn't imagine going to the trouble of making a starter (plus spending more coin) to use WLP001 instead of US-05; for those times you just want clean fermentability, can't go wrong with dry.

I'm brewing 10 gallons of Haus Ale right now. I'm going to put Safale-05 in one fermenter and Nottingham in the other just for kicks and comparisons.

I've been using a lot of dry yeast lately. Just so much simpler and I don't have to bother with (or remember to make) yeast starters. I do still use liquid for the specialty cases.

I'm pretty convinced that I, personally, could not tell the difference between a liquid or dry yeast in a blind taste test of finished beer.

EdWort said:

I'm brewing 10 gallons of Haus Ale right now. I'm going to put Safale-05 in one fermenter and Nottingham in the other just for kicks and comparisons.

Click to expand...

Same here...except it's going to be the Old Specked Hen.

Plus...you know how much friggin yeast you can harvest? It's like magic. Pour in one little bitty packet of dry powder...a few days later, you collect a half-quart of beautiful yeast pudding.

Anyone tried the Saflager or Superior Lager dry yeasts? I'm not quite convinced that dry yeast can do lagers yet.

BierMuncher said:

Same here...except it's going to be the Old Specked Hen.

Plus...you know how much friggin yeast you can harvest? It's like magic. Pour in one little bitty packet of dry powder...a few days later, you collect a half-quart of beautiful yeast pudding.

Click to expand...

Have you done the Old Specked Hen (sic) yet, Biermuncher? I think I might be interested in trying that out myself. Can you PM me the recipe?

Why would you harvest dry yeast? It's only about $1.50 a packet. Hardly worth bothering, IMHO.

US-05 for basic ales is the way to go. Been using for 2+ years and beers win in competition (and tasty too).

I keep a stash of chico and nottingham in the fridge at all times. I love the stuff

I haven't noticed much difference between S-04 and S-05 except that the S-04 settles a little better. I've only use the S-05 once, though. S-04 is my go to yeast.

Pitched 2 rehydrated S-04s last night (this morning?) for my 1.082 Oaty Stout. Blowing off in 8 hours, just like Bird's.

Chimone said:

I keep a stash of chico and nottingham in the fridge at all times. I love the stuff

Click to expand...

Yep, me too. Plus a few Montrachet wine yeasts too.

I noticed that Nottinghame is not made in Canada any more. The new packages say "Product of Austria".

EdWort said:

Yep, me too. Plus a few Montrachet wine yeasts too.

I noticed that Nottinghame is not made in Canada any more. The new packages say "Product of Austria".

Click to expand...

Well, let's throw another shrimp on tha barbie!

i need to try some more dry yeast. i used some nottingham on my blood ale once and it turned out pretty good, but i usually use liquid yeast. i think i just like making starters and watching them go crazy

Fingers said:

Have you done the Old Specked Hen (sic) yet, Biermuncher? I think I might be interested in trying that out myself. Can you PM me the recipe?

Why would you harvest dry yeast? It's only about $1.50 a packet. Hardly worth bothering, IMHO.

Click to expand...

A $1.50 is a $1.50. Actually, it's a matter of convenience and getting the most out of everything at my fingertips. as long as I can.

Seriously though, it's no problem to simply swirl the cake with a bottle of water and into the apple juice jar it goes. No refrigeration needed cuz I'll be tossing it next weekend. Talk about a fast ferment. Try tossing in 2 cups of 05 yeast cake to a 5-gallon batch.

As for the OSH recipe. It's Orfy's base recipe, Americanized and scaled up for 10-gallons. Plus I added some biscuit malt, given the following description in Orfy's write-up:

In the glass Morland Old Speckled Hen pours to a rich and sparkling, dark amber to russet colour with a warm, inviting, reddish tone. It has a very distinctive aroma which is sweet, nutty and fruity with very rich, toasted malt undertones. It's also a little floral and a yeasty bakery tone. With good carbonation, there's a fairly decent, creamy off-white head which isn't particularly long-lasting but still leaves a nice lace effect.

I'll PM the recipe...

mew said:

Anyone tried the Saflager or Superior Lager dry yeasts? I'm not quite convinced that dry yeast can do lagers yet.

Click to expand...

Yep, I did my Oktoberfest with Saflager, it was excellent.

I have been thinking about brewing with dry yeast more myself, I'm just tired of the worrying over my liquid yeast (plus I never have time to make starters anymore).

Man, i pitched a packet of nottingham today at about 5...noticed at 8 it's already going and i can see the krausen in the bucket...

I'm seriously going to start using dry more often...

I had my first dry yeast blowoff the other day. Direct pitched a pack of the 56 into my wort, about 48 hours later @63 °F The airlock was full of Krausen and spilling out onto the lid of the fermentor. I still say dry yeast for everything but Belgian's and Wheat's. Just the way I do things.

zoebisch01 said:

I had my first dry yeast blowoff the other day. Direct pitched a pack of the 56 into my wort, about 48 hours later @63 °F The airlock was full of Krausen and spilling out onto the lid of the fermentor. I still say dry yeast for everything but Belgian's and Wheat's. Just the way I do things.

Click to expand...

I've almost completely made the switch to dry. No starters, no waiting on smack packs, and they never fail to start quickly. I've also began to save the yeast from by drys as well. 2 big cups of yeast slurry really takes off. As far as I'm concerned, the only reason to use liquid is for more specialty brews (saisons, witbreads, etc).

Speaking of which, has anyone tried the new wheat yeast (S-06) from Safale? I just got a couple of packets this past weekend and was wondering if anyone has had any experience with it.

mew said:

Anyone tried the Saflager or Superior Lager dry yeasts? I'm not quite convinced that dry yeast can do lagers yet.

Click to expand...

Why? What's the difference? I used Saflager recently in my Golden Lager. 75% attenuation in 10 days at 54f. Very clean, no diacetyl, flocculated quite well. So, yeah, to answer your question, dry yeast CAN do lagers.

I did the full circle thing. When I started out, I was using all dry, because it was summertime and I didn't trust liquid yeast coming from Austin, etc. on a UPS truck in july. But when it got colder, I started using liquid...and had great results. Started using liquid a lot, shunned dry. Then I realized that most of the beers I make don't need specialty yeast, and Nottingham or US-05 work perfectly...and I've been using dry on everything I can. Recent exceptions: WLP099 for Mephistopheles Stout...Wyeast Abbey II for Rochefort 10 and Stone Vertical Epic 6/6/6...Hefe yeast from Blue Mountain's conical for Stunkelweizen...and I'm planning on using my Rochefort and Chimay strains that are in my fridge on the upcoming Tripel Twins batches.

Liquid has its place...but I think that it's overrated most of the time. Most beers don't need specialty yeast.

Evan! said:

Why? What's the difference? I used Saflager recently in my Golden Lager. 75% attenuation in 10 days at 54f. Very clean, no diacetyl, flocculated quite well. So, yeah, to answer your question, dry yeast CAN do lagers.

Click to expand...

I think someone posted here a while back saying that saflager was too estery for superclean lagers. But unless that person speaks up, I'll give saflager a try.

I've had great success with dry yeast. I will only use liquid when there is not a compatable dry yeast available. This weekend was the Hefe, so I used liquid.

I made 10 gallons of pale ale a few months ago. fermented them side by side (5 gallons fermentors) and the only diff was the yeast. The dry yeast, US-05, and liquid WLP 001. fermented at 70 degrees.

Dry yeast dried it up alot.

liquid yeast let more of the hop profile thru, aroma and flavor. BUT, it was a bit to fruity for the style.

I will use more hops next time with the dry yeast for what i was going for.

mew said:

I think someone posted here a while back saying that saflager was too estery for superclean lagers. But unless that person speaks up, I'll give saflager a try.

Click to expand...

I get the same profile from saflager that I got from Wyeast Bohemian Pilsner. Others might have had problems, but in my experience, esters aren't an issue as long as you keep temps right.

I'm a fairly new brewer so I don't have lots of experience with any yeasts. Brew log says the IPA I brewed today is number 15, it has safale us-05 in it as well as a couple other pales I have fermenting.

Safale 04 I do have some practical experience with. I have used it 4 times in stout. It ferments fast and leaves a nice clear brew. My stouts look like cola, tastes a bit like coffee and makes me smile real big!

The most recent batch I just racked to the keg a couple days ago finished in two and a half days @ 67*. It was the third time I had used the same yeast. The first time it was dry in the packet, next it was the whole yeast cake (Very agressive) next was right onto that cake again! Had to change the lock twice as it had what looked like a loaf of pumpernickle growing in it every time I checked.

Being new to brewing I didn't realize that there was actually such a thing as TOO MUCH yeast. I saved half a quart of it and got rid of the reast. I'm going to get a forth batch out of a buck and a half packet of yeast, and that ROCKS!!

Everyone seems to be posting about Nottingham.

Any comments about Windsor ? I did a test between the 2 on a partial mash, and the Nottingham seemed better ... can't really describe why I liked it better...

Nottingham ferments clean. Windsor produces a beer which is estery to both palate and nose with a slight fresh yeasty flavor (according to Danstar)

Question on saving yeast: Do you have to wash the yeast or can you just rack it to sanitized bottles? I have seen both and wasn't sure which was preferred (the best?) If I had to guess I would think that washing it would be for more long term storage.

The mailman was a good man today!



That's 1500 grams of dry yeast - roughly enough for fifty 15 gallon batches! Unfortunately, I can't post the source, as it was a favor from a friend. However, I don't think I'll be needing any yeast for a while! Vacuum sealed in sanitary conditions, this stuff lasts for a LONG time.

Dude thats awesome....

i prefer my yeast to not impart any flavors so i can taste the malt!