Don't mean to start any dry/liquid yeast debate...

[RadicalEd]

But I was really shocked to see the difference between a dry yeast fermentation and a liquid yeast one. Ie, shortly after dumping the yeast slurry from my starter into the carboy, I'd get a mad, frenzied fermentation that required a blow off tube. A few hours after emptying a dry packet, though, a tidy little krausen starts up and starts working merrily away. Somehow, the dry yeast just seemed more...dignified.

Anybody else experience this phenomenon? Now, I'm not saying one type is better than the other, just curious as to whether others had noticed this .

 

[Fingers]

You know, I've always had exactly the opposite effect.

 

[RadicalEd]

Hmmmm, could be an effect of the lowering temps, but really, my closet stays an unfortunate 75 most of the time .

 

[Yuri_Rage]

Do you rehydrate the dry yeast? Rehydrated yeast is "woken up" more gently, so it winds up with a better survival rate when pitched. Every time I've pitched rehydrated dry yeast, the fermentation is ridiculously fast.

 

[Blender]

I use mostly liquid yeast and put 5.5 gallons in a 6 gallon fermentor. I find the liquid blows more yeast out the tube than the dry yeast but each beer has been pretty good regardless.

 

[Orfy]

I've had brews ferment in <24hrs with dry yeast.

 

[brewt00l]

Ie, shortly after dumping the yeast slurry from my starter into the carboy, I'd get a mad, frenzied fermentation that required a blow off tube. A few hours after emptying a dry packet, though, a tidy little krausen starts up and starts working merrily away. Somehow, the dry yeast just seemed more...dignified.

I've had blow-offs with both liquid and dry...pitching plenty of yeast, at the right temp into aerated wort is the first step either way to a healthy fermentation for me.

 

[rohanski]

I switched to liquid a long time ago and even with a starter it starts slow. The reason I switched is the taste is better with liguid. My question is has anyone out there tried mixing dry and liquid in the same batch one for a quick start and the other for flavor? Or will it make a difference at all in the flavor?

 

[brewt00l]

I switched to liquid a long time ago and even with a starter it starts slow. The reason I switched is the taste is better with liguid. My question is has anyone out there tried mixing dry and liquid in the same batch one for a quick start and the other for flavor? Or will it make a difference at all in the flavor?

...or just make a starter with your liquid and get a shorter lag (in general).

 

[rohanski]

I do that but it never starts up as fast. I did aeriate my last starter for the first time and it did a lot better (way more activity) but I haven't pitched it yet. That might make the big difference.

 

[clayof2day]

I think the amount of blow-off is dependent on the strain more than the type of yeast. An english ale yeast is not likely to blow off a ton of yeast while a true top cropping strain like a hefe yeast will blow like crazy. This will relate to the health of the yeast as well, as everyone has mentioned, but I don't think it really matters whether it is dry or liquid.

What ever happened to our blind three way test we were going to do with US-05 and WLP001 anyways? That would be fun!

 

[brewt00l]

I do that but it never starts up as fast. I did aeriate my last starter for the first time and it did a lot better (way more activity) but I haven't pitched it yet. That might make the big difference.

I prb get somewhat similar lag times between my liquid/starters and dry...I don't really pay all that close attention to my lag times since I know I have my other bases covered. Besides, lag time isn't all that some make it out to be.

 

[rohanski]

A 48 hour lag will make you pull your hair out.

 

[Bobby_M]

It has a lot to do with how big the beer is and how many yeast cells are pitched. Twice as many cells on a beer twice as big is going to go farging nuts.

 

[FlyGuy]

I think the amount of blow-off is dependent on the strain more than the type of yeast. An english ale yeast is not likely to blow off a ton of yeast while a true top cropping strain like a hefe yeast will blow like crazy. This will relate to the health of the yeast as well, as everyone has mentioned, but I don't think it really matters whether it is dry or liquid.

It could also be the recipe. Hefe's and wit's have a lot of wheat in them, which means lots of head-forming-proteins. That probably also means that your krausen is going to retain its 'head' longer, leading to bigger blow-offs.

I also agree that the lag or blow-off from liquid vs. dry is the same. As Bobby says, it all has to do with your beer and the number of viable yeast cells you are pitching. Don't forget that unless you are making a big (i.e., greater than 2 L) starter for your liquid yeast, a single 11 g packet of dry yeast has more yeast cells in it. So to observe that dry yeast ferments out more quickly or is more prone to big blow-offs might have more to do with the fact that you may be pitching more yeast with one of those little packets of dry yeast (it just seems so counter-intuitive that this could be true!).

 

[RadicalEd]

Hehe, well the liquid yeast I have been using was cultivated with a 2L starter on a ghetto @ss stirplate; definitely some high yeast counts in there .

Here's what my brewing experience has been so far:

6 gal apfelwein: re-hydrated dry yeast, got an infection
1 gal apfelwein: re-hydrated dry yeast, also got an infection (bad juice, I think)
5 gal hefe: liquid yeast, 2L starter, explosive blow off
5 gal dry Irish stout: liquid yeast, 2L starter, explosive blow off
Boddington's Bitter clone: non-rehydrated dry yeast, a little slow to start, no more than 2 inches of krausen, but roiling little fermentation
1 gal pyment: non-rehyrated, lots of bubbling but no foam
5gal afelwein: non-rehyrated, lots of bubbling but no foam

I know the wines may not be relevant, but thought I should throw them out there anyway .