I have made a few batches of beer thus far and they have all been great. I have only ever used dry yeast so I'm wandering why I should spend more money to get liquid yeast. Is there an advantage to liquid?
Dry Vs. Liquid Yeast
- Thread starter muse435
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BendBrewer
Well-Known Member
I think you have more options with liquid. I went from liquid to dry and have never looked back although I stick to basic American Ales for consumption purposes only.
dzlater
Well-Known Member
There are more varieties of liquid yeast available.
KevinW
Well-Known Member
More variety of liquid yeasts over dry, other than that probably not too much.
Liquids do not necessarily require starters but it helps most of the time where with dry you should NOT use starters!
Just my 2 pennies worth!
Liquids do not necessarily require starters but it helps most of the time where with dry you should NOT use starters!
Just my 2 pennies worth!
balzern
Well-Known Member
Just a side note - if you do go to liquid make a starter. Once I started making starters (lol) the fermentation started quickly and super vigorous. Also, IMO I have made better beers using starters and they easy/fun to make!
The advantage is using a strain that has characteristics you cannot get from a dried strain. Relatively few strains have been (or can be, so far) reduced to dried form for the homebrewer.
If you just want a clean fermenting ale yeast, there is no need to use anything but dry. If you want the myriad special characteristics that different strains possess, you'll have to use liquid. You might try splitting up a batch and using different yeasts on it to discover the differences.
If you just want a clean fermenting ale yeast, there is no need to use anything but dry. If you want the myriad special characteristics that different strains possess, you'll have to use liquid. You might try splitting up a batch and using different yeasts on it to discover the differences.
asterix404
Well-Known Member
I agree completely, except with the lager yeast. The slafanger yellow lager yeast is the same as the liquid bock yeast and is cheaper and the best yeast I have used to date (including liquid). I have also used liquid yeasts without starters either because I forgot or didn't know how to do it etc and the beers have come out just fine. I recommend using one, but if you forget with a liquid yeast, pitch in anyway and wait a few days.
This seems pretty well covered, but I'll add this. I rehydrate dried(11 or 12 grams per 5gal. sg<1.060) in 100f h20 and have much shorter lag times than even liquid with starter. Just make sure the yeast and wort are both very close fermentation temperature when you pitch. They say aeration is not needed with drieds. I ALWAYS aerate well though.
Is it possible to make a starter out of liquid yeast and already boiled wort?
All the starters I've seen online involve boiling fresh water and mixing w/ DME. That doesn't make sense to me if I'm coming from an AG batch to all of a sudden mix in a foreign DME.
Here you go...there's plenty of threads just like this. But I put some links in here.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/dry-vs-liquid-yeast-185480/
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/dry-vs-liquid-yeast-185480/
TheBrewinator
Well-Known Member
When I do starters to avoid getting the fermented liquid from the starter, I usually let it sit in the fridge for about 24 hours before I use it to sediment the yeast so I can decant 95% of the fermented starter. I then drain some wort from my boil kettle to suspend the yeast to pitch after I transfer from brew kettle to fermenter.
As far as making the starter out of the already boiled wort, I suppose you could, but you would have to let your finished wort sit for 24ish hours to let the starter become active. I know some people (and I am going to start doing this) save some wort from the previous mash and freeze it for use in future starters. That would save on having to use DME.
OP
OP
Thanks revvy, when i searched all i found was This Vs. That. I'm glad you posted the link
What's the problem with making a dry starter? I understand you might not need to in a 5-gal batch, but does it cause problems to make a starter?
