dry vs. liquid yeast

[hawktrap74]

can anybody give me the pros and cons to dry and liquid yeast. i tried a liquid lager yeast on my last batch and nothing going on in there. should i just shut up and wait or get some dry yeast let me know on this.
i would really like to know what the difference of dry and liquid is though.

 

[Janx]

Liquid tastes better and offers far more variety. You have to make a starter in order to get it to take off quickly. Freshness is also a big factor with liquid yeast.

How long since you pitched? What is the strain? What is the expiration date? What is the temperature of your wort? Did you make a starter?

Liquid really makes much better beer because you can use the same exact strains commercial breweries use. Cheers!

 

[hawktrap74]

everything was fine with temp and starter but it had a date of 10-04 on the package that has been six months right. two days its been sitting.

 

[Janx]

And the starter fermented OK?

I've definitely seen the older yeasts go really slow. Once I got an infection because of the lag time. A vigorous starter is essential.

48 hours would be worrying me. I might get some dry yeast in there if you don't see activity really soon. In the future, you'll have much better results with really fresh yeast. The White Labs Wit yeast I started Wednesday was fermenting within hours.

 

[hawktrap74]

Now should I reboil the wort before I pitch again or just let it go as is?

 

[BitterRat]

Now should I reboil the wort before I pitch again or just let it go as is?

Don't reboil, just pitch a new yeast,if that's what you're going to do. I always suggest making a starter for liquid yeast. Although they say it is pitchable, you will get a quicker start and more complete fermentation when making a starter. If the yeast is older, then make the starter a bit ahead of brew day,

 

[hawktrap74]

well i let it go for 5 days and it finally started to work. its good bubbling away. now when i want to transfer over to secondary, can i reuse the yeast on the bottom of the bucket? now if i do that what temp do i have to have the wort at so it wont kill the yeast?

 

[hawktrap74]

oh just a reminder i want to transfer over on brew day.

 

[uglygoat]

i'd aim for the temp you want to ferment at... 60-65.

as long as the wort is below 90 you shouldn't shock the yeast and kill it.

 

[Janx]

Make sure you taste the beer in the primary! I'm not sure I would reuse yeast that took so long to get going unless the beer it made tastes absolutely clean.