Dry Yeast reviews

[WestEggBrew]

Just started brewing back in December. Up to my fifth brew and have had relatively good success with dry yeast. (I always re-hydrate in a warm sugar solution or warm wort.). Was wondering if anyone would weigh in on the characteristics of different dry yeasts, ie. Flocculation, subtle flavor etc.

 

[ArcaneXor]

US-05 is an awesome neutral strain, and S-04 works very well for English beers that benefit from moderate ester production. In fact, I prefer it over many liquid English yeasts. Nottingham has had serious quality control issues during the past couple of yeasts. While it is great when it works, I lost two batches to it and won't use it again.
S-33 is notorious for underattenuating. I would avoid that one as well.

 

[kanzimonson]

05 and 04 are great yeasts to compare. Most new brewers use 05 in a lot of their first batches so they don't really branch out too much. I hate that yeast for a lot of reasons - it's high attenuation leaves a drier beer than I like, it has bad flocculation, and its ester profile is very restrained.

I love English ale yeasts because they are exactly the opposite in every way. You should make a batch and split it into two fermentors and pitch with 05 and 04. It's really fun to compare two yeast strains like this and you will notice huge flavor differences. Don't worry about only half-filling a fermentor - you can suffer some extra headspace for the sake of experimentation.

 

[WestEggBrew]

05 and 04 are great yeasts to compare. Most new brewers use 05 in a lot of their first batches so they don't really branch out too much. I hate that yeast for a lot of reasons - it's high attenuation leaves a drier beer than I like, it has bad flocculation, and its ester profile is very restrained.

I love English ale yeasts because they are exactly the opposite in every way. You should make a batch and split it into two fermentors and pitch with 05 and 04. It's really fun to compare two yeast strains like this and you will notice huge flavor differences. Don't worry about only half-filling a fermentor - you can suffer some extra headspace for the sake of experimentation.

Good advice about the experimental batch, I will try that soon. Any other comments on saflager?

 

[kanzimonson]

Never used it here. I know some people are die-hard dry yeast fans, but I think 04, 05, and Nottingham are the most popular. I've heard negative things about saflager, whichever one is the bavarian wheat yeast, and the belgian but if you're not ready to take on liquid yeast and starters then I wouldn't be opposed to any of these others.

 

[kanzimonson]

UNLESS you're willing to buy multiple liquid yeast packs to get the right pitch rate.

 

[Boodlemania]

UNLESS you're willing to buy multiple liquid yeast packs to get the right pitch rate.

No need to do that. Just make a starter. Then wash the yeast cake after racking to reuse on later batches. That makes the initial $8 investment on the liquid yeast a little more bearable.

 

[kanzimonson]

That's why I said "if you're not ready to take on liquid yeast and starters"

 

[LBMikeB]

That's why I said "if you're not ready to take on liquid yeast and starters"

No reason not to. Yeast starters are easy and efficient. I use an old growler and liquid yeast, way better brewing in my opinion.

 

[kanzimonson]

Everything in brewing is baby steps. You get comfortable with the idea of liquid yeast and starters, you do some more reading, you finally make your own and try it out. Same thing with going all grain, or learning water chemistry, or fermentation temps, or many other things.

I'd argue that nobody should ever overstep their comfort zone in brewing, even though there are many techniques that will definitely produce better beer. It's too easy to produce bad beer with bad technique.

To someone who's currently making starters, starters are the easiest thing in the world to comprehend, but I remember in my early days feeling like "that's one step too many for me." Eventually you come around and wonder why you didn't do it sooner.

 

[mrk305]

I have ussed Nottingham more than 100 times and I never had a problem. It is perfectly happy fermenting at room temperature.

 

[neovox]

I had always used liquid yeasts until recently, just because that's what I had learned with. I've now found that I really like US-05 for most anything that I would have used WL001 for before.

 

[boo boo]

Just started brewing back in December. Up to my fifth brew and have had relatively good success with dry yeast. (I always re-hydrate in a warm sugar solution or warm wort.). .

Better is just to rehydrate in water and use wort if you have to. Don't use sugar, as it's not the best for the yeast. Starting it in the medium it will be eating is better than sugar and still not best. Starting it in plain water ensures that the cell walls will be at their best.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f13/re-hydrating-yeast-94103/

 

[tagz]

05 and Nottingham are great if you like making pale ales, ipas, blondes, etc; anything that you want fairly well attenuated, with a clean profile. They're cheap, easy, and make solid beers.

Anything that relies on yeast as the dominant flavor component (hefes, belgians, etc), go liquid. And if you do go liquid, wash it and make a little stockpile to save yourself some money next time.

I second the rehydrating comment above. Just use hot water.