Dry yeast unlikable flavor?

[brewprint]

I started using liquid yeast a while back and I no longer notice the flavor/aftertaste.

I notice a hint of it on a 1 week old bottled beer but I still taste it in 3 or 4 month old beers.

Not trying to knock dry yeast. I have noticed it in muntons and safeale. I won't subject myself to this awful flavor again which never leaves.

Does anyone else have this same experience?

 

[beertastic]

I dunno, I've used Safale 05 in quite a lot of brews, and started to notice an aftertaste common to most of them, but not all of them. It's supposed to be the chico strain right? I don't know if is stricter on fermentation temps, or that I normally pitch a massive starter with WLP001 or what, but I can tell you I'm starting to shy away from 05.

I would describe the flavor as very dry. Overly dry. Like it's striping the malt character out of the beer.

Not saying anything is wrong with the yeast, lots of people use it with success, but I guess it's just not for me. I have pretty strict temp control with an stc-1000 and a dedicated chest freezer.

Of course the obvious question is are you rehydrating the yeast packets properly?

 

[jrodmfish]

I primarily use Fermentis' dry yeasts in most of my beers and plan to continue doing so when my commercial brewery opens. So I can say with confidence these yeasts (especially 05) don't contribute any sort of "aftertaste". Many brewers use dry yeast because they deem it to be easier, i.e. no starter required. Just follow solid fermenting practices... always rehydrate dry yeast, make sure your wort is well oxygenated before pitching, control your fermenting temps, and life is good.

 

[biochemedic]

Use a lot of US-05 and also BRY-97...never an off flavor I've noticed... I pretty much only use liquid yeasts now when there's some strain I can't get an equivalent dry yeast in...mostly Belgians, saison yeast (although I'm kind of interested in trying the Belle Saison dry yeast), mead yeast (although I use a fair bit of 71-B), and cider (generally use the White Labs Dry Cider strain, but may branch out at some point and try the Mangrove Jack M02 dry cider yeast...).

Echoing a lot of what beertatic and jrodmfish said, overall, I just find dry yeast more convenient as I generally find it hard to squeeze in time ahead of the game to do a proper starter...if I need more yeast, I just pitch more than one packet...2 or 3 packets is usually still way cheaper than a unit of liquid yeast, and then there's the cost of the DME needed for the starter...

Brings me to the question that the others have asked...are you rehydrating? if you are pitching straight, you may be getting low pitch rates and stressed out yeast/poor fermentations that are leading to your off flavors....

 

[ong]

The last few US-05 batches I fermented cool, and got a really powerful "fermented orange juice" aroma. Other people don't seem to mind, but I find it almost undrinkable. But I got the same think with WLB001, so I think it's the strain, not the fact that it's dry yeast.

 

[brewprint]

The last few US-05 batches I fermented cool, and got a really powerful "fermented orange juice" aroma. Other people don't seem to mind, but I find it almost undrinkable. But I got the same think with WLB001, so I think it's the strain, not the fact that it's dry yeast.

Yeah I don't like that flavor at all.

 

[flars]

I use WY 1056 and US-05 quite a bit. Had no problems with American amber ales, but then brewed a dry Irish stout with it. Had a distinctive unpleasant after taste.
I typically fermented at 62° to 64°F with these yeasts. Information, here on HBT, said this strain of yeast will produce a peach flavor if brewed to cool. That was the flavor I couldn't describe at first. Had to add a couple of teaspoons of strong cold brewed coffee to each glass of stout to cover up the flavor.

I raised the fermentation temperature to 66° to 68°F for these yeasts. No more off flavor.

 

[brew_ny]

US-05 at 65F is great too cold it gets peachy

all the best

S_M

 

[phyllobeddo]

Well crud. All this talk of a peachy flavored US-05 at low temps...My pale wheat with a pack of US-05 is probably around 59 degrees right now in the wine fridge. I'm going to brew another batch of pale wheat. Is Notty any better at 59 or so degrees?

 

[j1n]

I'm not a fan of US-05 or even WLP001 or any Chico yeast. I will use WLP090 instead.

I know what you mean by the after taste. ive gotten it with any chico yeast not just us-05 but i think its more noticeable with us-05.

 

[mikescooling]

1056 or US05, I use them as my house strain and can't tell the difference. I've had the same beer racked on both at the same time and they taste the same, to me. The reason I do this is to introduce a new house first generation yeast and see how the old yeast I've been spinning for the last 4 months has changed.

 

[j1n]

Well crud. All this talk of a peachy flavored US-05 at low temps...My pale wheat with a pack of US-05 is probably around 59 degrees right now in the wine fridge. I'm going to brew another batch of pale wheat. Is Notty any better at 59 or so degrees?

Notty is very clean at 60 (Beer temp) which is what temp i ferment it at.

 

[brewprint]

All my beers were brewed this summer with my house around 68-70 and the unpleasant taste is in all the beers. I've come to the conclusion that its the 05 and I'll no longer use it. Just nasty

 

[boydster]

If you are fermenting 05 at 68-70 ambient, I would expect off flavors every time. You want the beer temp to be between 65-68 with that yeast, and the beer temp will be noticably warmer than the ambient temperature of the room you ferment in. It's kind of a narrow sweet spot, but it is what it is.

 

[brewprint]

So much for the convenience of dry yeast.

 

[boydster]

FWIW, most ale strains (especially "clean" ones) need to be kept cooler than 70 ambient, liquid or dry.

 

[dkevinb]

I use dry yeast exclusively and I don't get this flavor. I use US-05 for the majority of my beers, with S-04, Nottingham and Windsor thrown in from time to time. I try to keep them all in the mid- to high-60's during primary and maybe a few degrees warmer once primary is done. US-05 will tolerate low- to mid-70's during primary, but it will get a bit estery at those temps.

 

[brewprint]

I use dry yeast exclusively and I don't get this flavor. I use US-05 for the majority of my beers, with S-04, Nottingham and Windsor thrown in from time to time. I try to keep them all in the mid- to high-60's during primary and maybe a few degrees warmer once primary is done. US-05 will tolerate low- to mid-70's during primary, but it will get a bit estery at those temps.

My guess is that you don't notice the flavor that we're describing. I had many different palettes drink my beer and none of them knew what I was describing. They all thought the beer was great.

 

[brewprint]

I use dry yeast exclusively and I don't get this flavor. I use US-05 for the majority of my beers, with S-04, Nottingham and Windsor thrown in from time to time. I try to keep them all in the mid- to high-60's during primary and maybe a few degrees warmer once primary is done. US-05 will tolerate low- to mid-70's during primary, but it will get a bit estery at those temps.

My guess is that you don't notice the flavor that we're describing. I've had many different palettes drink my beer and they all loved it and didn't notice the flavor I was describing. It is however the same aftertaste/taste in all the beers that use dry yeast (muntons & safeale 05).

 

[mikescooling]

Take your beer to a HBCM and have them taste it. That is where the only constructive criticism that has been useful was shared with me. Put on your tuff skin and ask them.

 

[dkevinb]

My guess is that you don't notice the flavor that we're describing. I had many different palettes drink my beer and none of them knew what I was describing. They all thought the beer was great.

That's kind of a Catch 22. If my beer doesn't have that flavor I wouldn't taste it. But if I can't taste it I wouldn't know if my beer did have that flavor. In the second case there must be an awful lot of people who can't taste it as dry yeast in general, and US-05 in particular, seem to be used quite successfully by many brewers. Or at least they think they're using it successfully.

But the bottom line is if you like the beer you brew with liquid yeast better than the beer you brew with dry yeast, rock on. You are certainly not alone in preferring liquid yeast. I will, however, continue to think that my beer does not taste nasty, despite the fact that I use dry yeast.

Kevin B.