Dry yeast Vs Liquid

[Turkeyfoot Jr.]

When I started brewing I used dry yeast only and then as I got to my 8th or 9th batch of extract I started trying liquid yeasts. I used predominately liquid yeasts for the rest of my extract batches plus the 7 PM batches I did. I enjoyed making the starters and washing the yeast when a batch was done. Once I started AG I decided it was time to get back to basics until I had the AG process itself worked out so I went back to dry yeast. The 9 AG batches I've done so far, all with either Nottingham or S-05, have all turned out great so I don't see myself going back to liquid any time soon.

 

[elkdog]

Just kegged a 10 gallon Hefe Wiezen batch. Pitched A dry yeast WB-06 in one and Wyeast 3068 in the other. Both 5 gallons were threated the same throughout. Hands down on the taste of the 5 gallon with Wyeast 3068 yeast!!!!

\

Yeah, that WB-06 seems to confirm the going wisdom that dry yeasts are great for clean American or English styles, but that Belgians, Hefes, and other specialty brews do better with the liquids. All of my favorite beers fall into that American/English vein, so the dry yeast works terrifically for me, but then I don't brew many hefes.

 

[Teacher]

I pretty much use Nottingham & Safale-05 for all my beers [. . .]

Same here.

 

[Beerbeque]

I also am just using dry yeast now for all my standard ales. I have found no downside to using them but I sure appreciate the advantages over liquid yeast.
Beerbeque

 

[Hell Brew]

I just brewed a saison with T58 dry yeast. It has that spicy phenolic smell to it so we will see how it goes. I live in an apartment so my yeast would sit in the hot office if I ordered liquid.

 

[brewt00l]

I can understand having a preference for one over the other but I really don't understand any need to be exclusive.....Why limit yourself to the number of colors you paint with?

 

[Steel-Reserve]

what about the yeast cake from the previous batch that you stored the fridge until next batch?? isnt that like 80 trillion yeast in there??

 

[Steel-Reserve]

anyone? this is possible right?

 

[RC0032]

anyone? this is possible right?

(Im no expert) Yes according to posts near the end of this thread -> https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=41768 But you have to do it right away. Basically move beer 1 to the secondary, place beer 2 into the primary of beer 1 same day.

 

[RC0032]

Rehydrate! It was already discussed on this forum, bot it is worth repeating: if you don' give yeast a chance go get back into shape in clean water, you will loose ~50% of them.

Details on how? I used this method and it was just OK

5. Rehydrate the dried yeast. Although many people skip this step with fair results, re-hydrating it assures the best results. While you are waiting for the brew water to boil, rehydrate two packets of dried ale yeast. Put 1 cup of warm (95-105°F, 35-40°C), preboiled water into your sanitized jar and stir in the yeast. Cover with plastic wrap and wait 15 minutes.



Next, "proof" the yeast. Start by adding one teaspoon of malt extract or table sugar to a small amount of water (1/4 cup, for example) and boil it to sanitize. (A microwave oven is good for this step.) Allow the sugar solution to cool and then add it to the yeast jar. Cover and place in a warm area out of direct sunlight. Check after 30 minutes, it should be exhibiting some signs of activity - some foaming and/or churning. If it just seems to sit on the bottom of the jar, then it is probably dead. Repeat the rehydration procedure with more yeast. (See Chapter 6 - Yeast, for more info.)
- http://howtobrew.com/section1/chapter1-1.html

 

[Bobby_M]

You don't really need to stir the yeast in. In fact, it's better if you just sprinkle the yeast on top of the water and let them take on the moisture at their own pace. There's no reason to proof the yeast either.. unless it was super heated in the package, it's going to be fine.

 

[jts15]

Yeah, that WB-06 seems to confirm the going wisdom that dry yeasts are great for clean American or English styles, but that Belgians, Hefes, and other specialty brews do better with the liquids. All of my favorite beers fall into that American/English vein, so the dry yeast works terrifically for me, but then I don't brew many hefes.

Sorry for the noob question but can you guys expand on the "other specialty brews"? I'm also not sure what you mean by "clean" styles. Are stouts considered clean?
I've only done 5 batches and used all liquid yeast (I guess I heard the old myth that liquid is superior too). I'd like to cut my costs but don't want to sacrifice on taste.
Thanks in advance.

 

[DeathBrewer]

"clean" means that they do not add a lot of their own flavor from the yeast. it leaves most of that up to the malt and hops.

stouts do not generally need a liquid yeast. nottingham will make a fantastic dry stout. us-05 will work great for stouts, too.

 

[Labrat]

I have recently noticed that dry yeast is going up in price. A few months ago I was paying $1.60 and recently it is over $2.50. While this is much cheaper than liquid it is a drastic increase. I can make 10 slants and batch from a vial or bag of yeast. This significantly lowers the price per beer when buying 50# sacks of grain. I like to give beer away, thus as cheap as possible.
The frugal brewer

 

[EdWort]

I have recently noticed that dry yeast is going up in price. A few months ago I was paying $1.60 and recently it is over $2.50. While this is much cheaper than liquid it is a drastic increase. I can make 10 slants and batch from a vial or bag of yeast. This significantly lowers the price per beer when buying 50# sacks of grain. I like to give beer away, thus as cheap as possible.
The frugal brewer

Williams Brewing has Nottingham and Safale -05. When you buy a dozen, the knock 25 cents off a pack. That brings Nottingham down to $1.20/pack and Safale-05 down to $1.60 per pack.

 

[elkdog]

I have recently noticed that dry yeast is going up in price. A few months ago I was paying $1.60 and recently it is over $2.50. While this is much cheaper than liquid it is a drastic increase. I can make 10 slants and batch from a vial or bag of yeast. This significantly lowers the price per beer when buying 50# sacks of grain. I like to give beer away, thus as cheap as possible.
The frugal brewer

Speaking speculatively, my guess is that it's because transporting things has gotten a lot more expensive lately. I'm curious though (sincerely curious, not rhetorically curious), do the materials involved in making slants push the cost/benefit of liquid in any way?

 

[Labrat]

The slants require very little dry malt extract and some plain gelatin packets. The corresponding starters require much more malt extract. I love the US-05 it is extremely convenient and fast. The 1056/WLP001 yeast were my default yeast anyway. I only recently became aware of the Safale US-05 since I restarted brewing (December). The nice thing about slants is you can start a library of some of the more exotic strains. I can store these cold for many months. I will probaby order a case of US-05 and or the Nottingham and keep the slants for the "special brews."

 

[944play]

This is why we introduced our new lager yeast ( Diamond Lager Yeast ) last year.

source

Are any HBSs carrying Diamond?

AHS repackages W-34/70, for example.

 

[jay075j]

I see there a many fans of Nottingham out there. Has anyone done a side by side comparison with US Safale-05?

I have this experiment going right now. I did 20 gal of BM Centenial Blonde this weekend, and I have 10 gal with Nottingham, and 10 with Safale-05. I'm looking forward to seeing how this turns out. But to be honest, I'm not really sure if there will be an discernable difference. I'll let you know though.

 

[Bob869007]

I'm fermenting a SNPA Clone as I write this. Because I forgot to order DME for a starter, I decided to experiment. I split the batch into 2 carboys, then added different but similar yeasts. One with US Safale-05 and the other Wyeast 1056. Based on my techniques and anal sanitation this has potential to be my best brew yet. I'm definitely excited to taste the difference. Who else has tried this sort of side by side experiment with dry vs liquid and what were your results?

I brewed a Pale Ale with Wyeast Ringwood Ale and then I brewed the exact same recipe with Safale US-05. The Safale is still in the secondary but the Ringwood version is awesome.

 

[Brewgeeky]

Can you use dry yeast for commercial?

 

[Revvy]

Can you use dry yeast for commercial?

Several breweries do, that's why companies like Fermentis have "industrial divisions."

Beer Industrial Brewing Why use Fermentis Yeast

 

[Daydreaming]

Dry yeast works very well commercially for smaller breweries that do not have the ability to repitch immediately and want to run different strains of yeast through their brewhouse. I talked to a couple brewpubs that used them for those reasons. One of them did occasionally propagate up some liquid yeast but he said for most of their mainstays it was nice to just drop in a brick of dry when they needed to brew it.

I currently use S-04, S-05, S-33, T-58 and S-23 for my own brews. I have had consistent performance from all of them. I love dry yeast since the viability due to age has never been an issue. I will agree that liquid can still have some advantages as far as variety and certain flavor profiles.

 

[pauswa]

I only use dry yeast because I buy all my brew ingredients on the internet, plus my town in southern California gets very hot in the summer (often over 100 degrees for weeks), so no liquid yeast would survive. I have found Coopers yeast works great and tastes fine when fermented under 70 or so. I also like Safale 05.

 

[lalnx]

For a Hefe, I have had good luck with the Danstar Munich Nice flavor profile fermented mid 60's. More banana than clove, but that's my preference any how. As others have stated, I to have not found WB-06 to produce the proper "hefe" flavor. T-58 makes for nice belgian beers, I've even made a Wit with it and racked a golden strong ale onto the cake with good results. Late syrup additions to the primary really dried it out. Most everythnig else I make gets S-04, or S-05. I've yet to go back to nottingham since my run in with 3 bad packs. Sure they were all the same isolated lot number, but you know it is just a confidence thing . I'll eventually get over it, probably when I ever get around to mail customer service my bad packages and they do the right thing and mail me some new ones back.

 

[skepticalbrewer]

So I tried using a liquid yeast (Wyeast American Pale ale) and this was my first time trying it. It turns out that the nutrient packet hadn't broken so it was just the yeast that came out. So I burst the nutrient packet and put them and the yeasties in the wort thinking that the yeast will be fine and wake up and start fermenting. It's only been a few hours but not a bubble has risen to the surface of the brew so far. I can see why dry yeast are way easier not to mention cheaper.

If there isn't any fermentation after a day I was thinking of adding some dry yeast too. I have a packet of safale ale yeast lying around in the fridge. Any thoughts.

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

I only use dry yeast because I buy all my brew ingredients on the internet, plus my town in southern California gets very hot in the summer (often over 100 degrees for weeks), so no liquid yeast would survive. I have found Coopers yeast works great and tastes fine when fermented under 70 or so. I also like Safale 05.

From Lake Elsinore, I'm surprised you don't make the jump up to Riverside to B3 for ingredients... It's not exactly "around the corner", but I would think that given the good prices and great selection, you'd be well taken care of...

Or jump over the Ortega to O'Shea -- not a great selection [and worse prices], but plenty of strains of liquid to choose from...

Granted, I'm a dry yeast guy, but I'm just surprised that you don't make the occasional trek to some of these places...

 

[Beezy]

I have used mainly dry yeast as I haven't tried doing starters yet. I really like 05. Has a good pace to it. I'll use it for anything needing a cleanish yeast. 04 used once and it flocculated way before I hit FG and I am still dealing with that batch. Not too happy. Notti I also tried once and it was fast and furious as well but at least it finished. Gonna try a starter for the next batch. I need the clove for a dunkelweizen.

 

[Ballroomblitz1]

I experienced the same with my first batch using liquid yeast (White Labs WLP810 San Francisco Lager) - very little fermenting activity, no bubbling for about 10 hours and then continued slowly for three days. From what I am deriving, this should not concern me, right? My previous batches have all involved dry yeast (Safale 4 & 5 or Nottingham) and the bubbling was much more active, starting after about 8 hours. My current beer on tap was fermented by reusing a yeast cake of Safale 4 and 5. Wow, talk about active! The fermentation was visible (bubbles) within 3 hours and resulted in blowover. The beer (Quad-Hopped IPA affectionately labelled Sonoma 41) has a pretty good kick. I didn't take any OG reads, but I can feel it after two glasses. Will the liquid yeast brew a lower alcohol percentage?

Just finished - California Red-Legged IPA (Racer 5 Clone)
Tap - Sonoma 41 (Quad-hopped IPA)
First Fermenter - Postcards from Gualala (Anchor Steam Clone)

 

[geezerpk]

k. I didn't take any OG reads, but I can feel it after two glasses.

That beats the hell out of any "steenking" hydrometer readings.