For the love of Dry Yeast?

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Diablotastic

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So I'm relatively new to Homebrewing (extremely new to AG) and I know it depends on the style of beer but it seems that Dry Yeast seems to be a wonderful thing. It's like 1/3 the cost of liquid and doesn't seem to need a starter from what I've read. Of course I'm working of a 55lb bag of base US 2 row so it's seems that most recipes I've been trying can use a Safale or Notty and this may change when I start a run of Belgians but other then that....why does it seem that the LHBS and online stores try and push the more expensive Liquid versions when a dry yeast seems to work just as good if not better for alot of styles?
 
Easy, they are more expensive. What I find amazing are people buying liquid yeast strains that are identical to dried strains.
 
^+1

Right now I'm stocked up on US-05 and S-04, and that's all I'll be using for a while, but I think they have found that many strains don't take well to being dried, which is why there is still such a market for the liquid. Also, drying the yeast is probably an expensive process and is made economical by doing it in mass. Trying to maintain the same variety of yeast strains in dried yeast would be difficult.
 
yeah that's the conclusion that I was thinking too....when I started extract kit brewing...the only yeast option in the drop down choices are liquids. Now that I'm doin AG and putting together recipes from researching info here for the most part....I haven't picked a liquid yeast yet.

What's kinda funny is one of the better resluts I had with Extract was my 1st home brew which was a brown that came with a Notty. Of course this coulda have been a bit of a placebo affect where I was blinded by the love of homebrew in tasting my 1st creation :mug:
 
Dry yeasts are great. Just limited as to variety as has been mentioned. I rely almost solely on dry. SO-4 and US-05. I have used Notty and like that too but my LHBS only carries Windsor and I have not enjoyed the results of that.

It is a question of availability for me. My LHBS carries dry yeast or a locally produced liquid yeast which is TERRIBLE. Never certain if you are going to get a pure batch of yeast or if it will be infected with other microbes, wild yeasts, etc. :mad:

So I stick with dry yeast. If I want to use a particular liquid yeast I wait until I have a big order of things I can get from one of the online suppliers with flat-rate shipping. I really do not want to buy a $5-7 vial/pouch of yeast anf then pay another $5-7 shipping! Or If I happen to be traveling and I stop at another shop I buy the yeast then. I have used a belgian strain, Steam beer strains, and Scottish ale yeast. I try and plan several brews around a liquid yeast to get the most out of it too. Other than that dry works for the beers I brew.
 
I jumped on the dry yeast bandwagon a couple years ago. I guess before that I figured if liquid was five times the price it had to be better. WRONG! Now days I only use liquid in hefes.
 
Until I can brew with absolute consistency, and am sure I have my method down, then, and only then will I play around with different pitching methods. Dry yeast works just fine for me at the moment, and until I can judge my beer knowing that the only variable is a different pitching method I don't see the point in spending any extra cash.
 
I've only brewed 7 extract batches but recently started using the dry for the reasons above and also so that I do not have to worry about when to brew, usually I order once a month or 6 weeks. I did a search on the forums and went thru the first 10 pages of titles and didn't see what I was looking for.

Is there a good summary of the dry yeasts and what each strain is best for, aside from the catalog descriptions? and their fermentation ranges. If not that may be my winter research project

An example: The two kits I just ordered from MWS. They are usually supplied with the Muntons Fision yeast. The kits are a cream ale and a red ale, I will also be looking at an english mild and a scottish ale. (not sure yet from which supplier). For approx 2$ more would there have been a better choice of yeast?
 
I like dry yeast well enough. From hanghing round here recently I think I'll avoid Munton's though. I like Safale o4 and always keep a few packs on hand for emergencies. If given a choice though I'd pick liquid no matter what strain.
 
I went through my liquid yeast phase in my first year or so. Now, I only use them for hefes/wits.

Even for Belgians, I get it from a bottle of whatever.

For everything else, even lagers, dry yeast is the schiz. I look at my collection of WLP empties and think, "What the hell was I thinking...?"
 
Until I can brew with absolute consistency, and am sure I have my method down, then, and only then will I play around with different pitching methods. Dry yeast works just fine for me at the moment, and until I can judge my beer knowing that the only variable is a different pitching method I don't see the point in spending any extra cash.

That's exactly where I'm at right now. So far I've yet to be dissatisfied with a batch I'm made with Safale US-05, except that my LHBS now charges $3.45 a packet for it. I actually reused my yeast last brewday.

Now that they have Nottingham back in stock at $1.25 I may try that.
 
I am very interested to see where this thread goes. I have used 2 smack packs and the rest of my brews have been dry with me not really being able to tell any benefits to either method because of my lack of experience. Like LandHoney said, I just assumed since it was more, it had to be better! I'll be keeing an eye on this thread. Also got my mason jars and plan to start washing with the saf05 in my Scottish 60 in primary.
 
Some good news. Danstar FINALY got Nottingham back into production.
 
I'm happy to hear there are other home brewers who appreciate the benefits of dry yeast like I do. I've used both liquid and dry yeast, and I have a hard time telling the differnce in the final product.

There is this funny bias among some brewers and a lot of brew shop staff that liquid is always better. Everytime I ask my LHBS why I should use a particular liquid yeast for a specific brew, their answer is unfailingly "Because it will have a more authentic flavor". Really? When you're making some crazy hybrid American Amber Ale, what exactly does authentic mean?

I've mentioned this before on this board, but Great Lakes Brewery produces their impressive variety of beers using only 3 types of yeast. They have a single yeast strain for their lagers, a different one for their ales, and a third for their Belgian ales. Sure, their yeast probably started out as a liquid culture, but the point is that a good all-purpose ale yeast is sufficient to produce great ales of nearly any variety and the same is true of lagers. And yet, a lot of home brewers would say you should never use the same yeast strain on your American Pale Ale that you would on an English Pale Ale. The real appeal of liquid yeast to these guys is the many varieties it comes in - but I doubt most of these varieties (other than Hefe's and Belgians) make a perceptible differnce in the final product, especially given the many environmental variables during fermentation.

With all the information out there about liquid yeasts, it would be good to see someone produce some in-depth comparisons of dry yeasts.
 
I use dry for a clean ale, or a beer with a British fruitiness, which is 90% of beers. They have yet to dry strains that are good for lagers, belgians, hefes, kolsch, etc.

If you are using liquid, a good tip is to first brew a British mild, a scottish 60/-, or anything else with a gravity below 1.036 and few hops, Then you can just throw your liquid yeast in there and use it exactly as you would a starter. No washing, etc.
 
I use dry for a clean ale, or a beer with a British fruitiness, which is 90% of beers. They have yet to dry strains that are good for lagers...

You need to try Saflager S-23 my friend. If you are brewing a basic german lager, nothin fancy, it is great.

However, there are some beers I do not do without liquid strains, such as stouts. I am sure I could make a good beer with nottingham, but WL007 and WL004 are freaking top notch. That is why you need to read the yeast ranching threads here.
 
You need to try Saflager S-23 my friend. If you are brewing a basic german lager, nothin fancy, it is great.

I'll give it a try sometime. Probably not for a while, though.

However, there are some beers I do not do without liquid strains, such as stouts.

I use fermentis S-04, S-05, or Notty for my stouts. They always do a great job.
 
70-80% of my beers are pale ales and IPA's, and I never use liquid yeast, always 04 or 05. Safale even makes a dry hefe yeast now, which I tried last summer and it produced an excellent beer.

I short, unless I'm trying for a specialty beer/style, I stick with dry.
 
I went through my liquid yeast phase in my first year or so.

I look at my collection of WLP empties and think, "What the hell was I thinking...?"

This is EXACTLY what I'm thinking. (Are you me in a parallel universe?)

I'm going to go dry for a while, except for the odd Belgian or Altbier. I have my Bitter recipe that I brew with WLP's Burton Ale yeast and it tastes great, but on my next batch, I'm going to try S-04 to see if there's a significant difference.

I'm also anxious to try Saflager W-34/70 for my Munich lagers. Anyone try that yet and have comments on it?
 
I have used S-05 more than all other yeasts combined. However, it took me a while to get it dialed in, it always goes dry so I will never use it when mashing below 154. I brewed an APA yesterday and pitched it at like 62, right now it is 66 and is considerably slower than normal, should be interesting to see how that effects it. I have also recently discovered how great S-04 is for English ales and now use it in all my beers which require some fruity character.

That said I have ad very bad luck with S-23, I will probably try it again but I still do like the liquid lager strains. When I am looking for something very specific I will use liquid yeast, but it is hard when it costs so much more and you have to make a starter. I also use liquid if I know I will be reusing the yeast.
 
That said I have ad very bad luck with S-23, I will probably try it again but I still do like the liquid lager strains.

This is why I've not used dry lager strains... because I hear of so many mixed results. But Fermentis recently (I believe) released Saflager W-34/70 for homebrewers. This is supposed to be the same strain as WLP-830, which I use a lot for my German lagers, so I'm gonna give it a try.
 
It seems to me that the list of beers you can brew with 05 and 04 is much longer than the list of beers you cannot. I keep liquid around. I have German Ale, Cali Common, Hefeweizen, Belgian Golden Ale and Wit yeast lying around, but the majority of the beer I brew I use either 04 or 05.
 
That's exactly where I'm at right now. So far I've yet to be dissatisfied with a batch I'm made with Safale US-05, except that my LHBS now charges $3.45 a packet for it. I actually reused my yeast last brewday.

I've noticed US-05 and S-04 going up in price over the past few years, with the online shops as well. My guess is more and more people are figuring out that liquid yeast is not necessary or superior for many, many styles, and the shops are missing the revenue.
 
I use liquid yeast almost exclusively, however I get 3 beers out of each vial so it's not too expensive.

I should note that I've only made two beers with dry yeast. I have nothing against it, however. I should probably do a split dry/liquid batch sometime.

I'm mainly getting interested in dry because you don't have to make starters and I'm lazy. :)

That said, I love my malty Edinburgh ale yeast, and I don't *think* there is a dry equivalent.
 
They have yet to dry strains that are good for lagers, belgians, hefes, kolsch, etc.
I disagree, I get great results with Safelager S-23 and Safebrew WB-6 (hefe)

I do agree that for Belgians liquid is still the best choice
 
I just checked my brewing software and I haven't used liquid yeast in the last 17 batches. The last time I did use it was on some hefeweizen. For the stuff I brew, dry yeast makes more sense. 60% of the time, it works every time...
 
I've noticed US-05 and S-04 going up in price over the past few years, with the online shops as well. My guess is more and more people are figuring out that liquid yeast is not necessary or superior for many, many styles, and the shops are missing the revenue.

Yeah could be, but it could also be just that everything is going up as well. :/


I have always used dry strains for everything but Belgian styles or Hefe's. I never saw a need otherwise. The exception would be something like the Kolsch yeast I used.
 
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