Hey Edwort, why the dry yeast???

[LoneOakDesign]

I notice you always use dry yeast on all of your recipes. I understand the longer shelf life and lower cost, but do you notice any real difference in your beers, or do they ferment out and taste the same as if you had used liquid yeast? I'm just curious because yeast makes up a large portion of the cost for each of my recipes. If i could get the same results using dry, I would love to give it a shot.

 

[Yuri_Rage]

I'll answer before Ed, only because yeast has been a real hassle for me. Dry yeast is typically processed right at its peak of activity and a single packet tends to offer many more viable yeast cells over a single vial of liquid yeast.

Sure, you can increase your cell count with a good starter, but even starters can be a little temperamental, and they increase the overall cost of the beer in both time and money.

Honestly, my best beers have been produced with dry yeast, and I just placed a very large bulk order for more of the stuff as a result. In fact, most recently, my pumpkin ale fermented completely and cleanly in TWO days with a very slight overpitch of some Nottingham dry yeast.

Unless I'm looking for some very unique yeast flavors (Belgian wit, Trappist, California common, German hefe, etc), I find it hard to come up with a reason to spend the time and cash on liquid yeast.

 

[EdWort]

I notice you always use dry yeast on all of your recipes. I understand the longer shelf life and lower cost, but do you notice any real difference in your beers, or do they ferment out and taste the same as if you had used liquid yeast? I'm just curious because yeast makes up a large portion of the cost for each of my recipes. If i could get the same results using dry, I would love to give it a shot.

Actually, if you look at my recipes listed, I use Nottingham for my Haus Ale, and Montrachet for my Apfelwein. My Kolsch, Oktoberfest, & Bavarian Hefe all use liquid yeast. I did make an IPA with Safale-05 though and it won 2nd place at the Alamo Cerveza Fest this year.

My recipes with the dry yeast work out great and I use the dry because it is simple and cheap while the beer turns out excellent.

Kolsch and the Bavarian Hefe are both German strains as I am trying to produce German style beers.

There are some great dry yeasts out there that produce excellent beers. It's great to keep some on hand when you feel like brewing and have not made a starter.

 

[Soulive]

I only use liquid yeast for Saisons. I love dry yeast and use it as much as possible. No starter needed, no aeration necessary, cheaper, and tons of yeast in there...

 

[McKBrew]

Personally I am a liquid yeast user, but after reading through some relevan threads I would concur that most beers could be made just as well with dry yeast. Unless you are looking for a specific flavor profile as in a hefeweizen, dry yeast is just as viable for most brewing needs.

Really it's a matter of preference and their are going to be arguments for and against dry yeast until the end of time.

 

[Soulive]

Fermentis has now put out dried hefeweizen yeast. I've used it and its fine...

 

[EdWort]

Fermentis has now put out dried hefeweizen yeast. I've used it and its fine...

Sounds tempting, but of all the Hefe's, I stick to Weihenstephan from Wyeast. You can't beat a liquid Hefe strain from the worlds oldest brewery from Germany.

Do you use it for an American Wheat?

 

[Yuri_Rage]

Fermentis has now put out dried hefeweizen yeast. I've used it and its fine...

I'm sure it is, and I've got a 1/2 kg package of it on the way. However, it appears to be an American hefe strain. I've got to agree with EdWort that you can't beat German hefe strains for a great German weizen.

 

[brett]

Specific types of beer call for specialized strains of yeast, most of which are only available in liquid form.

My current hefe-weisen was fermented with Wyeast 3333, it has hugely awesome clove/bubblegum attributes. I don't think I could have got that with any dry yeast.

That being said, dry yeast is awesome. Cheap, easy, produces great beer/cider. I only use liquid when the recipe/style calls for it.

 

[Soulive]

Edwort and Yuri, I've used it for 2 hefeweizens. I fermented it at 68F and it was mostly clove. I want to try fermenting at no lower than 70F next time. If it doesn't start throwing banana esters I may go back to the liquid. I mean I don't make starters for hefe's anyway, so its not that much of a hassle. To explain myself, I don't make starters for hefe's because stressing the yeast = more banana :rockin:

 

[EdWort]

My last Hefe, I taped the sensor for my freezer controller to the bucket and set the temp to 68 degrees. The first couple of days, the freezer went to 62 degrees while the bucket remained at 68. That's tells you how much heat fermenting causes.

I ended up with banana bobanana! ! Whoo Hoo

 

[Soulive]

My last Hefe, I taped the sensor for my freezer controller to the bucket and set the temp to 68 degrees. The first couple of days, the freezer went to 62 degrees while the bucket remained at 68. That's tells you how much heat fermenting causes.

I ended up with banana bobanana! ! Whoo Hoo

Yeah I'm still trying to achieve a happy medium between clove and banana. It seems the dry wheat yeast needs to be fermented warmer than the liquid. I'm guessing its because there are more cells in the dry...