Us-05

[frozennorth]

I am taking the afternoon off to make a Cascade DIPA, in the 10 ABV range. This will be my first time using US-05. I was planning on pitching 18 grams. Should I just pitch two packs and call it good? If need be, I am going to pitch some champaign yeast to finish it.

 

[Owly055]

I am taking the afternoon off to make a Cascade DIPA, in the 10 ABV range. This will be my first time using US-05. I was planning on pitching 18 grams. Should I just pitch two packs and call it good? If need be, I am going to pitch some champaign yeast to finish it.

With a high gravity brew like that, you should make a starter

 

[JustLooking]

With a high gravity brew like that, you should make a starter

No starter with US-05. Two packs. Especially if you don't re-hydrate.

 

[QuercusMax]

Agree with JustLooking. Use 2 packs of yeast, rehydrated in 90ºF water. You shouldn't make starters for dry yeast, as it uses up the cellular reserves the yeast makers have built up.

Also make sure you aerate/oxygenate before pitching, that makes a big difference especially on a beer this big.

Now, in all honesty, I wouldn't actually pitch 2 packs of yeast. I'd make a 1.050 beer with one pack of US-05, and then take about a pint of the yeast slurry from the bottom of the fermenter and pitch that. That way you'll have a huge pitch of healthy yeast.

 

[eric19312]

2 packs
rehydrate
oxygenate

You will be fine. I would not get the champagne yeast involved.

US05 is my favorite yeast in part due to flexibility of always having ready to go yeast on hand for whenever a brew day opportunity pops up.

 

[LandoLincoln]

I'm assuming a 5 gallon batch?

Two packs should be okay, provided that they're not too old and have been stored appropriately.

Be sure to hydrate the yeast before pitching and you'll be fine.

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

whats the original gravity, 10% means more grain or sugar which needs more yeast so without a starter my calculator says 569 B cells required and that says 6 packs at 11 grams

http://www.brewersfriend.com/yeast-pitch-rate-and-starter-calculator/

 

[frozennorth]

Yes, it is a 5 gallon batch. I always rehydrate when using dry yeast and have had great success with S-04. Thank you all. I will let you know how it goes. One more question. The last two batches I have made were an ESB and a English IPA, both used S-04, and had no need for a blow off tube. How active is US-05? Should I use a blow off tube?

 

[hannibalmdq]

Also make sure you aerate/oxygenate before pitching, that makes a big difference especially on a beer this big.

Just an FYI, and I know this is a specific question about a high gravity brew. Dantar/Lallemand says right on their site that their yeast are package with lipids and don't need to be aerated.

http://www.danstaryeast.com/about/frequently-asked-questions

"I always aerate my wort when using liquid yeast. Do I need to aerate the wort before pitching dry yeast?

No, there is no need to aerate the wort but it does not harm the yeast either. During its aerobic production, dry yeast accumulates sufficient amounts of unsaturated fatty acids and sterols to produce enough biomass in the first stage of fermentation. The only reason to aerate the wort when using wet yeast is to provide the yeast with oxygen so that it can produce sterols and unsaturated fatty acids which are important parts of the cell membrane and therefore essential for biomass production.

If the slurry from dry yeast fermentation is re-pitched from one batch of beer to another, the wort has to be aerated as with any liquid yeast."

There is an article that goes a little further into it and says the yeast is packed with about 5% lipids which is enough to go through about 4 reproductive cycles.

"In a very general view:

At each doubling it will split the lipids with out making more lipids (no O2). The first split leaves 2.5% for each daughter cell. The second split leaves 1.25% for each daughter cell. The next split leaves 0.63%. This is the low level that stops yeast multiplication. Unless you add O2 the reproduction will stop.

When you produce 3-5% alcohol beer this is no problem. It is when you produce higher alcohol beer or inoculate at a lower rate, that you need to add O2 to produce more yeast and for alcohol tolerance near the end of fermentation. You definitely need added O2 when you reuse the yeast for the next inoculum."

http://www.danstaryeast.com/articles/aeration-and-starter-versus-wort

The OP should go ahead and aerate his high gravity wort, but in general, the yeast producer says anything under 5%, you don't need to bother.

 

[Orthobrewsky]

Yes, it is a 5 gallon batch. I always rehydrate when using dry yeast and have had great success with S-04. Thank you all. I will let you know how it goes. One more question. The last two batches I have made were an ESB and a English IPA, both used S-04, and had no need for a blow off tube. How active is US-05? Should I use a blow off tube?

With a high gravity beer, I'd use one. I've had US-05 blow off sometimes but, in my experience, you can see it coming. It builds up over a few days and hits it's highest krausen right before it quits.

 

[rlmiller10]

Yes, it is a 5 gallon batch. I always rehydrate when using dry yeast and have had great success with S-04. Thank you all. I will let you know how it goes. One more question. The last two batches I have made were an ESB and a English IPA, both used S-04, and had no need for a blow off tube. How active is US-05? Should I use a blow off tube?

What temp are you going to ferment? If you have good temp control and can keep it down around 63 or 64 degrees then you won't need a blowoff. But if you let it sneak up to 69 or 70 you will have a monster on your hands.

 

[TheZymurgist]

Yes, it is a 5 gallon batch. I always rehydrate when using dry yeast and have had great success with S-04. Thank you all. I will let you know how it goes. One more question. The last two batches I have made were an ESB and a English IPA, both used S-04, and had no need for a blow off tube. How active is US-05? Should I use a blow off tube?

I recommend if you're either using a yeast you're not familiar with, or you're trying a new recipe (or both) you should always use a blow off tube.

 

[eric19312]

I don't tend to get blow off with this yeast when using active temperature control even at 68F.

 

[Owly055]

Agree with JustLooking. Use 2 packs of yeast, rehydrated in 90ºF water. You shouldn't make starters for dry yeast, as it uses up the cellular reserves the yeast makers have built up.

Also make sure you aerate/oxygenate before pitching, that makes a big difference especially on a beer this big.

Now, in all honesty, I wouldn't actually pitch 2 packs of yeast. I'd make a 1.050 beer with one pack of US-05, and then take about a pint of the yeast slurry from the bottom of the fermenter and pitch that. That way you'll have a huge pitch of healthy yeast.

What I'm hearing you day is contradictory..... "don't make a starter"...... "make a huge starter"

The idea that making a starter is going to deplete "cellular reserves" seems absurd to me. That's the opposite of what a starter is supposed to do. What am I missing? I've pitched USA-05 dry, and made starters with it.... well aerated starter with yeast nutrient and DME. It works fine both ways, but gets started much more aggressively with a starter.

I don't understand this........ could you refer us to something on not making a starter from dry yeast.......... I must be doing something wrong and I had no idea.

H.W.

 

[hannibalmdq]

What I'm hearing you day is contradictory..... "don't make a starter"...... "make a huge starter"

The idea that making a starter is going to deplete "cellular reserves" seems absurd to me. That's the opposite of what a starter is supposed to do. What am I missing? I've pitched USA-05 dry, and made starters with it.... well aerated starter with yeast nutrient and DME. It works fine both ways, but gets started much more aggressively with a starter.

I don't understand this........ could you refer us to something on not making a starter from dry yeast.......... I must be doing something wrong and I had no idea.

H.W.

Dry Yeast are packaged with lipids and yeast nutrients and with high cells counts and vitality. You don't need, or really want to make a starter with dry yeast because:

(a) It's cheaper than liquid yeast so you can normally just buy a single packet for a 5 gallon batch and have enough cells for a healthy pitch.
(b) It's packaged in such a state that after hydration, the yeast is 100% ready to go. It's lipid reserves and full and it's ready to start multiplying.

You could rehydrate and make a starter. There's nothing "bad" about doing that. However, the dry yeast is just going to use up it's pre-packaged reserves and start reproducing on your start wort.

Making a starter from dry-yeast would assume that you (a) don't have enough yeast in a single packet for your batch or (b) you questions the quality of the dry yeast package for some reason.

For (a) most people will just opt to purchase another packet. For (b), well, most people don't question the quality of their dry yeast. I've read several articles on storage of dried yeast packets at refrigerated temp, and a 5 to 7% loss a year seems to be the common result.

If you reuse a slurry from a dry yeast, you should treat it the same as liquid yeast.

 

[ruralbrew]

The whole point of dry yeast is you don't need to make a starter. Just rehydrate and pitch.

 

[QuercusMax]

Since a packet of dry yeast generally contains about twice as many cells as a vial of liquid yeast, unless you do a 1-gallon starter you really aren't going to get very much propagation at all. The yeast growth factor is relative to the yeast cell concentration, so if you do a typical 2-liter starter you won't really be growing very much yeast.

 

[GHBWNY]

I just finished a 5-gal. batch of DIPA (not as big as yours - 6.2) with US-05. No blow-off, just an airlock. Krausen came up to underside of lid, but never got into the airlock like some smaller beers I've had do. I only pitched one packet of (hydrated) yeast, though, since it was what the recipe called for. A blow-off might not be absolutely necessary, but if it gives you some peace of mind, go ahead and use one.

 

[frozennorth]

The brew day went well and I pitched two packs of US-05. I did end up using a blowoff tube, better safe than sorry. It is in a temp controlled fermenter at 68 degrees. When I checked it this morning there was no activity yet, but I am patient. US-05 sure does not take off like S-04.

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

not trying to debate do I or don't I make a starter but not all dry yeast is alive, Ive successfully pitched dry yeast right on top and it worked fine, I have also had bad ones that didn't so just to be sure I always make a starter the day before just to see if it has foam on top and ferments, I stir it all night then let it set at the temp I'm fermenting at, it should ferment out by the end of my brew day and if not then I don't use it and that "has happened", for that reason I always keep some knotty around, the stuff never fails me

 

[noblesquirrel]

One other note, the shape and size of fermenter will make a difference in terms of need for a blowoff. I use 6.5g carboys for primary of all of my beer, and they are more broad than the 5 or 6g carboys. It takes an insane ferment with a ton of protein to push the krausen up to the neck of those carboys, in my experience. Smaller carboys do need a blowoff, typically.

 

[eric19312]

Since a packet of dry yeast generally contains about twice as many cells as a vial of liquid yeast, unless you do a 1-gallon starter you really aren't going to get very much propagation at all. The yeast growth factor is relative to the yeast cell concentration, so if you do a typical 2-liter starter you won't really be growing very much yeast.

And if you really need more than 200 billion yeast cells a second packet of US-05 costs about the same as the DME required to make the starter. (a one gallon starter needs close to a pound of DME, I pay $3-$5 for US-05 YMMV) With less hassle and risk.

 

[QuercusMax]

US-05 sure does not take off like S-04.

Ain't that the truth! I went grain-to-glass on a 1.050 APA (Session IPA?) in 1 week with unrehydrated S-04. The other 5 gallons with US-05 were still fermenting when I was pulling my first pint of the 04. I repitched the 04 slurry into 10 gallons of 1.054 Christmas Ale, and they were done in 48 hours! :rockin:

 

[frozennorth]

I bottled this monster of an IPA last night. The US-05 did an amazing job with this beer. It went from 1.095 down to 1.014 and it is crystal clear, even with dry hopping. I may have found a go to yeast for my big beers. Thank you all for your advice and help with this yeast.