Yeast?

[davidkrau]

I've brewed with the packets of dry yeast, Wyeast activator paks and White Labs liquid vials. Franly, I can't tell much of a difference. Do you feel that it is a waste of money to pay an extra $4.00 for Wyeast activator or $5.00 for White Labs?

David

 

[david_42]

I'm on the dark side. I'm either making porters and stouts or IPAs, ales where the yeast doesn't make much difference. Some ales, the yeast is 90% of the flavor profile, Belgians are an outstanding example. I use neutral dried yeasts and depend on the grain bill and the hops for flavors. I've brewed identical porters and fermented one with liquid yeast and one with dried. No one could tell the difference.

If you want to read about the impact of yeast on meads http://www.oregonbrewcrew.com/ has a writeup called the Great Mead Experiment.

 

[drunko]

I use dry yeast packages and love them, they are also cheap enough that I don't worry about making starters.

 

[El Pistolero]

I've brewed with the packets of dry yeast, Wyeast activator paks and White Labs liquid vials. Franly, I can't tell much of a difference. Do you feel that it is a waste of money to pay an extra $4.00 for Wyeast activator or $5.00 for White Labs?

David

Like 42 said, if your brews get their character from the malts or the hops, then neutral dry yeasts are fine. But if you brewing a German hefe, you're just not gonna find a dry yeast that fits the bill. As far as whether or not liquids are a waste of money...you can't worry about an extra $5/batch and still RDWHAHB.

 

[drengel]

as david says, its a matter of preference and style. each yeast definitely leaves its thumbprint. for a neutral profile, on a american style ale (like the nut brown im conditioning), dry yeast works fine. i like safale ameriavn ale yeast. i always have used white labs, reusing the yesat 3-5 times before throwing it away, but after reading the latest article in BYO about dried yeast i decided to give dry a try. it did fine, completely neutral, with the graains mostly providing the flavor (used on oat stout and nut brown). nottingham is also a good replacement for english ale yeats, not as neutral, with more fruitiness and a pretty nice aproximation of the WL or Wyeast english ale. but for other styles, definitely go with liquid, as the yeast profile is needed by the style (as david said, belgians are teh best example).