Is Us-05 A Slow Fermenter?

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wbosher

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I put a kit Pilsener on 10 days ago but used the us-05 yeast instead of the kit yeast. It has been at a steady 18-20 degree range the whole time, but it is still going! I did this same kit with the yeast supplied in the kit once before and the fermentation was done within 5 days. Nothing is different from the first time except the yeast.

Checked the gravity and still has a few more points to go, after 10 days.

Is this yeast known to be a little slow, or could there be a problem?
 
10 days is fine....I always say to people (and also myself) "Low and Slow"

I have had beer ferment for at least 2 weeks and then leave it for another 1 or 2 weeks afterwards...not going to hurt it :)
 
Well normally it is a fast finishing yeast going by everything I've heard but I use it a lot and find it goes flat out for the first 4-5 days then just Plods along slowly for another week. I always leave it for at least two weeks. Should not be a problem Chris
 
I put a kit Pilsener on 10 days ago but used the us-05 yeast instead of the kit yeast. It has been at a steady 18-20 degree range the whole time, but it is still going! I did this same kit with the yeast supplied in the kit once before and the fermentation was done within 5 days. Nothing is different from the first time except the yeast.

Checked the gravity and still has a few more points to go, after 10 days.

Is this yeast known to be a little slow, or could there be a problem?


If it's a standard strength brew it should be long finished - Is your gravity still dropping or are you just expecting it to finish a little lower, as it may well be finished & just not as high an attenuator as the can yeast?
If it is still dropping & the beer is regular strength, then the yeast must have had pretty poor vitality before you pitched it. Either way, beer should still be fine.


cheers Ross
 
If your yeast was healthy and you pitched the correct amount for the gravity and batch size you are fermenting it should be at FG after a week tops.

US - 05 is fast and clean at 18deg in my experience. However i usually pitch 1g of dry yeast / L of wort for standard gravity 1045 - 1055, more for higher gravity worts such as a 2IPA.
 
I started off with a hiss and a roar, had a HUGE krausen after only 24 hours. Been going ever since.

It's not a high gravity beer - OG about 1040, FG should be about 1008. Well at least that's how the first time was. Its an 11g sachet, the kit yeast was only about 7g.

Might take another reading tomorrow and see where it is. I'm not too worried, just wondering why it's taking so much longer than the kit yeast I used the first time with this kit.

Sure it'll be fine. :)
 
is the gravity still dropping or is the krausen just hanging around the top of the beer still. i have had that yeast hang around for weeks as a big krausen well after finishing until i crash chilled the beer finally dropping it out.
 
It isn't a slow fermentor but it is slow at dropping out and you need a long time or to crash chill to get a clear beer.
 


No. The instructions on the packet said to just sprinkle onto the wort. The temp was about 20 degrees though, although this could have dropped as it was a very cold night and I can't remember if I had the heat belt on for the first night.

From then on it was at a steady 18-20 degrees, but the fermentation may have already stalled though. However I think this was unlikely due to a massive foamy krausen on top.

I'll take another gravity reading tonight as the last two (Friday and Sunday) indicated that it was still dropping.

I had a quick peek this morning (no I didn't remove the lid) before I came to work and there was still krausen on top, but it looked like the beer had cleared a little - it was very cloudy last night but quite clear ths morning, although the lighting wasn't great so could have just been the light.

I'll have to take some of my own advice and be patient. Sure it'll be fine.
 
No. The instructions on the packet said to just sprinkle onto the wort. The temp was about 20 degrees though, although this could have dropped as it was a very cold night and I can't remember if I had the heat belt on for the first night.

From then on it was at a steady 18-20 degrees, but the fermentation may have already stalled though. However I think this was unlikely due to a massive foamy krausen on top.

I'll take another gravity reading tonight as the last two (Friday and Sunday) indicated that it was still dropping.

I had a quick peek this morning (no I didn't remove the lid) before I came to work and there was still krausen on top, but it looked like the beer had cleared a little - it was very cloudy last night but quite clear ths morning, although the lighting wasn't great so could have just been the light.

I'll have to take some of my own advice and be patient. Sure it'll be fine.

I had an incident with US-05 where I had a power outage in my garage just after pitching and the temp of the fermenting wort dropped to about 11degC overnight until I reset my temp control back to 18deg. Increased the lag time somewhat, but also pumped out a crapload of esters, which took some months to clear up in the bottle.
 
I don't think it got quite that low, but could have gone as low as 14 or 15 degrees. I think 15 is still ok with this yeast though.

Even if it did drop, something was still happening though. There was a very thick gooey krausen the next day.
 
Checked it last night, looking good now. After about 11 days the Krausen has all but gone and the beer is clearing up. Haven't taken an FG reading yet, but I'm confident that it will be ok. Should be able to bottle this weekend.

As usual, looks like I was worried about nothing...
 
In my experience US-05 is a fickle beast. I've had the krausen stick around for two weeks, and then the next batch (same recipe) it went nuts for two days, then went silent with the SG dropping steadily.

FWIW, I'd let it go until you reach a plateau on your hydro readings then bottle/keg.
 
I was going to try my hand at washing and storing this yeast for my next brew (probably an extract APA), never done that before.

Not sure I want to now with this yeast...
 
I was going to try my hand at washing and storing this yeast for my next brew (probably an extract APA), never done that before.

Not sure I want to now with this yeast...

You can do it, but with a pack of US-05 costing less than $5, I wouldn't. I seem to remember reading/hearing that dry yeast mutates too much in the first generation, so your results might not be consistent. Having said that, it may mutate into something beautiful after all.
If you're set on reusing the yeast, make some beer bread with it.
 
Not so much set on reusing it, just wanted to give it a go...something new to try. But yeah, for the price, it's probably not worth it.
 
Next batch, use a liquid yeast, and then reuse that. I reckon it hits its peak flavour after the fifth generation or so.
 
Next batch, use a liquid yeast, and then reuse that. I reckon it hits its peak flavour after the fifth generation or so.

Probably not yet. Still brewing kits, and may be doing an extract soon. I don't think its worth spending almost $20 on a liquid yeast for those beers.

Maybe when I get into something a little more advanced.
 
Next batch, use a liquid yeast, and then reuse that. I reckon it hits its peak flavour after the fifth generation or so.

That statement is possibly too broad. Some liquid yeasts this may be true, I am skeptical if it is true for all liquid yeasts. For instance, I have found with reuse that some liquid wheat yeasts seemed to loose their ability to produce banana esters and became more dominant in clove phenols. This is desireable for some but I personally like the banana flavour in a wheat beer. These days I split wheat yeasts into four vials and spin them up on a starter for use. This way they are essentially first generation each use. I am led to beleive that 1469 West Yorkshire Ale can improve with reuse.
 
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