Liquid Yeast Vs Dry Yeast

[clean brewer]

Hey Guys,

Just pitched a Liquid Yeast into my latest Brew, its my 2nd use of it and still trying to get the Full impact of using it, as it takes a little more time/effort to use liquid yeast, I wanted to see what your Yeast of Choice was and why?

Do you always use Liquid Yeast? or do you use Dry Yeast in your House/Quaffer Beers or what??

Your input would be appreciated...

:icon_cheers: CB

 

[mje1980]

Nothing wrong with dry yeasts, and i use them for "house beers", or when a liquid starter turns our wrong/dead. But the same beer made with a liquid, is a better beer IMHO ( opinion, don't shoot me ). That's for bitters, coz i brew mostly english bitters. Lagers however, when i do brew them ( rarely ), i use s-189. Great yeast, and i've got a rice lager on tap with it now. Haven't lagered it, just gave it a "d" rest, kegged it, now im drinking it, its great.

With a liquid i'd probably get a better result but i can tell you im not complaining!!!.

For special beers , definately liquid.

Cheers, hope it helps

 

[geoffi]

Yup, you can make good beers with modern quality dry yeast. And they are certainly convenient. Buy a few, stick 'em in the fridge or freezer and they are waiting whenever you need them.

But liquid yeasts do add an extra dimension, especially, IMHO, with British and Belgian styles. I've used Nottingham, S0-4 and Windsor in English pale ales, and produced good beers. But there's a depth and breadth of subtle esters that you just don't get with dry yeasts. And you don't need to be a biochemist to get, say, five brews out of one vial/smack pack.

If I were living next door to a liquid yeast supplier, I'd use it all the time. Alas, I do not.

Here's my rough style assessment based on extensive research, double-blind testing and lab analysis (ie, off the top of my head). Stars allocated on extra benefits of liquid over dry:

Belgian styles: *****
UK styles: ****
Wheat beers: **1/2 (WB-06 can turn out a decent Hefeweizen, but is a bit hit-and-miss I've found.)
Lagers: **
US styles: * (So little character from the yeast, why bother with liquid for these?)

 

[bradsbrew]

Definately dependant on style for me. If Im trying to make a certain style/clone I will use a liquid. But when Im making a general APA or pommy bitter I use S04 or S05.

Brad

 

[Sammus]

US styles: * (So little character from the yeast, why bother with liquid for these?)

Brew something with US05 then with Wy1272 and say that again with a straight face

 

[Bribie G]

Liquid yeasts for my UK ales. I've been fiddling around with Americans using US-05 and coming to the conclusion that, after an initial fascination, Cascade, Chinook etc aren't really to my tastebuds in the long term, and I'm going back more UK or Euro. For my house beers I am developing an Aussie Mainstream lager (single malt single hop one addition) to replace my partial lawnmower that was producing inconsistent results due to the varying quality of the kits I was using. So far have had success with US-05 to make a 'fake' lager and currently experimenting with w 34/70 dried lager yeast, and have gone somewhat to left field by trying out an identical batch with the Australian Mauri Lager yeast and will do a taste off at the BABBs June meeting.

Having said that it's my holy grail this winter to do a Czech Pilsener and for that exercise I'll probably use Wyeast Czech or Urquell liquid yeasts. Horses for courses.

 

[raven19]

Since I have started using liquid yeasts, after inspiration from this very forum to go AG, I have not bothered with dry yeasts, but can see their convenience still as a backup, etc.

I like to prepare slants with liquid yeast so more $$$ can be spent on grain in lieu of yeast.

 

[yardy]

being time poor it's all about convenience for me, I've got to say though, the Kolsch that i did with 2575 was fantastic, as was the Irish Red with 1968, definitely worth the extra time and $ imvho.

cheers

 

[Osangar]

I use a good mix of both dry and liquid they would be all liquid if not for the high cost. $5 vs $15

The dry yeast has produced sensational beers, but the liquid does seem to be that bit better. My APA is a good example of this dry = great, liquid = OMFG terrific.

But the difference for 3 brews = $30 higher. Although, I must have a shot at splitting these liquid packs for multiple brews, opposed to one vial = 1 brew

 

[Sammus]

But the difference for 3 brews = $30 higher. Although, I must have a shot at splitting these liquid packs for multiple brews, opposed to one vial = 1 brew

Indeed. I'm lucky to have my hbs selling em for 12.95 a pop, plus having the gear to keep them for a long time. Makes em cheaper than buying a dry every time, but I'm stingy enough to reuse dry yeast sometimes too

 

[Brewer_010]

Mainly use dry for convenience and mainly US-05 and Nottingham (with the dried munich wheat yeast in weizens)
If I can be bothered I sometimes use a liquid yeast for 4 or 5 brews a year. At the moment I'm putting an irish ale liquid yeast to work on a couple of stouts, a porter and an IPA (and maybe a red ale a bit later).
I don't muck about with liquid starters any more as I couldn't be arsed (unless its for a lager). I just collect the settled yeast from the fermenter, store it in a sterile container for up to a few weeks and throw the lot into a fresh batch. I normally get about 3-4 brews from $16 of yeast so it works out the same as dried yeast. I really don't believe yeast are the sensitive little poppets as some people make out, although I do treat lager yeast more carefully.

 

[brendanos]

I use US05 all the time but despise S04 and T58. I am very I interested in S189 but have yet to succumb to the sweet nothings of hungry lager yeasts.

I use smack packs for multiple batches through multiple starters, repitching healthy yeast, storing yeast in sterile tubes, etc.

I regularly share and trade yeasts with my club (sometimes with beer on them too!) which is a great way to brew on a budget with a variety of great strains. I also can't resist special release blends and funky or extreme strains, particularly when they're reduced to clear.

 

[DennisKing]

Liquids always, just for the taste and gives the beer a polished finnish. Prefer Whitelabs to Wyeast and split into 5 or 6, good value [ cost about 6 here in the uk]. Fav. strains British, London and English.

 

[marksfish]

i mainly use dry us05, notto however for lagers and pils wyeast liquid yeasts are the bees knees :chug:

 

[Bribie G]

Liquids always, just for the taste and gives the beer a polished finnish. Prefer Whitelabs to Wyeast and split into 5 or 6, good value [ cost about 6 here in the uk]. Fav. strains British, London and English.

Yup, I recently made two batches of a Camerons of Hartlepool Strongarm tribute (out of Dennis Wheeler's book) and was going to use S-04 but thought no, I want to give this a special character as I remember Strongarm as being a smooth creamy tasting beer so I used Wyeast 1769 English Special Bitter, split the pack so only about six bucks a hit, and it's turned out smoooooth as a baby's bum :icon_drool2: I only use dried yeasts now in lagers and 'fake' lagers where I want a dry clean finish like US-05 can produce.

 

[reviled]

I use US-05 for all of my pale ales, allthough im currently using some WLP-001 and have a smack pack of 1272 which ill use eventually.. Allthough I do really like US-05, its so versatile and you can mistreat it and get away with it

For anything else ill use liquids, esp Lagers...

Interestingly enough - we went to a micro brewery on saturday and had some tastings of some beers which were really tasty! And then he mentioned what yeast he uses, an ale strain and a lager strain, and guess what they were

S-04 and S-23 h34r: What really surprised me was the temp he was fermenting S-04 at, 17*c, and how clean the ferment was, the same with the S-23, so clean, and actually enjoyable! Whereas at home I could never get similair results unless I used liquid...

 

[Sammus]

reviled: I think the big boys ferment under a little bit of pressure, which apparently lets you ferment higher without producing the off flavours.