Yeast - Why Is Dry Working Better?

[bear09]

Hey all. I'm into all grain and Wort kits - will never K & K again. I have used liquid and dried yeast. I have found the liquids to be expensive and a bit of a pain to manage. Also they never seem to attenuate well - 1017 is the lowest I have ever had and that was from OG 1043. I put a brew on a couple of weeks ago at 1059 and with a US-56 dry it came out at 1011 - MUCH BETTER! It was less hassle - it was cheaper and the lag time was signifigantly less. I know the range is not as good for dried but what is the major difference? Are they crap in some way that I dont know? Please - any info would be great. The average attenuation for a liquid yeast is about 70% - I am still not even close to this with liquid - but with dry I am getting 80% with my eyes shut! I do use starters for the smack packs.

Thanks all!

 

[Jye]

The main difference is the larger cell count with dried yeast, which means there is also a good chance of more healthy yeast.

Have you tried re-pitching the yeast slurry? This is a good way to pitch a much larger cell count and may help with your attenuation problem.

And dried yeast get a big thumbs up from me :beerbang:

 

[Stuster]

Dry yeasts are great, but there is just so much more variety with liquid yeasts. There's no real reason it can't be as attenuative though, if it's treated right.

So some questions. Did you aerate the wort before pitching the liquid yeast? Did you make a starter? What liquid yeast did you use? What temperature did it ferment at?

 

[bear09]

Dry yeasts are great, but there is just so much more variety with liquid yeasts. There's no real reason it can't be as attenuative though, if it's treated right.

So some questions. Did you aerate the wort before pitching the liquid yeast? Did you make a starter? What liquid yeast did you use? What temperature did it ferment at?

Yes for aeration, Yes for starter, 1056 Wyeast for the type and 21 degs celsius....

Does not add up hey....

 

[bakkerman]

Let's face it, dried yeasts are easier to use and cheaper, and if you prefer that then there's nothing wrong with that!

 

[Ross]

The quality of dried yeast can be every bit as good as dried - As others have said, the only real problem is lack of variety, but that is slowly changing. I brew on average twice a week & only use liquids once in a blue moon, which is when there's no alternative.

cheers Ross

 

[Insight]

How big a starter are you making? I have only worked with ale yeast, but a 2L starter has always worked for me. I've read that you'll need double that for lager yeast.

So I'll start a week before brewing. Make up 400ml 1.030 starter with DME and dump in your yeast sample (1/4 of a white labs vial for me). 2 days later, make up 1600ml 1.035 wort and throw the other starter into it. On the night before brewing, put the 2L starter in the fridge. Take out of the fridge in the morning and decant all the "beer", and let the yeast cake warm up before pitching.

 

[bear09]

Let's face it, dried yeasts are easier to use and cheaper, and if you prefer that then there's nothing wrong with that!

Sweet - good to hear!!!

 

[Stuster]

Yes for aeration, Yes for starter, 1056 Wyeast for the type and 21 degs celsius....

Does not add up hey....

No. Doesn't add up at all. As long as you made a reasonable sized starter it sounds like you are doing everything right. I've never used that yeast but that's mainly because US05 is so easy and cheaper. If you want to use that yeast, I'd say dry is definitely the way. Strange one though.

BTW, Insight, no need to let the yeast cake warm up. Cold pitching it the way. Link.

 

[DJR]

The quality of dried yeast can be every bit as good as dried

Funny that! h34r:

 

[Ross]

QUOTE(Ross @ Jul 5 2007, 01:33 PM)

The quality of dried yeast can be every bit as good as dried

Funny that! h34r:

Are you disagreeing? B)

cheers Ross

 

[Darren]

I love the ease of dry yeast. They certainly donot make the same beer as liquids, that is for sure.

Dried US-56 always leaves a "saf" flavour that seems to gain in intensity as beer matures.

Wy 1056 gives a cleaner, crisper beer IMHO.

cheers

Darren

 

[Mr Bond]

The main difference is the larger cell count with dried yeast, which means there is also a good chance of more healthy yeast.



And dried yeast get a big thumbs up from me :beerbang:

As well as a consistent result.

As for dry US05

 

[Ross]

I love the ease of dry yeast. They certainly donot make the same beer as liquids, that is for sure.

Dried US-56 always leaves a "saf" flavour that seems to gain in intensity as beer matures.

Wy 1056 gives a cleaner, crisper beer IMHO.

cheers

Darren

I'd be looking somewhere else in your brewing process h34r: , there is no way IMO that US-56 leaves a "saf" flavour as you call it, that gains in intensity. I brew with this yeast weekly & it's one of the cleanest on the market.

cheers Ross

 

[matti]

gotto agree that of dry yeast us 56 is great and always ready available.
But if you want to try to make a style of beer you need to use a yeast more suitable IMHO
liquid yeast is more to deal with but the variety is awesome.

 

[Screwtop]

Have replied re this on another thread previously, but I and a number of other brewers believe the US56 has changed in the last 12 months, I find it does give a flavour (don't know if I'd describe it as a Saf flavour) of sorts and it seems not to floc as wall as it used to. I think what you have found is just simply because you used US56, it tends to attenuate pretty well, better than a lot of other strains.

 

[Darren]

I'd be looking somewhere else in your brewing process h34r: , there is no way IMO that US-56 leaves a "saf" flavour as you call it, that gains in intensity. I brew with this yeast weekly & it's one of the cleanest on the market.

cheers Ross

Ross,

Nope its the yeast. Tastes just like the raw yeast out of the packet . I suspect it is something that comes in with the drying process. Also the more you add the worse the taste. I am unsure how to describe the flavour, almost muddy/dirty/chemical. Huge hopping rates obviously hide this.

US-56 is not half of Wy 1056, but is easier to use

cheers

Darren

 

[snagler]

Ross,

Nope its the yeast. Tastes just like the raw yeast out of the packet . I suspect it is something that comes in with the drying process. Also the more you add the worse the taste. I am unsure how to describe the flavour, almost muddy/dirty/chemical. Huge hopping rates obviously hide this.

US-56 is not half of Wy 1056, but is easier to use

cheers

Darren

**** I hope not, yesterday I pitched 3 packs of US-56 to get rid of old stock!!! :blink:

 

[kirem]

I use dry yeast and really like the ease of them
I have a standard ale and soon to have a standard lager, nottingham and s-189 - swiss.
I used liquids for belgians and for when I do a koelsch again.

the yeast starter propagation already discussed sounds OK, was there any temperature shock?

 

[THE DRUNK ARAB]

I love the ease of dry yeast. They certainly donot make the same beer as liquids, that is for sure.

Dried US-56 always leaves a "saf" flavour that seems to gain in intensity as beer matures.

Wy 1056 gives a cleaner, crisper beer IMHO.

cheers

Darren

I agree with Darren, I have always had better results flavour wise using the Wyeast 1056 against the US-56.
Attenuation is comparable though.

C&B
TDA