liquid vs dried yeast

[pk]

Hi,
just a question on yeasts.

Do you all use the liquid yeast or the dried form? I get mine from the homebrewcompany and I've used both the liquid capsule califormia ale yeast and the dried yeast you get from the mash kits they sell. Both seem to work fine but the liquid yeasts are 7 quid a pop and the dried one is 2.80.

So whats the best one, what do you all use?
Paul

[alealex]

Varieties of liquid yeast from wlp, wyest, etc are endless. Dried yeast very few.
If you do it right you can harvest yeast after fermentation - but need to watch your ferm temp, timing, cleaning/sanitising regime.
Brewing 5 batches on of one vial brings cost below €2
Dried yeast have far better bb date and price, if stored properly can last years.
There is no need for a starter with sachet of dried yeast.
There are much more pros and cons
I personally use both dried and liquid depends on circumstances. No point choosing between dried and liquid - but rather use what suits you better on the brewday, always keep few dried yeast sachets in d fridge in case of emergency

[Parky]

I've found both liquid and dried yeast to perform equally well, but as alealex says, there's a lot more variety with the liquid yeasts. However with liquid yeast it's good practice to make a yeast starter when brewing a 5 gal batch. No such faffing about with the dried yeast, just rehydrate and you're good to go 

I tend to keep some dried Safale US-05 (for American style ales, IPAs, and beers with big hop flavours) and Danstar Windsor (for ales with a more malty profile) on hand in the fridge, and for other styles (Saison for example), I'll order particular strains of liquid yeast to get a particular flavour or profile.

[TheSumOfAllBeers]

There are liquid yeast strains available to home brewers for every beer style in existence. Dried yeast is not available for all beer styles, or your choice may only be limited to one or two varieties.

Dried yeast stores well and is easy to pitch. Liquid yeast requires good starter practice for best effect , and yeast recovery

[pk]

Any time I used dried yeast I just opened the packet and chucked it in. Never rehydrated it.
With the liquid stuff I just turf it all in too.

Am I doing it wrong?!

[Qs]

You can get away with not rehydrating if you've a lowish OG. If you go above 1.050 or so you shoul rehydrate. TBH your beer will still ferment fine it just might throw a few off flavours.

Liquid should pretty much always have a starter.

[alealex]

+1 starter is always a good practice, no matter how low og is or how little wort you're about to ferment and how fresh is the vial of yeast.

[Parky]

Any time I used dried yeast I just opened the packet and chucked it in. Never rehydrated it.

In my experience rehydrating the yeast seems to help create a nice quick and clean fermentation, and it really takes no time at all to prepare.

1. Dissolve 1/2 tsp of sugar in 200ml of boiled water and allow to cool to 25 degrees C.
2. Add the yeast and gently stir it in, breaking up any clumps that may occur.
3. Cover with cling film and leave in the hotpress (or warm place) for 30 mins.
4. You should see a foam on top of the yeast, and it's ready to pitch.
5. Stir the liquid and foam gently into your wort.

Here's what Fermentis have to say about it all - http://www.brewwithfermentis.com/tips-tricks/yeast-rehydration/

And this is from Palmer (just ignore the bit about using two packets of yeast - packets were smaller in the olden days )
http://www.howtobrew.com/section1/chapter6-5.html

----------------------------------------------------------

+1 starter is always a good practice, no matter how low og is or how little wort you're about to ferment and how fresh is the vial of yeast.

I'm trying my hand at small batch brewing at the moment, and my research seems to indicate that creating a starter for volumes less than 10L isn't entirely necessary.

I've used both the pitch calculators on Brewer's Friend (http://www.brewersfriend.com/yeast-pitch-rate-and-starter-calculator/), and Mr Malty (http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/calc.html), and they seem to show that there's no starter required (Pitch rates for ale; OG = 1.050; Volume = 5 litres/1.3 US Gallons; Date on vial: 11/10/2014).

Some useful info also for anyone brewing small batches from Wyeast in the link below (how could you not trust a guy wearing a hairnet  ) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=My6jqfHOpHU

[Qs]

Any time I used dried yeast I just opened the packet and chucked it in. Never rehydrated it.

In my experience rehydrating the yeast seems to help create a nice quick and clean fermentation, and it really takes no time at all to prepare.

1. Dissolve 1/2 tsp of sugar in 200ml of boiled water and allow to cool to 25 degrees C.
2. Add the yeast and gently stir it in, breaking up any clumps that may occur.
3. Cover with cling film and leave in the hotpress (or warm place) for 30 mins.
4. You should see a foam on top of the yeast, and it's ready to pitch.
5. Stir the liquid and foam gently into your wort.

Here's what Fermentis have to say about it all - http://www.brewwithfermentis.com/tips-tricks/yeast-rehydration/

And this is from Palmer (just ignore the bit about using two packets of yeast - packets were smaller in the olden days )
http://www.howtobrew.com/section1/chapter6-5.html

----------------------------------------------------------

+1 starter is always a good practice, no matter how low og is or how little wort you're about to ferment and how fresh is the vial of yeast.

I'm trying my hand at small batch brewing at the moment, and my research seems to indicate that creating a starter for volumes less than 10L isn't entirely necessary.

I've used both the pitch calculators on Brewer's Friend (http://www.brewersfriend.com/yeast-pitch-rate-and-starter-calculator/), and Mr Malty (http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/calc.html), and they seem to show that there's no starter required (Pitch rates for ale; OG = 1.050; Volume = 5 litres/1.3 US Gallons; Date on vial: 11/10/2014).

Some useful info also for anyone brewing small batches from Wyeast in the link below (how could you not trust a guy wearing a hairnet  ) - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=My6jqfHOpHU

Those calculators only work out cell count needed. While that is obviously the main reason for doing a starter yeast health and development improve with a starter too. Its also helpful as your vial may not have as much live yeast as it did originally, storage, shipping, etc may not have provided the best conditions for the yeast before you are pitching it. The Mr.Malty calculator is by Jamil Zainasheff and he says use a starter even if you have the right number of cells in the vial.

[alealex]

@Parky: 10 litre batch is like a starter so it doesn't need another starter

[Parky]

Thanks guys! A lot of the info out there doesn't always translate smoothly for small batches, so all additional info is appreciated 

So ... 'to starter or not to starter, that is the question' - If I'm making a batch less than 10L should I be making a starter, (even just for yeast health), or is pitching a vial per 10L sufficient? (confused? )

[Pheeel]

It's possible to make perfectly good full batches with one vial. It might not win any awards but it'll be fine. For 10L I probably wouldn't bother me arse

[Paddy]

When I'm choosing dry vs liquid it really depends on what I want to use it for.  Do I plan on storing for a long time, do I plan on harvesting the yeast, etc...

For small batches I'd just go dry.  As already mentioned for 10L it would be a bit of a waste.  You could harvest it but to me it's almost more hassle than it's worth with such small quantities.

[Hauglia]

Usually go for dry yeast only when brewing IPA. I feel the hops hops makes the yeast less important, so I just go for a netural one like safeale US05.

On most other types of beer, I go for liquid. Doing 4-5 batches on the same yeast, before throwing it away to try something else.