Is there a benefit to liquid yeast??

[Stitch]

Ok I know liquid is better than dry (have read that many times) but am sitting in brewery corner in kilkenny and got to thinking. Last time I was in O'Hara's (about a year ago) The said they only used dry yeast - the 500g packets. Am sure other breweries only use dry yeast and the still make great beers. So is there really a point to using liquid yeast. I am hoping to keep style out of this if possible.
Anyone any thoughts???

[Ciderhead]

Ok I know liquid is better than dry (have read that many times) but am sitting in brewery corner in kilkenny and got to thinking. Last time I was in O'Hara's (about a year ago) The said they only used dry yeast - the 500g packets. Am sure other breweries only use dry yeast and the still make great beers. So is there really a point to using liquid yeast. I am hoping to keep style out of this if possible.
Anyone any thoughts???

Years ago dry yeasts were shockers, in my mind the only differentiator is available strains, if we want to take that out of the discussion then liquid has no advantage.

[brenmurph]

during my dusseldorf trip I discovered that they ( old city breweries) all seem to use  dry yeast ( from what I could extract from the brewery staff) despite these being top class traditional / historic brewers they are producing superb beers from dry yeast aparently.
Id love a workshop on the topic with some rational / evidence showing how liquid is better, how it affects flavour, how it produces less off flavour and so on.

its feckin expensive  costing as much as all the other ingredients put together so what the advantage that makes it so worthwhile?

Anyone expert on yeast out there that might do a workshop? or at least a meet up and have a chat about the subject?

[brenmurph]

tanx Ciderhead

[Partridge9]

Yeap -

I think if you are brewing a simple Pale Ale or a stout then dry yeasts are grand - no one will ever know of your sins.

If you want to make a belgian trappist, saison, decent hefe, pilsner or a real dry IPA, a Kolsch - or any beer at all - then you might consider liquid.

Like
WLP001 - great yeast but if im fair - can be replaced with dry yeast
WLP002 - or WYEAST 1056 gives nice fruity notes
....


etc -

So ..  in my opinion.

starting off - go with DRY Yeast - is easier and less to go wrong -
after a while - go liquid - more variety and you can make you beer stand out a bit.

[Stitch]

I have read a number of discussion s about Nottingham being a good yeast for a pseudo larger. Now for someone that knos their beer you may not get away with this but for the average punter/family member is it worth the added expense???

I am seeing a better range of dry yeast even since I started to brew 2 years ago
I am just trying to justify the expense and if I was there is a chance of infection (just seen you tube video where a lad lost 120 litres due to mishandling washed yeast and ghiz guy seemed to know his stuff)
Thanks for the feed back

[Rossa]

I'm a snob. I use almost exclusively liquid. It might be a bit more hassle but I think the beers are better. I also repitch a few times with each strain and try to keep a load of slants so it doesn't cost any more than time.

[Ciderhead]

tanx Ciderhead

Have we had a drink tonight Sir? All the signs are there, txt speak, generosity on the Corny payment, I bet you have even been on Ebay looking at Chinese stc1000's as well.
Right, do you mind blowing into this bag for me please, blow blow blow.
Straight to Red, I'm arresting you for drinking and being in charge of a keyboard ... you lucky bastard

[AdeFlesk]

I use liquid yeast, but will get three to four brews out each vial, with washing the yeast after each brew,  this brings the cost down to about 2e a brew. I am enjoying working my way through the White labs catalog, learning about the flavours they produce, flocculation and attenuation.
Remember yeasts impart quite a bit to the flavour profile of your beer and carries out the work of the fermentation while you get to watch the bubbles out of the airlock.
Well worth buying or borrowing the Yeast book  by White & Zainasheff.

But the most important thing if you are going to use dried yeast is to rehydrate it. 
taken from above book
1. warm the dry yeast to room temp
2  In a sanitised container  sterile water 41C ten times the weight of the dried yeast
3 Sprinkle the dry yeast on top of the water avoiding large dry clumbs , let sit for 15 mins then stir
4 Once yeast is reconsituted gently stir once again to form a cream and let sit for 5 minutes.
5 Adjust yeast to within 8c of wort temp
6 Pitch yeast into wort as soon as possible.


This will make sure you have optimal live healthy yeast cells,   over fifty percent death rate can be caused by just sprinkling dried yeast over wort
And of course most important is stay within temp range for the yeast during fermentation to avoid those off flavours .
hope that helps

[AdeFlesk]

Regards  the youtube man, most likely he didn't pitch enough yeast into his brew to  out-compete other organisms, 120L is a lot of wort,
To reduce this happening use a yeast pitching calculator such as

http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/calc.html

Professional  brewers using live yeast tend to have their own yeast labs to keep some form of quality control on their yeast supplies.

[irish_goat]

I prefer to use liquid. I like getting a starter going so I know it'll start fermenting quickly. I've had a few dried yeast brews taking a while to get going and that always worries me.

Commercially I believe 8 Degrees also use dried yeast and I've had other brewers mention that they can taste the difference.

[matthewdick23]

yeah, hilden use dry too

i dont have the book in front of me, so will double check- but drying yeast does something to the cell walls of the yeast I think. Basically, from what I understand, using dry yeast is a compromise

[AdeFlesk]

Brewing yeast like bread yeast through natural selection over the years has lost the art of mating, it reproduces by budding. Each yeast cell can bud twenty times before its walls are covered in scares and dies. This is why it is important to make sure you have enough yeast cells to begin the fermentation process.
Where wild yeasts and other bacteria can reproduce a lot faster then our yeast.  Most brewers find that the third generation produces the best results through natural selection.
With kit brews it is probably best to buy your yeast separate whether  dried or live.  This ensures that the yeast has been handled correctly and less chance of errors.
Meantime brewery in London uses Danstar Nottingham Ale yeast.

[johnrm]

Why are kit yeasts are always put down as crap?
Is this fact or myth?
I think it is funny as soon as a noob posts about doing their first kit, the experts jump in and say bin the kit yeast.
What are the facts that support this claim?

[Eoin]

Why are kit yeasts are always put down as crap?
Is this fact or myth?
I think it is funny as soon as a noob posts about doing their first kit, the experts jump in and say bin the kit yeast.
What are the facts that support this claim?

There were a lot of problems with Woodfordes not reaching terminal gravity a while back and everyone started to change the yeasts. Fact is that properly handled yeast is kept in a fridge while in storage....that doesn't happen with yeast taped to the top of a can so it's a total unknown, especially as the gloop is good for a lot longer than the yeast, you also don't know how far you are from expiry.

I use liquid solely now, I used to use dried when I was a kit brewer, I just find that they liquids impart a lot more character and take off faster and more vigorously than dried.