Dry Yeast vs Liquid Yeast

Do you use Dry Yeast or Liquid Yeast?

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coreyman

coreyman

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When I first started brewing many moons ago, I directly pitched dry yeast after mixing it with a little sugar water and letting it sit. I never did get the results I expected and even kept the 1-gallon carboy in a temperature-controlled fermenting chamber. Many unhappy 1-gallon brews later and I swapped to 5-gallon brews and started using liquid yeast (Wyeast). (My favorite homebrew shop doesn't carry Wyeast anymore as they swapped to Omega. This is a little inconvenient as I made all my recipes around Wyeast, and the comparable Omega yeast from the charts taste different.) I've always been happy with the fermentation results from liquid yeast vs dry. I can't help but wonder now, was I doing something wrong with the dry yeast? I find that storing liquid yeast can be problematic as they are very sensitive. Sometimes the yeast is activated in shipping (RE: my most recent order that arrived a week ago). For storage longevity and cost effectiveness, should I be using dry yeast and doing a yeast starter with DME & nutrient? Is this all up to personal preference?
 
I prefer using dry yeast, honestly. Once wort is at pitching temperature, I pitch the dry yeast directly on top of the wort without hydrating or building a starter first. As long as you use a yeast calculator to make sure you are pitching enough cells and you are staying at the recommended temperature range for the strain, it shouldn't be a problem.
 
Same here, for dry yeast. Just pitch it. All the nutrients are in the already. Nothing special to do.

For liquid, I almost always do a starter. Add a little nutrient mix and oxygenate it.
 
Sunfire96 said:
I prefer using dry yeast, honestly. Once wort is at pitching temperature, I pitch the dry yeast directly on top of the wort without hydrating or building a starter first. As long as you use a yeast calculator to make sure you are pitching enough cells and you are staying at the recommended temperature range for the strain, it shouldn't be a problem.
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Do you find it harder to get the specific yeast you need for your brews using the dry yeast? Are you particular to a specific brand? I see they also sell 'bricks' of yeast like this - Safbrew WB-06 - 500g Brick - Texas Brewing Inc. (txbrewing.com) ever used those?
 
For dry, mostly i use us05, s04 or 34/70. Anything else is liquid
 
coreyman said:
Do you find it harder to get the specific yeast you need for your brews using the dry yeast? Are you particular to a specific brand? I see they also sell 'bricks' of yeast like this - Safbrew WB-06 - 500g Brick - Texas Brewing Inc. (txbrewing.com) ever used those?
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Go to dry yeasts: Omega Lutra, Safale S04, Lalbrew Koln. I've tried many other dry yeast varieties with good results
I don't brew Belgians, saisons, or weizens which I'm sure would benefit from a liquid strain
 
I never had any problem direct pitching S-04 or S-05. Sanitize, open packet, sprinkle.
I don't do starters, but I do usually overpitch. When I first started 5-gallon batches, I was using extracts. The damn things never fermented down the way I wanted, thus the reason I got in the habit of doing that.
I met an English brewer in a bar some time ago that liked to pitch a packet midway when transferring. I do that now too - One packet midway, one toward the end.
Not to hijack too much, but has anyone tried a mix of liquid and dry? I was playing with the idea of a Pumpkin Ale using both S-04 (Safale English) and WLP004 liquid (Guiness Strain)?
I don't have issues shipping liquid as I just pick it up at the store 20 minutes up the road.
 
I use dry yeast about 95% of the time. I have never had an issue. Like @Sunfire96 said, as long as you pitch enough and control your ferm temp, you'll get good results. I have used Lallemand, Fermentis, Cellar Science and Mangrove Jack dry yeast. You can't beat the no muss, no fuss with dry yeast. You can also re-use just like liquid yeast.
 
I use both liquid and dry yeast. When I started, I only used liquid yeast (usually WYeast). But, over the past few years I have been using dry more often. Sometimes I choose dry yeast because it's someone else's recipe and that's what they use or I'm experimenting with a recipe and want to see how a different yeast affect affects the flavor and aroma. I do have the advantage of being close my LHBS so I don't have to worry too much about shipping conditions. Many homebrewers, who have to have their yeast shipped, will use liquid in the winter (assuming they have a winter) and during summer months they order dry. Regarding ordering a brick of dry yeast, I wouldn't unless you plan use that yeast a lot! Not sure how long an opened brick of yeast lasts, but a 500g brick is equivalent to 45 11g packet; which makes quite a few batches.
 
How can I be sure there is enough live yeast if I'm pitching dry yeast or even liquid? Do I need to get a hemocytometer and a microscope? A lot of what I brew is cost analyzed so that I'm not spending $8-$20 per gallon. My favorite recipe is only about $4 per gallon. It sure would be nice to keep back 'extra' and save it for another brew.
 
You can't use those tools on dry yeast. They're coated in their nutrients so they have to rehydrate to remove the coating that would allow them to be counted that way. I just use a pitch rate calculator. The one here - https://www.brewersfriend.com/yeast-pitch-rate-and-starter-calculator/ works even better if you use the link from a recipe. It's close enough for my requirements and probably for most homebrewers, unless it's a particular itch you need to scratch.

The pitch rate is generally a very forgiving number The exponential growth the yeast go through in their lag phase will cover the +/- 10% differences. The main challenges are cold fermentation or really large starting gravities.

I used to keep the left over yeast from a small batch and reuse, but I don't brew often enough to take the gamble on sanitation. So I use it as yeast nutrient in liquid yeast batches, or when I reusing the slurry from a previous batch.

Harvesting your slurry or overbuilding your starter if you're using liquid yeast are great ways to reduce the cost of your brew. For my imperial stouts I try to brew a mid strength beer using the same yeast I want to use for the stout and then reuse the slurry from that batch for the imperial. Let us know if you're interested in either of those approaches.
 
Mark Farrall said:
https://www.brewersfriend.com/yeast-pitch-rate-and-starter-calculator/
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Thanks for that link! I'll utilize that on my next brew tomorrow. Waiting on my new mash tun to arrive :)

Mark Farrall said:
I used to keep the left over yeast from a small batch and reuse, but I don't brew often enough to take the gamble on sanitation. So I use it as yeast nutrient in liquid yeast batches, or when I reusing the slurry from a previous batch.

Harvesting your slurry are great ways to reduce the cost of your brew.
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I did used to harvest the slurry and store it in mason jars with a little bit of wort but it was very cumbersome. There would be too much trapped gas in there if I hadn't used it in a while, lids would get stuck, and they took up more of my wife's room in the fridge for slurry :D. I also wasn't sure if I had the right cell count or how viable the yeast was, and the yeast seemed to change a bit brew after brew.
 
Don't overthink dry yeast. It is super easy, sprinkle it straight in right on top, stays viable in refrigerator for probably 10 years with minimal death, and you don't need as much as any calculator says. One pack is enough for 5-6 gallons unless you're making a very high gravity lager then you might need two.

As for selection, there are dozens of good ones these days. You might find this useful:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/16XRUloO3WXqH9Ixsf5vx2DIKDmrEQJ36tLRBmmya7Jo/edit?usp=sharing
 
Dry, liquid or slurry....oh yeah...what about airborne? Ooooh! What about starters from dry like I did a couple of weeks ago. I had a couple packs of S04 that were getting near expiration and I just hate to not use what I have so I built a starter with them and pitched away. I would say that if you find one works better than the other that gets you consistent results, then that's the one that's best for you!

Cell count on our level is best guess estimates and as @Mark Farrall pointed out, there are plenty of tools out there. Better to over pitch than under pitch seems to be the consensus there.
 
I use both but mostly dry well it was dry :confused::p!

Yeah um stingey when it comes to yeast I'll make a starter on 1st Gen keep back my 1st generation for next batch and pitch the rest.

Every beer I make I make a RWS for the previously saved most often dry yeast.

I've got a handful of yeast cultures in my keezer 3 I use most Bry-97 I think that Gen 4 Belgian saison 1 that'sayne Gen 9 ( that was liquid) and 34/70 that's Gen 8.

I've not bought yeast in the last 6 months easy.

It's not just the yeast it's setting up the conditions to make sure they perform right and are happy:).

We truly are yeast farmers at the HB helm give it a go.

In regards to dry lager yeast yes there is other strains other than 34/70.

Swiss lager S-189 and S-23 I think it is are two others that come to my mind that I've used.
Not used that Diamond lager yeast
I hear the Chinese do this Angel yeast strain that's pretty clean too.
Anyhow enjoy your brewing.
 
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@coreyman dont over think it. Dry is made for 5-6 gallons of normal strength beer. Pitch it on top and your fine and it lasts a long time in the fridge. Most Liquid also says enough cells for 5 gallons. If you are making a lager use 2 or a starter. If something imperial strength use 2. The calculator on here hasn’t failed me, it’s also in the recipe builder.

I use both. More variety in liquid but late fall and winter for me to buy those due to shipping.
 
Dry for me. Spent a while over thinking and fannying around with rehydration but there's no need and it just introduces another variable.

I buy 500gm bricks of US05 and S04, they seem happy enough for months at a time in the fridge. Pitch rate for us is 10gm per 20lt and we generally ferment all the way out within 7 days. Cost from memory is about 60p per 10gm so really not expensive and very predictable results
 
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