Y not use dry yeast?

I tried a dry yeast the other day and the fermentation was crazy. Why do most recipes call you liquid yeast just curious.

Far more strains available in liquid form. Alot of yeasties give a unique flavor that would otherwise not be available.

Greater variety is the main one. There's a huge variety of Belgian yeasts, English yeasts, etc etc. Try finding Pacman or Denny's in a dry form!

But you can make a decent beer in almost any style with a dry. So, suit yourself.

Cheers!

^^^^ This... There are far more specific variations. Granted u can use something like US-05 for a stout, but thats more of a general, clean fermenting strain. U can also find various other yeasts in liquid form.

http://www.wyeastlab.com/rw_yeaststrain.cfm

This is just from wyeast. notice the different lager strains, belgians, abbeys, ales, etc.

http://www.fermentis.com/brewing/homebrewing/product-range/

Now here is the Fermentis lists. 7 strains. There's always a big argument which is better, dry or liquid. I'm not gonna get into that here, u can troll the forum and find numerous arguments for or against. But hopefully that answers ur question.

There are times you can use dry yeast to make great beer (not just decent) and there are times you need a specific liquid yeast to make great beer. You can make crappy beer with either.

There are many more choices in liquid yeast, but if a good dry yeast fits the style you are brewing then use it.

There are a few very good dry yeasts that I do not hesitate to use. US-05 is a good one. S-04 is another.

A couple of new dry yeasts are available. I have used BRY-97 and it is turning out to be a good yeast.

I really like the. Belle Saison. It is a beast like 3711 and ferments low. Nice flavor profile.

Like others have noted, it isn't dry vs liquid. It's all about which strain does what you need it to. Luckily for my wallet, most of my favorite recipes can be made with dry yeast- but for a select few, no dry options match the profile of the liquid choices out there.

You can save labels from white labs vials, and every time you send in ten you get a coupon for a free vial! And the whole correct yeast for the style thing.

meltroha said:

You can save labels from white labs vials, and every time you send in ten you get a coupon for a free vial! And the whole correct yeast for the style thing.

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Wait... Really?? Free vial??

Yes sir! You can get all sorts of stuff, but I don't brew more then 10 batches a year. Check the website!

http://www.whitelabs.com/customerclub

Just found this a few months ago. Never used one of their strains but i might start!

Pratzie said:

http://www.whitelabs.com/customerclub

Just found this a few months ago. Never used one of their strains but i might start!

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All I use, never had an issue at all, great taste as well.

I've used white labs and smack packs. Only used dry yeast once. I just thought that was a thing of the past really

Dry yeast is not a thing of the past! US-05 is the same as WLP001 for all intents and purposes, not to mention way more convenient. A properly rehydrated 11.5 gram pack of US-05 has as many active cells as two WLP vials, which means no dealing with a starter, and the ability to brew on the fly! The "Can You Brew It" episode for 21st amendment brewery the brewer mentions that the canned product uses US-05 and the brewpub uses US-05 or WLP001 for its Back in Black IPA, as well as some of their other brews. If those guys consider it to be the same yeast, that's good enough for me!

I like the affordability and simplicity of dry yeast. I make mostly IPAs and Porters, so the US-05 and the 04 does some 90% of what I like to brew. That being said though I still buy liquid yeast on occassion for more specialized styles (ex. Roselare for my Flanders).

HopHoarder said:

I like the affordability and simplicity of dry yeast. I make mostly IPAs and Porters, so the US-05 and the 04 does some 90% of what I like to brew. That being said though I still buy liquid yeast on occassion for more specialized styles (ex. Roselare for my Flanders).

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X2. I go for dry yeast whenever I can. There are times when you just have to go liquid.

tooldudetool said:

Dry yeast is not a thing of the past! US-05 is the same as WLP001 for all intents and purposes

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A guy in the club split a 10 gallon batch and fermented 5 gallons with US-05 and 5 with WLP001 and put them both on tap for the club meeting. The only difference anyone could taste was the WLP001 had a slight buttery flavor.

I always have a packet of a clean, dry yeast in the fridge. I always sprinkle a little into the bottling bucket so there is some fresh yeast for carbonation.

I'm about 70/30 liquid to dry yeast. I use Nottingam a lot.

It's good to have in an emergency too. I just did 2 batchs with it because my starter got a little funky on me. The yeast was from slants and I think it was past it's prime. I could have used it, but I didn't trust it. I figured better safe than sorry. Saved my a**.

I'm at 90/10 in favor of dry. Mostly only use liquid on really big beers or Belgians. Do like the quick start of liquid yeast off a starter though. Am also just starting to play with yeast washing, so might start going more towards liquid

You can wash the yeastcake from dry yeast too.