5 Homebrew things I won't do

[MickDundee]

It’s because I dont reuse yeast and generally brew pale ales and IPAs where US05, S04, BRY97, Koln etc produces great beer with reliable and consistent fermentation. Liquid yeast would cost £16 a brew, if the beer was better I may change, I suppose I would have to try side by side to see if there’s an improvement over dry.

Most liquid yeasts are around the £7 mark aren’t they? It wouldn’t add £16 to a brew, just the cost of the yeast and a bit of LME.

 

[Keruso]

Most liquid yeasts are around the £7 mark aren’t they? It wouldn’t add £16 to a brew, just the cost of the yeast and a bit of LME.

Anything over 1.060 needs two packs at £8 each. I don’t have the stuff to make a yeast starter. I use two dried packs.

 

[chthon]

My personal opinion is live yeast makes better beer

In contrast with a dead yeast

 

[obscure]

Most liquid yeasts are around the £7 mark aren’t they? It wouldn’t add £16 to a brew, just the cost of the yeast and a bit of LME.

You also have the cost of shipping in normal non lockdown times I work full time which means either having the delivery on a Saturday which generally carries a premium or when I’m on holiday. Their is a limit to both how much and how long I can store yeast. I will on occasion use liquid yeast, but for a standard bitter or pale ale S-04 or S-05 produce decent results. Dried yeast generally meets my needs and produces beer I am happy to drink, I have nothing against liquid and will happily admit that the sheer variety available dwarfs that for dried yeast, but I will not use liquid yeast just for the sake of it.

 

[MyQul]

Anything over 1.060 needs two packs at £8 each. I don’t have the stuff to make a yeast starter. I use two dried packs.

If you can make beer you can make a starter. You can make it out of DME, LME from a health food shop or a small amount of grain (you only have to mash for 15 mins in a small pot putting it in the oven, and boil for 2 mins to sanitise). I've done all three. You dont need a stir plate either. Just use a large pop bottle (I use a DJ) and shake it at least 4 times per day

 

[MickDundee]

You also have the cost of shipping in normal non lockdown times I work full time which means either having the delivery on a Saturday which generally carries a premium or when I’m on holiday. Their is a limit to both how much and how long I can store yeast. I will on occasion use liquid yeast, but for a standard bitter or pale ale S-04 or S-05 produce decent results. Dried yeast generally meets my knees and produces beer I am happy to drink, I have nothing against liquid and will happily admit that the sheer variety available dwarfs that for dried yeast, but I will not use liquid yeast just for the sake of it.

I’m by no means an advocate for liquid yeast, I’ve hardly used it, but far too many people use cost as an excuse for not using liquid yeast.

Postage shouldn’t be an issue if you order it with your normal ingredients delivery, most places will send their liquid yeasts on ice packs either at no extra cost (GEB) or a small fee (home brew online). Outwith a summer heat wave that should be enough to keep it cool in your designated safe place until you get home from work.

 

[MickDundee]

Anything over 1.060 needs two packs at £8 each. I don’t have the stuff to make a yeast starter. I use two dried packs.

I used a 2L Coke bottle every time I’ve used liquid yeast.

 

[obscure]

I’m by no means an advocate for liquid yeast, I’ve hardly used it, but far too many people use cost as an excuse for not using liquid yeast.

Postage shouldn’t be an issue if you order it with your normal ingredients delivery, most places will send their liquid yeasts on ice packs either at no extra cost (GEB) or a small fee (home brew online). Outwith a summer heat wave that should be enough to keep it cool in your designated safe place until you get home from work.

I quite happily use liquid yeast on occasion as in certain beers the yeast can be a key part in the flavour I find in the summer months a Landlord Clone I regularly brew tastes excellent brewed with Omega Hothead on the other hand take a Mosaic Smash, the hop is what is providing most of the flavour, what I want is a clean fermenting yeast. I could use Wyeast 1056 at £7 or S-05 at £3 I have tried both and can not detect a notable difference (maybe if I did a side by side comparison I would), both produce a clean crisp beer which tastes excellent. Given what I will pay for commercial beer an extra £4 is neither here nor there, and when I use someone else’s recipe and they recommend a particular strain I tend to do so, but if I don’t feel the beer in question will benefit from the use of liquid yeast I will use dried as a first preference.

 

[Keruso]

I’m by no means an advocate for liquid yeast, I’ve hardly used it, but far too many people use cost as an excuse for not using liquid yeast.

Postage shouldn’t be an issue if you order it with your normal ingredients delivery, most places will send their liquid yeasts on ice packs either at no extra cost (GEB) or a small fee (home brew online). Outwith a summer heat wave that should be enough to keep it cool in your designated safe place until you get home from work.

I’ll probably get some liquid yeast next time I order ingredients, be interesting to see if it improves my beer.

 

[strange-steve]

I’ll probably get some liquid yeast next time I order ingredients, be interesting to see if it improves my beer.

Liquid yeast doesn't inherently make better beer, and in fact requires a little more effort to make the best of it. The only advantage in my opinion is the wider variety, I wish I could find an exact dry replacement for some of my favourite strains because I love the simplicity of using dry yeast.

 

[trueblue]

Only true if you make the erroneous assumption that breweries maintain a pure, singular strain. Your yeast isn't adapting to the conditions, it's becoming less pure through contamination and mutation. This isn't a bad thing for the majority of the time. However, as you alluded to in a previous post regarding your Essex yeast, things can awry and the balance needs to be reset. This is why breweries have yeast banks, often to repitch multiple strains to reset the balance. The question is, how are these yeasts stored at yeast banks? Not in liquid form. Most likely freeze dried cells stored at sub-zero temperatures. Dried yeast is inferior though, isn't it?

Stored at -196c

Anyone who has half an eye on the scale of operation of the likes of Lallemand and Fermentis will see that they aren't sustaining those business's on the homebrew market, which puts pay to the romantic no

Only true if you make the erroneous assumption that breweries maintain a pure, singular strain. Your yeast isn't adapting to the conditions, it's becoming less pure through contamination and mutation. This isn't a bad thing for the majority of the time. However, as you alluded to in a previous post regarding your Essex yeast, things can awry and the balance needs to be reset. This is why breweries have yeast banks, often to repitch multiple strains to reset the balance. The question is, how are these yeasts stored at yeast banks? Not in liquid form. Most likely freeze dried cells stored at sub-zero temperatures. Dried yeast is inferior though, isn't it?

Stored at -196c

Anyone who has half an eye on the scale of operation of the likes of Lallemand and Fermentis will see that they aren't sustaining those business's on the homebrew market, which puts pay to the romantic notion of commercial breweries maintaining decade old, superior live yeasts.

For the record I'll use either, or get some of the free stuff from outside. The choice though is better selection of liquid yeasts vs predictability, convenience of dry.

Of course the dry yeast manufactures are major players, a lot of the newer craft breweries use it, but there are plenty of traditional breweries still maintaining there yeast. One that I sometimes get yeast from Crouch Vale have been using the same yeast since they got it from Ridleys in 1974 and I know they have passed on the yeast on to other local breweries such as Falmers and Wibblers Product categories Homebrew – Yeast they all re-pitch without washing or rinsing.
I have not given up on my Essex yeast it was just sluggish so I am going to buy some yeast nutrient to improve it after all I have only had 14 brews from it which works out 50p per brew and as I stated the 002 has improved by re-pitching, now 20 times and as it is an occasional strain I don't want to lose it.
To the best of my knowledge the procedure yeast banks use is not the same as commercial dried yeast production I thought they used slants and freeze dried to remove moisture not sure what they store would be considered dried yeast as we know it. I can remember Green king Abbot of the 1970's and early 80's as one the finest beers around but they had a fire and lost their yeast. They did revive the yeast from the national collection but I have never had a pint of Abbot since that comes close to the original. I did the Geen King tour several years back and all this was confirmed by the guide who agreed with me about the quality but even with the yeast technology they have said it would take time to improve.
Please don't get me wrong dried yeast has got a place but with a small amount of management live yeast can work out cheaper and can improve over time. Guess I just like to push the boundaries of brewing

 

[MyQul]

. I can remember Green king Abbot of the 1970's and early 80's as one the finest beers around but they had a fire and lost their yeast. They did revive the yeast from the national collection but I have never had a pint of Abbot since that comes close to the original. I did the Geen King tour several years back and all this was confirmed by the guide who agreed with me about the quality but even with the yeast technology they have said it would take time to improve.
Please don't get me wrong dried yeast has got a place but with a small amount of management live yeast can work out cheaper and can improve over time. Guess I just like to push the boundaries of brewing

I have a bottle of Greene King jubilee ale from 1977. I'm pretty confident it has yeast in it. I bottle cultured up some Gales yeast from their jubilee ale so I know bottle culturing 40 year old yeast works. I got both bottles in a 9 bottle jubilee ale haul off ebay

 

[trueblue]

I have a bottle of Greene King jubilee ale from 1977. I'm pretty confident it has yeast in it. I bottle cultured up some Gales yeast from their jubilee ale so I know bottle culturing 40 year old yeast works. I got both bottles in a 9 bottle jubilee ale haul off ebay

Interesting would be worth a go, just hope it's the primary strain.

 

[MyQul]

Interesting would be worth a go, just hope it's the primary strain.

True. I've yet to get around to using the Gales yeast. I cultured it up last november but then it my brewing area in the kitchen got to cold so it's been in my fridge ever since

 

[Pennine]

here's my probably will never
brew a sour beer (purposefully) excluding lambics
brew without an all in one fancy brewer
dry hop directly into beer, without a mesh strainer
brew a light lager
think kegging and bottling produce the same product

 

[Sadfield]

I can remember Green king Abbot of the 1970's and early 80's as one the finest beers around but they had a fire and lost their yeast. They did revive the yeast from the national collection but I have never had a pint of Abbot since that comes close to the original.

Like Adnam's, Harvey's and many others, GK's yeast it isn't a single pure strain of yeast, nor is likely to be from your local brewery after 46 years without washing, and most probably not in your 20th pitch of whatever. Whilst GK may have had all the isolates, it's improbable they knew the exact ratios at the time they lost it and so struggled to get back to where they were.

Finally, our magic ingredient is yeast. It’s the yeast which transforms the sugar to alcohol. There are several strains of yeast, each of which give a different characteristic to our beers.

- From Greene Kings website.

It is this complexity of multi-strain pitches that differentiates them from single strain dry yeasts, not the process of drying. Neither is more live than the other.
Take Nottingham for example, it is the primary strain isolated from a brewery, so unlikely to replicate wet yeast from that brewery. Its like comparing apples to a fruit cocktail. However, once this is understood, one could use a mix of dry yeasts with total control over the characteristics of the beer, with zero risk of drift, under or over pitching, contamination or having "call it a day with this one".

https://www.murphyandson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Yeast-Nottingham-Ale-Yeast.pdf

 

[trueblue]

Like Adnam's, Harvey's and many others, GK's yeast it isn't a single pure strain of yeast, nor is likely to be from your local brewery after 46 years without washing, and most probably not in your 20th pitch of whatever. Whilst GK may have had all the isolates, it's improbable they knew the exact ratios at the time they lost it and so struggled to get back to where they were.

- From Greene Kings website.

It is this complexity of multi-strain pitches that differentiates them from single strain dry yeasts, not the process of drying. Neither is more live than the other.
Take Nottingham for example, it is the primary strain isolated from a brewery, so unlikely to replicate wet yeast from that brewery. Its like comparing apples to a fruit cocktail. However, once this is understood, one could use a mix of dry yeasts with total control over the characteristics of the beer, with zero risk of drift, under or over pitching, contamination or having "call it a day with this one".

https://www.murphyandson.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Yeast-Nottingham-Ale-Yeast.pdf

I know Adnams use a dual strain and I believe Harveys do and their yeast came originally from John Smiths. The man at Green King told me they use several strains within the brewery because of the brands they have taken over so the Old Speckled Hen is brewed with the original Morland yeast.
This may be of interest Yeast map the bottom comment from the beer writer Martin Cornell about the GK yeast.
As for my local yeast Peter the head brewer at Crouch Vale told me they do have their yeast analyzed each year and it remains constant whereas the yeast they gave to Wibblers has varied to an extent they registered it as their own strain but again it remains constant for them. According to this An updated brewing yeast family tree | Suregork Loves Beer the original Ridley's stain is closely related to Timothy Taylor's.

 

[Brewed_Force]

5 expressions you wont hear from me....

1. Vorlauf
2. Three vessel system
3. Grain bed
4. Rice hulls
5. Stuck sparge

 

[BarnBrian]

I understand it really about the bike mech's time, but £5-£10! Anyone who rides a bike really aught to be able to change a puncture. I can do mine in about 15 mins, and that includes pumping up the tyre using a 6 inch micro pump

Does "Change a puncture" mean taking the offending nail out of tyre and sticking it in somewhere else?:hat::hat::hat:

 

[Graz]

1. Pressure ferment (unless I win the lottery and even then...)
2. Be obsessive about cleaning / sanitising - clean it up when you've finished with it, give it a dousing in StarSan the next time you use it.
3. Keep a decent brew log.
4. Ditch a brew because it tastes a bit funny (unless clearly vinegar).
5. Give up drinking unless advised to do so by a health professional