Liquid or Dry yeast... that is the question.

[MickDundee]

Yes, just keep the lid loose like you say and shake it and squeeze the bottle as regularly as you can to get oxygen in.

Thanks! I've got it in the bottle and pitched now. I look forward to seeing some activity before brewnight Friday!

 

[MyQul]

I found it today at the other end of the shop from the expensive one. The Fermentum Mobile website recommends a 1L starter with 120g of LME for 20L of up to a 1.057 beer - Can I use a 2L Coke bottle for keeping my starter in? Will I need to fit an airlock or just leave the lid loose enough for gas to escape?

Personally I dont think you dont need to squeeze the bottle. I did this the first time I cultured up a yeast and the bottle got a tiny hole in it from repeated sqeezing and the culture started to come out the hole. I've never done it since and everything has worked out fine. I assume oxygen gets in as it replaces the C02 that blasts out after you shake the bottle then open the lid a little

 

[JonBrew]

it's always annoys me when my threads go off-topic.

in terms of the original post, I don't have any experience with the dry strain you refer to but I gather it's the same as wpl001 and S05, both of which are icons of the homebrew yeast scene. I'm sure it will be good.

this is a subject that's started to interest me a lot. when I started out home brewing I was always told that fresh liquid yeast was far superior to dried strains. this was reinforced for me when I visited a brewery in the north of Scotland where I was talking to the owner and he threw scorn at commercial breweries who used dried yeast in their beer. he was obviously an advocate of only using fresh liquid yeast.

I've come to wonder recently though if, with all the advancements in the technology, if the dried strains aren't actually just as good as the liquid strains. I'm sure there a many many award winning homebrewed beers out there that have been made with dried yeast. and you only have to look at forums such as this one or homebrewtalk.com to see that (IMO) the majority of people use dried strains or, at the very least, they are highly coveted by many.

another reason I started to question my long held beliefs: I had a bottle of a lager by cloudwater recently in which they noted that they had used a dried safale lager strain (34/40 I think).

 

[Bodleigh Head]

In my experience, liquid yeasts are far superior to the dried versions but I have only used British ale yeasts, nothing else. Liquid ale yeasts take my brews into a completely different realm, the different yeasts impart character on the brew that you just can't get out of a dried yeast. They are true top fermenters and produce a real krausen ... give me more.

Unfortunately, I can't get hold of liquid yeasts very easily, otherwise I would use it all of the time. When I do get hold of it, I pump through three brews and top crop and repitch ... the results are always excellent.

In dried yeasts, I have had good results with Windsor and S23. The recently released Danstar ESB has given decent results but it is not as good as the liquid Wyeast 1968. My next experiment will be to pitch Danstar ESB and then top crop across several generations to see what happens.

I really don't like US05 at all so I wouldn't even consider using a liquid version of the same thing. Personal taste. Can't help you on that one.

 

[MyQul]

it's always annoys me when my threads go off-topic.

Your definately on the wrong forum if that's the case. It seems a thread only has to go more than about a page orso before it wanders off into hitherto new and uncharted territory. I also have to admit I'm probably one of the worst offenders for off topic waderings Mind you I often find a really interesting discussion can pop up which have got nothing to do with the original topic

 

[Bodleigh Head]

anyone remember when Michael Fish got it wrong about the hurricane ? :whistle:

 

[MyQul]

anyone remember when Michael Fish got it wrong about the hurricane ? :whistle:

:lol::lol: