dry yeast starters

[burcher]

also, I've seen palmer/jamils pitching rates and i'm just not sure and 11 liter starter is what I want. I guess I believe that's what it takes to get a certain cell count, but whenever i calculate it it's always too big to seem realistic. I know, i'm decanting the liquid, but is just seems too impractical. Please forgive my cartesian approach - doubt until you can no longer doubt and it must be true. I'm just into figuring out what's a trend and what's the truth, or at least accurate. word


cb

[Brandon]

ok, I think I see - no starter cuz it's overkill. But are you not using dry yeast b/c the strains you want aren't available (e.g., sours, belgians, hefes, etc.) or b/c it sucks, or you think it sucks? So far I'm doing mostly pale ales and stouts to familiarize myself with the other aspects of brewing other than style. Thanks so far! BTW, next brew I'm going no starter w/dry yeast just to see if I get the same fermentation to decide for myself!


'prece


cb

In my case, my brew session are usually determined by the strains of yeast I have. I tend to buy most of the limited release strains from Wyeast and White Labs. The reason I use the dry yeast is on the hoppy beers I use S-05, its a neutral yeast and in my double IPAs and IPAs I just wanna taste the hops. I see no reason to spend 6 or 7 bucks on liquid yeast just to ferment something I dont want to or will never taste the yeast on. As far as my sours go, I fermenting part of my sours with neutral yeast, down to 1.020 or so and then pitch my bugs into it.

I dont think the s-05 gets the respect it deserves. Dry yeasts are much much better now than a few years ago. Its a good yeast and cuts down on your cost per brew.

[burcher]

cool, thanks for your knowledge, brandon. I started with dry yeast my first go round - years and years ago, then went to liquid and I am just venturing back into trying dry again and wondering........ your input helps greatly. I, too, really dig on the 05 for ipas and iipas, that's what started me on this fermentis trip. Usually I make starters just to double the yeast and save half for a later batch but I also just pitch on the cake a lot too. Again, I'm trying to milk the yeast for whatever I can and washing/harvesting off any yeast has bitten me in the ass a bunch of times so reusing dry by making big starters (or just using big starters in big beers) seems like a potentially useful way of being miserly.

cb

[BYOHB]

Per the manufacturers website, I rehydrate using 2 Cups of wort, seems to work well, and yes they kick off and finish quickly!

[Axis714]

I use S-04 S-05 34/70 S-23 and all have been pushed out several generations in my beers with no ill effect. They can be pitched directly on wort regardless of instructions, and can be repitchedand cleaned as all other yeasts. The ONLY concern with useing dry yeasts is long term storage beers. If you will not be bottling batches to sit on the shelf in your basement for more than a year before drinking, Use the Dry - dump it in- dont worry about it- enjoy.

[Mylo]

The ONLY concern with useing dry yeasts is long term storage beers. If you will not be bottling batches to sit on the shelf in your basement for more than a year before drinking, Use the Dry - dump it in- dont worry about it- enjoy.

Where are you getting this information? Provided that your dry is fresh and has been stored properly - you will get a short lag time and good attenuation. I consider this comparable yeast health. Will you more dead yeast cells with dry? Maybe - but they are the first to drop. If you have a good racking process, you will not be transferring the least viable (or dead) yeast over to your bottling bucket or corney. From a theoretical standpoint I see no difference between liquid and dry yeast once fermentation has completed.

I have been a big fan of liquid yeast for a long time. I have used dry yeast on occassion and I do not notice any problem with long term aging.


Mylo

[Hammer]

From what I have read and heard from Jamil, You want to rehydrate dried yeast in water. When the yeast is in a dried state the cell membrane cannot control what passes through it. Introducing it to wort can potentially allow the sugar to enter the cell and when it does rehydrate, can expand to destroy the cell wall killing the cell. I usually will sprinkle the yeast into 200 ml of sterile water 10 minutes to flameout. After cooling that leaves it in there for about 20 minutes. It proofs up and has always worked well for me. But if your method works reliably for you and you are happy with the results, why change it.

[straight cash homey]

+1 hammer. ive done the sprinkle into wort method and made some great beers, but ive also been burned by that method where the cell count probably wasnt as high as it should have been, so i made some cloying/sugary beers that had to be dumped. i will probably never use the dump it in method again. always rehydrate in preboiled water.