do you use dry yeast

Question for the more advanced brew folks. Do any of you still use dry yeast at all? If so, which ones and when/why?

Still somewhat lacking in the zythological department, I myself tend to use only S-4 and US-05, probably not coincidentally because these are neutral yeasts.

I keep S05 on hand for short notice brewing - having 2 kids in various activities, I brew on short notice occasionally. But I prefer liquid cultures and will use one time permitting.

I also have US-05 on hand.

Just used BRY-97 to give it a try in a Ballantine IPA clone.

I mainly use yeast from a personal yeast bank that I maintain on agar slants.  However, still use dry yeast from time to time.  In fact, every batch of beer that I made between May and October of this year was made using dry yeast.

Was your lag time measured in days?

I use it a few times a year. Short notice is the main driver, but if I’m going to brew a beer with Chico and have nothing planned for the slurry, I’ll opt for a dry.

Yes, most of the time. I always have some s-05 on hand and usually s-04, though I’ve only used it a couple times. I recently used Danstar Belle Saison with excellent results. I have a packet of Nottingham I haven’t used yet. I also have a Saflager 34/70 I’ll use before the winter is over.

Why? Mostly because I’m cheap and lazy.

It was days for rehydrated yeast. Since you had stated that fact, it was RDWHAHB.

I use dry yeast as much as possible and plan to use it even more in the future, as quality is so wonderful these days and so many strains available that I haven’t tried yet.  US-05 and Notty and W-34/70 are all staples in my refrigerator at all times.  I also love Cote des Blancs for my ciders.  I am still playing with all the different dry yeasts to determine which ones are my favorites for different styles.  I want to try one of the German wheat ones soon.  I hear good feedback on all of them.  Also I loved the new Belle Saison yeast, it is truly fantastic.  I don’t brew saison very often, but when I do, I shall always use that one.

While I love to play with dry yeast, I experiment with liquid yeasts almost as much.  On my last couple of batches (both Belgians) I tried Wyeast (for the first time for Belgians).  Maybe my own fault, but I was disappointed with both batches, which turned out great previously when using equivalent White Labs yeasts.  For most styles requiring liquid yeasts (you still can’t find a suitable dry yeast for every style), I’ll more likely stick with White Labs when possible, or if by chance there’s a new dry yeast to try, I’ll try that and see how it turns out.

Lots of room to play on all fronts, that’s for certain.  There are a lot of excellent dry yeasts out there, no need to fear.  Perhaps unfortunate with dry yeasts is that there just isn’t a ton of information and reviews out there on a lot of them like there are with most liquid yeasts.  But that’s still no reason to fear them unless you hear a lot of negative reviews on one particular strain, and if so then try to find a different dry substitute from another manufacturer or whatever.  There’s more dry strains coming out all the time, it’s a growing business and I’m glad for it, as dry yeast has a much longer shelf life, more reliable in my view, and doesn’t need a starter, so it’s cheaper, and doggonnit, it’s just plain better in most ways, for many styles.  Once they develop a good dry yeast for every style, which I believe eventually they will in another 10 years or so, then I’ll never use liquid yeast at all anymore.  Cuz why should we?

US-05 and S-04 always on hand.  I also keep packets of Nottingham for my ciders.  Recently I did an Octoberfest with 34/70 which worked very well…I just need to adjust the recipe (it was v 1.0).

+100.  Notty is another excellent yeast for ciders.  To those interested, take note.  Much better than US-05 for ciders as well.  US-05 turns out bone dry and super tart… which is fine if that’s what you want but many people don’t.

I don’t have a LHBS that I can get to easily, so I always have dry yeast on hand for short-notice brewdays (and short notice for me is less than 7-10 days; enough time to order a yeast online and grow up a starter if needed). I use US-05 for just about all of my American-style ales. Liquid yeast is not worth the hassle for me for styles where yeast doesn’t play that big of a role.

I also keep S-04 and 34/70 on hand for English ales and lagers, respectively. I’m not a huge fan of S-04, but it will do in a pinch for an impromptu brown ale or porter. There are several liquid yeasts I prefer the flavor profile of, so S-04 isn’t my first choice for those styles the way US-05 is for American ales. That has nothing to do with the fact that it’s a dry yeast, it’s just a flavor preference. If there was a dry 1968 or 1469, I’d use it all the time.

34/70 makes a nice lager, but WY2633 has become my house lager strain. I have to plan out my lagers, because my keezer also doubles as my fermentation chamber. So I almost always have time to order or grow up a fresh pitch of liquid yeast.

Lalvin 71B is also on hand at all times for meads. Ciders usually get S-04, although I’ve been using 71B this season and I think I like it a bit better.

Not trying to hijack the thread, but I do have a question for Eric & Dave.  I know you two do small batches.  Do you use the whole packet or just part and how do you split it up?

Using dry now for quick in between brews and cider. S-04, us-05, notti on hand.

I’m brewing 3-gallon batches mainly. For that batch size I’ll generally just pitch 1 full packet. Since these are typically clean American ale styles, I’m not as worried about potentially suppressing ester formation by overpitching a bit. It’s also for practicality purposes. I don’t know how long a half-empty packet of US-05 is going to be sitting in my fridge before i get a chance to pitch the rest. I don’t really feel comfortable pitching it months later after it’s been opened.

When I brew 1-gallon test batches, I usually brew several in the course of 1 brew session. I’ll generally pitch 2-3 grams of US-05 per 1-gallon batch in that case.

I usually brew 1.7-gallon batches these days.  I use a proportional amount of yeast.  5 gallons requires a full pack of dry yeast for ales, or maybe 2 packs for a lager, right?  So for a 1/3 size batch, I use 1/3 pack for ales or maybe for a lager I’d use one full pack.  Dry yeast lasts for years and years and years.  I’ve used opened packs that have been in the refrigerator for 2 or 3 years without any trouble at all.  I just fold over the corner and tape it shut.  People who haven’t tasted my beer will always whine about my practices but in my experience it works awesome.  Super cheap ‘n’ easy.  Try it for yourself and you’ll see for yourself.

I started using liquid yeast exclusively beginning in the mid 1980s, however with the vastly improved quality of dry yeast in recent years I now keep a few packets on hand for emergencies.  I still definitely prefer wet yeast (especially since my main one is an unidentified and now 'well trained" strain that I’ve kept alive for more than 25 years), but the brews I’ve made using S-04 and especially Bry 97 have turned out great.  I expect that I’ll be doing a lot more experimentation with those, and other dry strains as they come available.

I really like US-05 and S-04 and will use them anytime a recipe calls for the liquid equivalents.  It just seems easier to me and I think they have similar profiles.  I did just try T-58 and wasn’t really happy with it…it is possible I underpitched but the fermentation seemed really herky jerky.

i think the best way to make your decision is split a batch or do two batches -one with dry and one liquid and try to objectively evaluate any differences.

The only reason I don’t split more batches is because my batches are already so small and it would get very expensive buying that much yeast for small batches.  Otherwise, yeah, splitting batches to try different yeasts is always a wonderful experiment.