When we asked for listener questions - y’all responded, but one man - Dave Taylor - dropped a mountain of questions on us. He and Denny go way back online with many years of thoughts, conversations and conflicting opinions. So, we sat down with Dave and work through all of his questions in a go!
Dave Taylor of Anheuser Busch fame?
No, Dave Taylor of anti Anheuser Busch Fame.
Thanks for clarifying.
Enjoy!
THAT Dave’s not here, man.
burp
Thanks to Denny and Drew for the invite. Great times. Sorry for the moments that my internet connection was choppy, that’s my bad, not theirs.
Cheers all. 
I told ya it wasn’t that Dave. He’s not here. Now open up, it’s Dave…
I don’t remember if Denny left it in the intro we recorded, but I did literally say “Dave’s not here, man” and we both laughed. Hence the title of the episode.
I listened to this episode today and I enjoyed it a lot. Thanks to Dave for asking the questions and to Denny and Drew for answering them!. I thought it was interesting that Dave used S-04 for a lager that turned out good. Great Fementations homebrew supply also recommends S-04 as a dry yeast option with for their Oktoberfest kit along with 34/70.
Glad you liked it. I’ma gonna use S-04 a whole heck of a lot more in the future. I said it someplace, might have been in the episode but I think on some other forum – I think from now on I might use S-04 wherever I used to use US-05, because it ferments and flocs out faster, and hey it might even be cleaner???
I’ve used S-04 in stouts and brown ales with good results. I plan on using this yeast more often after listening to the podcast today.
Have you tried BRY-97? If not, you should.
Only twice, years ago… and I wasn’t pleased with the result either time. However I’d be willing to give it another shot. Maybe the errors were mine and not the yeast’s fault, as I know BRY-97 gets great reviews from most who’ve tried it. Thanks for the suggestion.
I recently used it for a Brown and Amber Ale and I liked it a lot. I plan on using it for a Pale Ale this summer. Other suggestions?
If you’re looking for a clean yeast, it’s worlds cleaner than 04 or 05. Very attenuative and clears better than 05.
Dry Stout. I tinkered with my yeast choice on this style for a good while. When I finally tried BRY-97, the search was over. The beer shot up to a whole new level.
I agree that it clears better than 05, but I don’t know whether I’d call it worlds cleaner. I still prefer US05 for hoppier styles. I find that late/dry hop character is enhanced a bit better by 05 than BRY-97. I like them both, but each has their own uses for me.
Maybe it’s the fruitiness from 05 enhancing the hops?
Possibly, although I don’t really consider it fruity. It is by comparison to other neutral ale yeasts, but when I think US-05 “fruity” isn’t the first descriptor that comes to mind.
I find that some flocculant strains have less hop expression. I’ve read (from Stan H, I think) that hop oils can adsorb to the surface of yeast and end up getting pulled out when the yeast flocs out. I haven’t found that this is universal, but I have noticed that my experience with several strains tends to trend like this (i.e., more flocculant strains have a higher tendency to reduce hop flavor compared to less flocculant ones). I think this is why certain yeast strains work better for NEIPAs, and this is my guess why I prefer US05 over BRY97 in late hopped beers.
I split a batch between US-05 and BRY-97, and the BRY-97 was preferred.
Bonus points if anyone is old enough to know where the “Dave’s not here” reference comes from. Double bonus points if you have the album on vinyl.