I’m thinking about purchasing some WLP001 White Labs - California Ale yeast along with an extract kit and pitching this instead of the dry yeast that the kit comes with. Is this okay? Is this common? Can I pitch the full amount of yeast in the vile, or do I have to measure it out? Are these stupid questions?
The reason I am thinking about doing this is because this is my second batch and I think I could have had a better fermentation with better yeast than what comes with the kit.
Cheers
Can you be more specific? Not to sound too incredulous, but most new brewers have bigger problems to solve than dry yeast quality. – and liquid yeast isn’t necessarily better than dry.
What kit are are you getting and what yeast does it come with?
Why do you think WLP001 is better than what’s in the kit?
What went wrong with the last kit that has you thinking yeast quality is to blame?
As for the whole vile, yes. But depending on the kit the whole vial may actually not be enough. A yeast starter may be in order. But again, let’s get some confirmation of the root problem. Hint: it is usually temperature control, not yeast quality per se.
It is very likely you will need to make a starter with the yeast if your volume in the fermentor is 5 gallons or more, and the estimated OG is over 1.042. I like the ease of using this pitch rate/starter calculator.
http://www.brewersfriend.com/yeast-pitc ... alculator/Doesn’t the Safale US-05 come with most of these kits? I thought that was pretty good dry yeast?
I agree with the above… The yeast quality wasn’t necessarily bad, it could have been your temps or a multitude of other things.
I’m not familiar with kits, but if Saf-05 comes with them that is a very good dry yeast, plus it is the same strain as WLP 001/ Wyeast 1056. The experts say there is subtle differences between them, but I can’t find them myself. My taster isn’t that well trained. I rehydrate dry yeast, but sometimes I haven’t, and just threw it in and was fine, but I always make a starter for liquid strains. In the beginning I used liquid extract, but switched to dry extract. IME I liked those beers better, but that was 20 yrs ago. Not qualified to make any judgment now, I just use DME just for starters.
Use the dry yeast that came with the kit. It will turn out great, especially if it’s US-05.
[quote=“rramin”]I’m thinking about purchasing some WLP001 White Labs - California Ale yeast along with an extract kit and pitching this instead of the dry yeast that the kit comes with. Is this okay? Is this common? Can I pitch the full amount of yeast in the vile, or do I have to measure it out? Are these stupid questions?
The reason I am thinking about doing this is because this is my second batch and I think I could have had a better fermentation with better yeast than what comes with the kit.
Cheers[/quote]
Your question can best be answered if you tell us what kit you are ordering. If you are ordering a kit form Northern Brewer, the yeast is not included with the kit. At Northern Brewer you specify which yeast you want. Coopers, Muntons, and True Brew probably come with a small pack of dry yeast. This yeast can be suspect, not only because it is only 5 to 7 gram pack, but storage conditions with the kits, may not have been optimum storage conditions for the yeast.
As a beginner myself, I have found that dry yeast is far more forgiving than the liquid. :cheers:
