Dried yeast vs. Brewers Yeast

[dorset.brewer]

I am a modest homebrewer (lapsed) who is intending to get a batch of ale going over the coming days. My previous attempts have been OK-ish but there has always been that tang that tells you it's homebrew. A local brewery (Palmers of Bridport) have offered to let me have some of their yeast and I was wondering if dried kit yeast was likely to be the reason my beer just doesn't taste right. I used to live in West London and there was a superb little homebrew shop in Rayners Lane (Harrow). The owner gave me a glass of his kit brewed IPA once and I really wouldn't have batted an eyelid if you said it had come out of a commercial cask! Since then I have strived to improve my beer taste. At £3 a pint down here I just can't afford to drink anymore!

[steve_flack]

I forgot to take a empty vial with me when I was last down there otherwise I would have nabbed a sample myself. From tasting their beers, they all have a distinctive house taste so the yeast is a fairly expressive one and will add something to the beer.

[dorset.brewer]

Thanks for the helpful advice.

Steve - the brewery have changed their strain of yeast and also stopped using granulated sugar since they employed a new head brewer about a year ago. Their beers are much improved and that 'Palmers' taste has gone.

[steve_flack]

Really - they changed the yeast? That's a big change for such a traditional brewery. When did they do that? I was down in March I think it was and they still tasted the same. Actually I met the head brewer whilst I was on the tour (the second time i've been on that tour actually - I was the only person on it this time....which was pretty cool).

No doubt I'll be down there again fairly soon and I'll get to taste the beers again.

Do you know where they got the new yeast from?