Brew Labs Yeast

[DRB]

I pitched the brewlab standard yeast a few days ago making another starter of 1lt,and it took off like a rocket, 4hours I reckon and the smell thats comming from it,well it's just the best,more than I can say for the whitelabs burton,that dont smell nice at all and it's only down to 1030 in a week,only started at 1042 .

[DRB]

Also produces a nice big head on top which is dribbling out of the bucket.

[gnomey]

Brewlab yeast trully is a winner. I've used many of their slopes which I now purchase directly (0191 515 2535 - Alison). Particular favourites are the standard and high gravity yeasts which I've used with outstanding results and recommend them highly. Getting to grips with starter cultures was tricky, but well worth it in the long run. I'll repitch the slurry in upto 10 subsequent brews and haven't suffered with poor fermentation performance or (more importantly) poor quality beers. Not bad for £3.50. After movin house recently I tried Safale 04 with (comparatively) disasterous results - slow fermentation followed by lingering diacetyl - rubbish!

[steve_flack]

I don't think I could accuse S-04 of slowness. In fact rather the opposite. The last two brews I did with it were bubbling away in a couple of hours and were done in under two days. It does have a 'distinctive' flavour though...

[gnomey]

After reading more on the Safale 04 thread, I feel my aeration technique may have let me down when I briefly made the switch to dried yeast. I still have nightmares about the lengthy fermentation and diacetyl struck end product - I guess the Safale 04 needs some major aeration. A two day primary fermention is impressive - maybe I'll try Safale 04 again..... maybe!

[oblivious]

I still aerate my wort for dry yeast, but I would have thought the sterols build in to S-04 before drying would reduce the dependency on aeration?

[bitter_dave]

I'm a big advocate of S 04. I've found it extremely easy to use, reliable, it does not ferment down too low (or under ferment for that matter) and leaves a great balance of malt and hop flavours. Also, I've never had to use finings with it and I've heard it said that it copes better with higher temperatures than most yeasts. I've made beer with yeast direct from a brewery a couple of times, and the resulting beer was no better or worse, only different. It does benefit from a reasonable maturing period though in my experience. As for aereation I just run the beer from the boiler to the bin via the tap and that seems to be enough.

[Vossy1]

I've used s04 for nearly all my brews recently apart from the last 2. It has proved to be like BD suggests a stall wart of a yeast. It's never failed me, always led to rapid fermentation and I'm more than happy with the results

Last week I pitched a Gervin rehydrate (not starter) and it failed to take despite the yeast crawling out of the glass on rehydration

Next day I pitched a s04 rehydrate and off it went, down to fg in 3 days.

I'm off downstairs now to prove myself wrong by looking at my Bosun Bitter which has a Gervin #1 rehydrate

[Vossy1]

Well no surpise there then



If that had been S04 I'd have expected to see at least 2" of crud, which I could have skimmed.
Plenty of C02 on the surface so it must be doing it's job
I'll see in a few days

[David Edge]

Daab wrote

"Any other ideas CBA" following a long list of The Right Things To Do

Oddly enough I've been writing an article on the topic this week and can only add:

Dropping - a lot of people treat this as gospel. If you drop and it doesn't work try not dropping!

Pitching rates: 11g is ok with well stored and properly rehydrated yeast. Moritz Kallmeyer reckons you can kill 50% of cells if you get it wrong. If the yeast has been stored warm in the shop all bets are off re viability.

With all grain worts consider the fermentability of the wort - high temps and amber malt will stop earlier. Also consider zinc - as in Servomyces.

Otherwise clutching at straws. I wish I knew what it was about S-04 that gives problems in some breweries and not others. Analysis of Derby Festival awards for the last three years suggests that Muntons Gold, Nottingham and S-04 are equally popular and successful.

[steve_flack]

Pitching rates: 11g is ok with well stored and properly rehydrated yeast. Moritz Kallmeyer reckons you can kill 50% of cells if you get it wrong.

I asked Keith Thomas at Brewlab about rehydration last weekend. He said that dried yeast should be rehydrated before use. Not in wort (so no slinging it straight in a starter) but in water - possibly with a very small amount of sugar in it.

[Ross]

I've hardly ever had a problem with dried yeasts & expected attenuation - Sounds to me that there's a problem with some of the Muntons extract - possibly mashed to high

Cheers Ross

[oblivious]

I've hardly ever had a problem with dried yeasts & expected attenuation - Sounds to me that there's a problem with some of the Muntons extract - possibly mashed to high

Cheers Ross

I though extract would generally leave a high F.G compared to an all grain as part of the fermentables was intended to be made up with sugar?

[DRB]

A bit late,but I have to say how good the brewlabs standard ale yeast was,if anyone wants a nice clean yeast I would have to say this is well worth the trouble, it was excellent in the bitter I made.

[David Edge]

DRB: what sort of beer did you make - was this one of the kits that dried yeasts don't always perform with?