There are two types of yeast on the market: liquid (or pure culture) yeasts and dry
yeasts. Both have their advantages and disadvantages. Dry yeast is inexpensive,
convenient, hardy and does not require a starter. But many dry yeasts are also poor
fermenters, produce a lot of undesired "off-flavors" and can never be as pure a
culture as a liquid yeast. The selection of good dry yeasts is also quite small, and
therefore limits the range of possible beer flavor profiles you can get with the yeast.
Liquid yeasts are pure cultures or blends of pure cultures and come in a extremely wide
range of choices allowing a lot of possibilities when it comes to affecting the flavor
profile of your beer (and if you want to make a lager, liquid yeast is your only option).
On the other hand, the liquid yeasts are more expensive. So which do we recommend? For the
absolute best beer, there is no question that liquid yeast is a superior product and worth
every bit of the extra cost. But we do carry two different types of dry yeast that have
performed remarkably well for us, and we can recommend them without hesitation. Again, if
want to make a lager, liquid yeast is your only choice.
We now carry only the new
Wyeast ACTIVATOR packs. The
new Wyeast ACTIVATOR yeast has 100 billion cells for a better shelf life,
shipping capability, quicker & longer fermentation. The new ACTIVATOR smack-pack
is the only package design that allows you to activate the yeast prior to using.
The nutrient pack contains a full spectrum of free amino nitrogen, malt sugars,
and micro nutrients necessary for a healthy, complete fermentation.
These replace the old XL (extra large) packs but we'll be
keeping the old XL in the part numbers. We also can now ship your liquid
yeast with a ice pack to keep it fresh. It adds $1.50 per ice pack and 1
ice pack will be needed for each 4 packs of yeast.