Who frequently uses liquid yeast

[Chateau Joe]

I was buying some oak cubes when I was asked by my LHBS manager what yeast I was going to be using with my pail of Carmenere. I told him I would probably choose a Lalvin dry yeast. He then asked me if I had concidered one of the liquid yeasts that he offers. I said I had not because I know little about them. So here is my question. What are the benefits of a liquid yeast over a dry yeast?

 

[jeepingchick]

ok...im not very experienced so by no means realy on me but .....
with beer hubby prefers the liquid and will onle use the white labs....i dont know why, he has no proven reason just likes it better, im a firm believer that he prefers it because it cost more money (HAHAHHAHAHAH DNW u know u love me!)

as for wine i have used the liquid once, it was a freaking disaster!! i ended up being forced to make a STAT trip to the LBS over an hour away to get some lavlin before i lost my wine!!! no matter what i did, i jst could not get that yeast to bubble!! and the SG would not move!! was so damn frustrating!! i pitched in the lavlin and within an hour i had the prettiest bubbles ive ever seen!!! i KNOW the liquid yeast was not expired cuz i checked that as soon as i relized i had a stuck ferment.... as for me ill stick with dry yeast from now on, i have never had a stuck ferment before i decided to do what DNW said to do LOL!!

 

[Malkore]

It boils down to what strain of yeast you want to use and whether its offered only as a liquid strain or also as dry.
Yeast dehydration and quality control has improved a lot over the years, to the point that dry yeast is just as high quality as liquid.

Liquid is more expensive, and is a lower volume of cells than a dry pack, so you pretty much always need to make a starter and propagate a larger colony before you pitch.

With beer making, there's a LOT of strains that only come as liquid. A good example is kolsch. You can't make kolsch beer without the right strain, and its only offered in liquid form by Wyeast and White Labs.
But a more generic 'English brown ale' could be made with a few different dry yeasts like Windsor or Nottingham, or some specific strains of White labs/Wyeast.

 

[Wade E]

Yeah, I dont think they have done much as far as advancement with liquid wine yeast as they have the beer yeast. Have tried the liquid once and like said by Malkore I had to make a very good starter, it costed more and didnt see any real improvement or advantage and it wa more work and more money.

 

[deboard]

I used a White Labs Cabernet yeast on my cabernet merlot blend. I didn't know to make a starter with a liquid, and it did take about 2 days to take off, but it eventually did, and it worked fine. I liked the smell of it anyways, I haven't had a chance to sample it yet.

 

[TheTooth]

Malkore is right on the money here. I use White Labs yeasts for a lot of my beers because that's the only way to get the strains I want for specific beers. I also like the white labs english cider yeast for my apple ciders. I use dry yeasts for my wines and meads because the strains I want are all available in dry, which is easier to manage (longer shelf life, higher cell counts, etc...). I've used dry on some beers because the strain I wanted was available dry. All turn out just fine.