minimal krausen from us05 yeast

[solidute]

so I've just put down my 4th kits n bits brew 2 days ago. for all of them I've used us05 yeast first 3 i sprinkled the yeast over the wort but for this one i rehydrated the yeast in 100ml of <30°c water which was about 25°c and all but first batch i aerated the wort the best i could. all batches there has been very minimal krausen less than 1cm high. first 2 brews were not temp controlled but were not too hot or cold and last 2 have been temp controlled batch 3 was set about 19°c and batch 4 is set at 20.5°c just to see if a slightly higher temp helped with yeast activity.

 

in the past (like 12 years ago) i crudely made double batch beer with 2 tins of coopers aust pale ale 2kg sugar and 2 sachets of kit yeast in an open top fermenter covered in cling film and had huge krausen .

 

 

my brews have all been 1 tin coopers aust pale ale 1kg ldm 250g crystal to make hop tea fermenter temps as already mentioned last brew only change was swapping the tin from pale to tc family secret amber ale

 

cleaning and sanitation was done correctly

 

so have i done something wrong or is this a characteristic of this yeast?

 

I seem to be having a fair few issues getting a decent brew made and am learning a little bit each time i ask a question but i would've thought I got some part right given im doing it better than my first attempt

[Beerinberra]

I am by no means an expert but I am brewing my second batch currently using us-05. My krausen was also less fullsome than my previous batch which used a kit yeast.

My understanding from others is that us-05 is fairly understated activity-wise.

[Hairy]

You will find that the Krausen from US-05 will hang around for ages; it takes a long time to drop.

 

Cold crashing will help and so will giving the fermenter a whack with the mixing spoon.

[solidute]

You will find that the Krausen from US-05 will hang around for ages; it takes a long time to drop.

 

Cold crashing will help and so will giving the fermenter a whack with the mixing spoon.

 

im more concerned about the other end of the process. like why is there very little krausen? is it because something is wrong? with the kit yeast in the past ive had huge krausen but my 4 brews using us05 there has been very little and im wondering if this is affecting the process? as my beers have little to no carbonation (see my bulk priming issues thread) im concerned that the lack of activity is continuing on to the carbonation process. the gravity readings tell me stuff is happening but the final product isnt giving me any confidence. brew 1 i had issues but 2 tastes ok just flat. 3 will taste monday

[Hairy]

The size of the krausen doesn’t mean anything. Sometimes they are big and sometimes small.

 

If the gravity is reducing then it is working.

[CaffeinatedSentryGnome]

Ive found that US-05 doesnt really krausen much however what it does have tends not to go away

[ChristinaS1]

The size of the krausen doesn't mean much, and does vary. The size of the krausen has nothing to do with whether or not it carbonates well in the bottle.

 

I think rehydrating at 25C on the low side for ale yeast. IME yeast respond better to rehydrtion at the high end of the recommended range, rather than the low end, or below the low end.

 

For about the past year I have been rehydrating at 38C. I started doing this after listening to Shea Comfort, the Yeast Whisper, who says to use 35-40C, and that 35C should be the minimum, or the cell walls may never unfold properly.

 

I must admit that I have not tried rehydrating US-05 at 38C, as I stopped using it before I began using higher temps.

 

Cooper ale yeast usually produces a nice thick krausen, especially when there are a lot of roasted malts in the recipe.

 

Cheers,

 

Christina.

[jackgym]

For ales I mostly use US-05 (11g) yeast, simply sprinkling it over the wort.

The krausen has rarely risen above 20mm so that is normal for me. Occasionally

I'll use 2 pkts (2x7g) of the Coopers kit yeast which produces a higher krausen.

Which is best? I prefer the taste of the beer using US-05.

[Beerlust]

The size of the krausen doesn’t mean anything.

I don't think Mrs. Hairy agrees.

 

Sometimes they are big and sometimes small.

...and something about the magic of the wand...

 

Cheers' date='

 

Lusty.[/size']

[Diemme 80]

I'm not a great fan of US-05 because of its inactivity. Coopers kit yeast in comparison is a mad party animal giving confidence in its fermenting ability. Where I work we pitch 5kg of yeast, suitably primed into 20kl of wine must as a matter of course. The 100 litre primer batches we make smell just like coopers yeast primer and nothing like US-05, which comes across as much less bready, more closed.

 

I suspect US-05 is made to be slow and steady mainly to avoid thermal runaway and add minimal flavour input. Coopers yeast does add a floral palate and thankfully is quite temperature tolerant. I happily use coopers yeast in my APA/IPA brews.

 

Now if I could pass on some wine worker advice to the homebrewer community.....Rehydrate and kickstart your yeast every time to verify the yeast is viable before pitching. And.....dont fret over dead yeast during rehydration. It becomes food for the live yeast, just like the fermaid we use.

 

I suspect a hidden problem with slow yeast at bottling may be caused by very low oxygen levels in the beer. Yeast really struggles in low oxygen, so perhaps allow a bit of splash when you bottle. In the bottle i mean....

 

Hope your brew turned out okay.

 

MK

[BlackSands]

I'm not a great fan of US-05 because of its inactivity. Coopers kit yeast in comparison is a mad party animal giving confidence in its fermenting ability...

 

...I suspect US-05 is made to be slow and steady mainly to avoid thermal runaway and add minimal flavour input. Coopers yeast does add a floral palate and thankfully is quite temperature tolerant. I happily use coopers yeast in my APA/IPA brews.

 

I'm a fan of the Coopers yeast too. It's robust' date=' vigorous and tolerant, though not actually my usual choice these days. I do wonder why US-05 is so popular though. [img']unsure[/img] Apart from my own particular issues with it (frequent phenolic beers!) it's a slow starter, a slow-ish fermenter and a below average flocculator. Probably the single most popular ale yeast and yet totally over-rated I reckon.

[Otto Von Blotto]

I never found US-05 to be a slow starter or slow fermenter, in fact pretty well every batch with it was at FG in about 5-6 days, one of them hit FG in 3 days. Had no issues with carbonation when bottling either.

 

That said, I tried 1272 as an alternative in the beers I normally ferment with US-05 and I do prefer it because it gives just a little more fruitiness, but I can see why 05 is popular.

[Diemme 80]

Ahh, yeast......I'm getting back into kit homebrewing after a five year hiatus. Still have old hops and yeast and bought fresh supplies too. My second wort is cooling right now and I had planned to pitch a coopers yeast sachet. So rehydrating and activating it with some simple sugar. Dead yeast. No activity. Dammit. (was one of the oldies) Have some spare US-05 sachets on hand. Presently activating one of these and its waking up fine. So for all my bagging of Safale yeast looks like I'm using it for brew number two.

 

I might siphon off some coopers yeast from brew number one which is still underway.....Let them fight....

[Otto Von Blotto]

No need to use sugar for "activating" the dry yeast, all it needs is plain water to re-hydrate in. Not surprised that the 5 year old ones are dead; I did do some viability stain testing on a packet of Nottingham dry yeast that was about 3 or 4 years past its best before date and it was still about 75% alive, however this packet had been kept in the fridge the whole time. Always best to store yeast in the fridge.