White Labs WLP002 vs. Safale s-04

Post Reply
User avatar
Tom Wrinkles
Brewmaster
Posts: 159
Joined: Mon May 24, 2010 8:47 am
Location: Henderson

White Labs WLP002 vs. Safale s-04

Post by Tom Wrinkles » Mon Oct 28, 2019 7:28 am

I recently did a ten gallon batch of oatmeal stout. I fermented 5 gallons with WLP002 and the other 5 gallon with s-04 with hopes of finding out the true difference, if any, between liquid and dry yeast. Unfortunately, the s-04 had an infection and I can't get a real tasting between the two yeasts. Has anyone done a successful experiment using dry vs. liquid yeast? If so, I would like to hear you results. Is there any difference in flavor, taste, attenuation, etc. if using the same pitch rate?
Tom Wrinkles

Beer makes you feel the way you ought to feel without beer.

Bottled/Kegged: Brown Ale, English Barleywine, Oatmeal Stout
Fermenting : English Porter, Kolsch
Next up: , Marzen,

shelby
Maltster
Posts: 37
Joined: Thu Mar 29, 2018 9:19 am

Re: White Labs WLP002 vs. Safale s-04

Post by shelby » Tue Oct 29, 2019 8:52 pm

Wish the o4 would have turned out. I've been curious about those same two yeasts.
Shelby Hess

Beer very well could be Nectar from the Gods

shelby
Maltster
Posts: 37
Joined: Thu Mar 29, 2018 9:19 am

Re: White Labs WLP002 vs. Safale s-04

Post by shelby » Tue Oct 29, 2019 8:53 pm

Wish the o4 would have turned out. I've been curious about those same two yeasts.
Shelby Hess

Beer very well could be Nectar from the Gods

Jeremy Dunn
Brewmaster
Posts: 518
Joined: Sun Feb 15, 2009 12:08 pm
Location: Evansville, IN

Re: White Labs WLP002 vs. Safale s-04

Post by Jeremy Dunn » Thu Oct 31, 2019 10:33 am

In my opinion the difference doesn't have much to do with dry vs liquid, but the fact that they're different yeast strains.

Lots of people say that Safale US-05 is the same as WLP001. They both may have the same origin, but to me they're somewhat different. I personally prefer WLP001 because I think it has a more neutral flavor and less esters than S-05.

Then again, I've never done a side-by-side comparison...
Jeremy Dunn

User avatar
Tom Wrinkles
Brewmaster
Posts: 159
Joined: Mon May 24, 2010 8:47 am
Location: Henderson

Re: White Labs WLP002 vs. Safale s-04

Post by Tom Wrinkles » Sat Nov 09, 2019 8:28 am

After reading a little more on this subject, I found that the WLP002 is a Fuller's strain and the S-04 is a Whitbread strain. Jeremy, you are right. I found that S-04 is more closely related to the WLP007 than the WLP002. Yeast, wow, what a subject.

http://www.mrmalty.com/yeast.htm

I know a local brewery that uses S-04 in most their beers and has a lot of success with the dry yeast. I have not had much luck with it and am going to stay from it.
Tom Wrinkles

Beer makes you feel the way you ought to feel without beer.

Bottled/Kegged: Brown Ale, English Barleywine, Oatmeal Stout
Fermenting : English Porter, Kolsch
Next up: , Marzen,

Post Reply