White Labs WLP002 vs. Safale s-04

[Tom Wrinkles]

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?

[shelby]

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

[shelby]

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

[Jeremy Dunn]

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...

[Tom Wrinkles]

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.