Great dry yeast

Review by roger k. on 3/7/2008

Pros: Easy to use with a quick and clean fermentation. This yeast was used to brew a Russian Imperial Stout that won a home brew competition.

Cons: This yeast has a higher attenuation than most liquid yeast so you need to take that into account when formulating your beer.

Very clean and excellent flocullation

Review by maxfriendly on 10/14/2006

Pros: I fermented a 5 gallon batch between 19C and 23C (a batch made of 2.5kg of 100% malt can kit & 400gr of crystal malt - no other ingredients). Fermentation finished in three days. Yeast formed a very compact sediment both in fermenter and bottles. Very neutral flavour and aroma profile, even after 5 months.

Cons: No major disadvantages. Fermentation was not violent at those temperatures and using those ingredients.

An Extremely Hungry Yeast!

Review by Michael J. on 3/6/2006

Pros: This is a very good, general-purpose ale yeast. It starts quickly, attenuates & flocculates well, and produces a fairly clean beer, with perhaps just a little bit of a "yeasty" edge.

Cons: There is usually a sharp spike in activity the next day after pitching, so have yer blow-off tube handy or consider using a little Fermcap. Also, I've had trouble with this yeast "perpetually fermenting" on occasion - you know, where the beer just sits there in secondary fermentation bubbling away ceaslessly. When this happened the first time I tried this yeast, I chalked it up to perhaps some wild yeast contamination (not unheard of with dry yeasts, especially in the old days). But, since it happened again, I guess that maybe this is just a characteristic of this particular yeast (note - I NEVER have this problem otherwise). So even you more experienced homebrewers out there may need to rely on gravity readings to know when to bottle. I recommend the Safale US-56 instead of this one.