A little background: I've been away from HBT for a while given my involvement in a local brewery (long story there, ask Q's via PM). Among the discussions we had there, between me and a couple of brewers, was about oxygenating dry yeast...or not.
This brewery used dry yeast exclusively; I don't have a problem with that provided you can get the strains you want, and it's certainly easier than making starters with liquid yeast and then oxygenating.
But these guys oxygenated even when using dry yeast, which to me doesn't make sense. We agreed to disagree on that. I did brew a beer for them using some LODO techniques, didn't oxygenate using dry yeast, and it sold well.
Since dry yeast has greatly improved over the years to the point where you don't have to oxygenate the wort prior to pitching, I celebrate the idea of not oxygenating when using dry yeast: I don't want to add any unnecessary oxygen at any point ever, if I can avoid it. And intentionally oxygenating the wort when it's unnecessary simply brings oxidation of malt and hop flavors and aroma into play. I don't want that (who does?).
Watching a webinar this week with Tobias Fischborn of Lallemand and Chris White of White Labs, and they were discussing dry yeast. They showed graphs indicating virtually no difference in final gravity, in speed of fermentation--in other words, there was nothing I could see that would recommend against using dry yeast.
Chris White recommended oxygenating with dry yeast anyway, so I asked this question (paraphrasing): "what degree of oxidation degradation to malt and hop flavors and aroma do you think obtains if I oxygenate when using dry yeast?"
[Edited to add: I should have included this, and Red Over WHite's comment below reminded me of it--the not oxygenating only works for first generation; if repitching then oxygenating is needed, and Chris White noted this.]
The short answer--and their answers weren't necessarily short--was that there doesn't appear to have been much done about that subject. They seemed to like the idea as a possibility, but I was hoping for a more definitive answer. That's ok, they don't have to know everything.
But it's been my belief that oxygenating wort that doesn't need to be oxygenated can't do anything but harm the resulting beer, muting flavors and aromas. My beers can last on tap up to 6 months with virtually no degradation over time, which I attribute to the low-oxygen approach.
Anyone here have views on this subject? Unless I need a strain of yeast I can't get in dry and would have to make a starter, I can't see any benefit to oxygenating with dry yeast. What do you think?
(Link to that webinar; my question is at the 54:30 point. Webinar )
This brewery used dry yeast exclusively; I don't have a problem with that provided you can get the strains you want, and it's certainly easier than making starters with liquid yeast and then oxygenating.
But these guys oxygenated even when using dry yeast, which to me doesn't make sense. We agreed to disagree on that. I did brew a beer for them using some LODO techniques, didn't oxygenate using dry yeast, and it sold well.
Since dry yeast has greatly improved over the years to the point where you don't have to oxygenate the wort prior to pitching, I celebrate the idea of not oxygenating when using dry yeast: I don't want to add any unnecessary oxygen at any point ever, if I can avoid it. And intentionally oxygenating the wort when it's unnecessary simply brings oxidation of malt and hop flavors and aroma into play. I don't want that (who does?).
Watching a webinar this week with Tobias Fischborn of Lallemand and Chris White of White Labs, and they were discussing dry yeast. They showed graphs indicating virtually no difference in final gravity, in speed of fermentation--in other words, there was nothing I could see that would recommend against using dry yeast.
Chris White recommended oxygenating with dry yeast anyway, so I asked this question (paraphrasing): "what degree of oxidation degradation to malt and hop flavors and aroma do you think obtains if I oxygenate when using dry yeast?"
[Edited to add: I should have included this, and Red Over WHite's comment below reminded me of it--the not oxygenating only works for first generation; if repitching then oxygenating is needed, and Chris White noted this.]
The short answer--and their answers weren't necessarily short--was that there doesn't appear to have been much done about that subject. They seemed to like the idea as a possibility, but I was hoping for a more definitive answer. That's ok, they don't have to know everything.
But it's been my belief that oxygenating wort that doesn't need to be oxygenated can't do anything but harm the resulting beer, muting flavors and aromas. My beers can last on tap up to 6 months with virtually no degradation over time, which I attribute to the low-oxygen approach.
Anyone here have views on this subject? Unless I need a strain of yeast I can't get in dry and would have to make a starter, I can't see any benefit to oxygenating with dry yeast. What do you think?
(Link to that webinar; my question is at the 54:30 point. Webinar )
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