Wyeast vs. White Labs

I've never had issues with either of those yeast manufacturers, as far as yeast performance goes.

I've had issues with their dumbed down instructions on pitch amounts, but I see White Labs has taken a step in the right direction in what's now printed on their packs.

But regarding your two smack pack fails... how much yeast are you pitching, into what volume and gravity of wort? How old was the yeast? How had it been shipped/stored? How did you oxygenate the wort? Did you add any type of yeast nutrient to the batch? What was fermentation temp? How long did you wait before declaring failure?

 

My first two Wyeast pitches failed . . . and every one has been good since then (White Labs also). To continue in Vikeman's direction: there are multiple variables that dictate if the yeast are going to live long and propagate. IMO, the single most important one is how the yeast were handled (shipping, temperature, age) . . . okay, that's three, but you get my drift. To combat this I always make a yeast starter. That's the only way to really know if those little buggers are going to show up on game day. Does Wyeast or White Labs encourage starters? Not really, they don't want to get into the nuts & bolts of the bio-chemistry needed to give you an informed answer. So they just say "pitch it" or maybe "pitch some more".

Here are a couple of good articles on yeast pitch rates and making starters:
http://mrmalty.com/article.php
It's a long read, but if you follow these guidelines your brews will likely improve. Oh yeah, since my first two mis-fires I have never brewed without having a back-up yeast available.

For @VikeMan , haven't bought a WL in a while ... what are they saying now?

 

I don't have any current WL packs right now, but they have a sort of a table on the back, giving different instructions for different situations. It's still a far cry from a continuous calculator, but I think it's an improvement over "Use one vial for 5 gallons of wort" or whatever the old vials said.

 

Stuff happens. I've occasionally had duds from both major manufacturers. They cannot control every minute of how their yeast is handled and stored or whether it is sold close to or beyond the best by date. I have favorite strains from both companies, and will continue to use them and others.

 

Liquid yeast can be a bit of a gamble in that it is more vulnerable to aging and mishandling than dry yeast. Some potential solutions to the problems this can pose include

• making starters
• pitching multiple packs of yeast
• switching to dry yeast, which is less vulnerable to aging and mishandling and has more cells per package (and yes, you probably should rehydrate dry yeast to take full advantage of that fact, and yes, some folks don't bother and report good results)

Not saying you will make bad beer if you don't do one of these things. It's all about increasing your odds of making good beer

 

Making starters helps a lot when using most liquid yeast, especially if it's not super fresh.

My opinions are a little dated because I've mostly been either making starters from commercial dregs or using dry yeast for the last few years, but...

I have generally found Wyeast to be more robust all around than its WL equivalent, and it ferments more happily at a temperature appropriate to the style being made.

Both make good tasting clean beers. My preference is WY for most varieties.

 

I used to get free expired yeast from a LHBS 200 miles away, but by making a starter each time I never had any that didn't manage to produce the beer I wanted. 10 months is old, but obviously still had enough yeast to make bubbles. Now you have to worry about how stressed the remaining yeast are. You greatly underpitched, that can lead to some flavor issues that may or may not suit the beer you're brewing.