[S. cerevisiae]

I used dry yeast for the first time in sixteen years today.  I wanted to see how well Bry 97 holds up to the drying the process.  I used to have Bry 97 on slant in my old bank.   It was weird not having to grow a culture from slant.  If the dry version of Bry 97 performs as well as cultured Bry 97, I am going to keep a package or two on hand for spur of the moment minute brewing.

[gymrat]

I have been using that yeast in all of my American Ale styles for a while. It takes it a while to take off, usually a 48 hour lag time, but once it does it really has a major party.

[ynotbrusum]

I always keep a couple packs of S-04 or US-05 around for brewing on the spur of the moment.  I want to try the Belle Saison at some point to see how it compares...waiting on warmer weather and a couple open kegs!

Good luck with the BR-97!

[erockrph]

Keep us posted with your results. I stopped using Danstar yeast a couple of years ago after a couple of bad experiences with Nottingham. If the Bry-97 performs servicably well I may give it a try myself.

[anthony]

In my experience, the lag time of Danstar's BRY-97 is greatly reduced upon repitching but not sure the added cost makes it any better than US-05 for most American ale styles.

[S. cerevisiae]

All I can say is that the drying process clearly takes its toll on Bry 97 because this yeast strain behaves very differently when propagated from slant.  I did not see any evidence of fermentation until 48 hours after I pitched the rehydrated contents one of package, and, even then, it was just small flocs of yeast on the surface.  The beginning stage of a pre-yeast floc foamy krausen was forming this morning when I checked on it.  I have never had any yeast culture take 64 hours to start to form a foamy krausen.  Bry 97 definitely appears to be a 1+ gram per liter of wort dry yeast culture. 

[S. cerevisiae]

Bry 97 finally kicked into gear sometime during the day yesterday.  It definitely does not like being cold.  However, I knew that Bry 97 was cold intolerant from working with the strain on slant.  The fermentation rate is very slow at 17C (the current temperature of my fermentation area). 

[chumley]

I have fermented BRY 97 at 60°F with great results.

I've never noticed the lag time issue.  I have noticed that it drops a lot faster than US-05, so it has become my go to yeast for APA/IPA. And yes, the yeast cakes work great for a second pitch.

[S. cerevisiae]

Did you pitch two packages?  I am beginning to wonder Bry 97 is more sensitive to handling than most other dry yeast cultures.  Many brewers have experienced extended lag periods with dry Bry 97.   I had Bry 96,  Bry 97, Bry 264, and Bry 335 on slant back in the nineties.  Bry 97 behaves very differently when propagated from slant.  I may plate and slant the crop from this batch.

[dcb]

The fermentation rate is very slow at 17C (the current temperature of my fermentation area).

How do you qualify the fermentation rate?  Rate of airlock bubbling, watching the currents in the fermenting wort, or???  I'm just curious to know what you're looking at when you see that A is fermenting at a higher rate than B.

[S. cerevisiae]

I am measuring the change in gravity between two sample points.

[S. cerevisiae]

I finally got around to kegging the beer that I fermented with Bry 97 (it sat in a secondary fermentation vessel  for six weeks). While Bry 97 appears to strip hop aroma when it flocs, the overall flavor is pleasant without any significant fermentation flaws.  The resulting beer is very drinkable, which is amazing considering how long it took for the fermentation to kick into high gear.   I am still a dyed-in-the-wool cultured yeast fan, but Bry 97 has changed my perception of dry brewers yeast. 

By the way, Bry 97 creates large flocs when it flocculates: