Liquid/Dry Yeast Chart by Style

Homebrewers have two types of yeast to choose from: liquid and dry. Looking around on the web or talking to some homebrewers it's not hard to get the idea that liquid from White Labs and Wyeast are the only options for quality. And looking only at the dry yeast included in canned beer kits, it's hard to disagree.

Despite all you've seen and heard, good beer can be made from both. Liquid yeast has vastly more variety and is the only possible way to go if you're brewing sours. Dry yeast is less expensive, easier to store, and does not require you to make a starter for lower gravity beers. With almost twice the cost and half the cells, liquid yeast is over three times as expensive per cell count. The need for a starter is reduced because 11.5 gram packages of dry yeast have double what liquid yeast packages contain. With twice as many cells, dry yeast will typically reduce your lag time and potentially deliver a better beer as compared to liquid yeast without a starter, assuming the strain you've chosen is appropriate to the style you're brewing.

The problem has been trying to find a good source for translating from one type to another with predictable results. Nobody seems willing to say that liquid yeast "X" equals dry yeast "Y". Hopefully, my previous post is a good start. In some cases the liquid and dry yeasts are the same, so that part is easy. A great example is the Chico yeast strain, which is available from White Labs as WLP001 California Ale and from Wyeast as WY1056 American Ale. It is also available in dry form from Fermentis as Safale US-05. And liquid Nottingham is the same as dry Nottingham, it's just more expensive.

After a few easy matches, the rest seems to be tribal knowledge rather than provable fact. The best single resource I've found so far is Jamil Z's book "Brewing Classic Styles". The following info is mostly extracted from that source. A word of warning, the following chart is only intended as a starting point because some of these matches are only close, not spot on. For example, Saflager S-23 is Jamil's substitute for every liquid lager yeast - which seems unlikely. YMMV. Please post a comment if you have any additional information.

Category	Style	White Labs	Wyeast	Dry
1. Light Lager	Lite American Lager	WLP840	WY2007	Saflager S-23
	Standard American Lager	WLP840	WY2007	Saflager S-23
	Premium American Lager	WLP840	WY2007	Saflager S-23
	Munich Helles	WLP838	WY2308	Saflager S-23
	Dortmunder Export	WLP830	WY2124	Saflager S-23
2. Pilsner	German Pilsner	WLP830	WY2124	Saflager S-23
	Bohemian Pilsner	WLP800	WY2001	Saflager S-23
	Classic American Pilsner	WLP800	WY2001	Saflager S-23
3. European Amber Lager	Vienna Lager	WLP838	WY2308	Saflager S-23
	Oktoberfest/Märzen	WLP820	WY2206	Saflager S-23
4. Dark Lager	Dark American Lager	WLP840	WY2007	Saflager S-23
	Munich Dunkel	WLP833	WY2308	Saflager S-23
	Schwarzbier	WLP830	WY2124	Saflager S-23
5. Bock	Maibock	WLP833	WY2206	Saflager S-23
	Traditional Bock	WLP833	WY2206	Saflager S-23
	Doppelbock	WLP833	WY2206	Saflager S-23
	Eisbock	WLP830	WY2124	Saflager S-23
6. Light Hybrid Beer	Cream Ale	WLP001	WY1056	Safale US-05
	Blonde Ale	WLP001	WY1056	Safale US-05
	Kolsch	WLP029	WY2565	Safale US-05
	American Wheat or Rye	WLP320	WY1010	Safale US-05
7. Amber Hybrid Beer	Northern German Alt	WLP036	WY1007	Saflager S-23
	Dusseldorf Altbier	WLP036	WY1007	Safale US-05
8. English Pale Ale	Standard/Ordinary Bitter	WLP002	WY1968	Safale S-04
	Special/Best /Premium Bitter	WLP002	WY1968	Safale S-04
	Extra Special/ Strong Bitter (ESB)	WLP002	WY1968	Safale S-04
9. Scottish & Irish Ale	Scottish Light 60/-	WLP001	WY1056	Safale US-05
	Scottish Heavy 70/-	WLP001	WY1056	Safale US-05
	Scottish Export 80/-	WLP001	WY1056	Safale US-05
	Irish Red Ale	WLP004	WY1084	Safale US-05
	Strong Scotch Ale	WLP028	WY1728	Safale US-05
10. American Ale	American Pale Ale	WLP001	WY1056	Safale US-05
	American Amber Ale	WLP001	WY1056	Safale US-05
	American Brown Ale	WLP001	WY1056	Safale US-05
11. English Brown Ale	Mild	WLP002	WY1968	Safale S-04
	Southern English Brown	WLP002	WY1968	Safale S-04
	Northern English Brown	WLP013	WY1028	Nottingham
12. Porter	Brown Porter	WLP013	WY1028	Nottingham
	Robust Porter	WLP001	WY1056	Safale US-05
	Baltic Porter	WLP885	WY830	Saflager S-23
13. Stout	Dry Stout	WLP004	WY1084	Safale US-05
	Sweet Stout	WLP006	WY1099	Safale S-04
	Oatmeal Stout	WLP002	WY1968	Safale S-04
	Stout	WLP013	WY1028	Nottingham
	American Stout	WLP001	WY1056	Safale US-05
	Russian Imperial Stout	WLP001	WY1056	Safale US-05
14. India Pale Ale	English IPA	WLP013	WY1028	Nottingham
	American IPA	WLP001	WY1056	Safale US-05
	Imperial IPA	WLP001	WY1056	Safale US-05
18. Belgian Strong Ale	Belgian Blonde Ale	WLP500	WY1214	Safbrew T-58
	Belgian Tripel	WLP530	WY3787	Safbrew T-58
	Belgian Golden Strong Ale	WLP570	WY1388	Safbrew T-58
	Belgian Dark Strong Ale	WLP530	WY1762	Safbrew T-61
19. Strong Ale	Old Ale	WLP013	WY1028	Nottingham
	English Barley Wine	WLP013	WY1028	Nottingham
	American Barley Wine	WLP001	WY1056	Safale US-05