hydrate or sprinkle ?

[Aleman]

The instructions on the packet of SO4 say to sprinkle . . .Go to the website, and they give both methods.

I Rehydrate for reasons already quoted

[raiderman]

I'd rather do everything I can to help the yeast get established quickly. yeast is funny stuff though. I'm using T58 to accentuate what I hope to be a winning combination of nelson sauvin and willamette. I rehydrated and the little boogers were frothing away when pitched, but I've got no head after 24hrs. The fermenter is buzzing away and the yeast is clearly doing its stuff but despite that it hasn't produce a head as I'd expect. Unscientific as it may be it leaves me wondering whether I'd have less activity had it sprinkled and left the yeast to work from a standing start. Rehydrating may just be superstition on my part but if there isn't room for a bit of superstition in brewing then wheres the fun?

[pantsmachine]

I read somewhere about a brewery having difficulties when they went from square fermenters to cylindro conicals. it took the yeast a good few brews to start to perform as expected again.Now that to me is weird, how did they know the shape had changed(i assume it was a pressure change in the beer column driven by the shape change)! I never forgot that and its the main reason i mostly keep to one yeast and reuse it. Rehydrate and ferment cool for me when using dry. Interested to know the name of the book that the OP is refering to as i enjoy a good brewing book when relaxing.

[boingy]

I read somewhere about a brewery having difficulties when they went from square fermenters to cylindro conicals. it took the yeast a good few brews to start to perform as expected again.Now that to me is weird, how did they know the shape had changed.

It's obvious if you think about it. Yeast need to reproduce and there are no secluded corners in a round fermenter. It took a few generations for the exhibitionist cells to outnumber out the shy ones...

[Blackjack]

Another piece of technical info on the Danstar website also states quite clearly that there is no need to aerate the wort prior to pitching. The reason being that the manufacturing process ensures that the yeast is already pumped up with sterols and the little fellas are already hot to to trot. ie. The initial aerobic phase is not required.

[Wolfy]

According to Jamil Zainasheff, and Chris White (of Whitelabs yeast) there can be up to 50% cell death when you dry sprinkle! As the dried 11g packets are sufficient to ferment 20-23L you can be effectively under pitching by dry sprinkling!

If anyone knows what they are talking about in regard to yeast and making good beer with it, it should be the two authors of that book. So when they suggest that up to 50% of the yeast will die if you use it without rehydrating, that should be good enough reason for anyone to follow their advice.

Having said that, I'm sure people make good beer sprinkling it directly, but it may be that killing half their yeast is simply part of the normal procedure for them.

The instructions on the packet of SO4 say to sprinkle . . .Go to the website, and they give both methods.

I doubt they can fit the rehydration instructions on the packet and I'm also sure that many manufacturers think that Home Brewers are either illiterate or lazy so they just give the easiest and quickest directions rather than what in theory should make the best beer.

Another piece of technical info on the Danstar website also states quite clearly that there is no need to aerate the wort prior to pitching. The reason being that the manufacturing process ensures that the yeast is already pumped up with sterols and the little fellas are already hot to to trot. ie. The initial aerobic phase is not required.

As far as I was aware if you are pitching the 'correct' amount of yeast there will always be an aerobic growth phase where the yeast take up the oxygen and propagate.'
While the extra pre-supplied nutrients and oxygen help the process along, the phase still exists but brewers do not need to cater the needs of the yeast as much (since the manufacturer did that for you).

[Aleman]

Another piece of technical info on the Danstar website also states quite clearly that there is no need to aerate the wort prior to pitching. The reason being that the manufacturing process ensures that the yeast is already pumped up with sterols and the little fellas are already hot to to trot. ie. The initial aerobic phase is not required.

However if you are repitching you must make sure you aerate, or the yeast will not have enough sterols for the subsequent batch.

The lag phase isn't an aerobic phase as in any solution that contains > 4% glucose (i.e. wort) yeast respire anaerobically anyway (The Crabtree Effect)

[boingy]

If you read Fermentis' instructions for rehydrating the yeast I'd suggest that very few home brewers will follow them to the letter. Hands up all those who ensure that the initial water/wort temperature is 27C +/- 3c, who wait 15-30 minutes for the cream to form and then maintain "a gentle stirring for another 30 minutes". I'm pretty sure most rehydrators just tip a bit of warmish water out of the kettle into a glass/mug, add the yeast, cover it with clingfilm and give it a swirl now and then...

It really is possible to worry too much about this stuff.

[Aleman]

Hands up all those who ensure that the initial water/wort temperature is 27C +/- 3c, who wait 15-30 minutes for the cream to form and then maintain "a gentle stirring for another 30 minutes".

Damn there isn't a Hands Up Smilie

While I agree that worry about all this stuff may be a little pointless I suggest that the reason people don't get the results they should with dried yeast following rehydrating is that they do

just tip a bit of warmish water out of the kettle into a glass/mug, add the yeast, cover it with clingfilm and give it a swirl now and then

The instructions are there to help you get the best of of the yeast . . . Lallemand have shown that as little as 3C either way with their yeast leads to a 20% drop in viability. Is that important? Maybe, maybe not, but I would always prefer to over pitch than underpitch

[raiderman]

i talk to my yeast

[boingy]

Hands up all those who ensure that the initial water/wort temperature is 27C +/- 3c, who wait 15-30 minutes for the cream to form and then maintain "a gentle stirring for another 30 minutes".

Damn there isn't a Hands Up Smilie

Heheh, I kinda expected that from you, Aleman, but then I don't really consider you to be the typical homebrewer. For me, you are very firmly in the "almost pro" category. I'm pretty sure you could run a commercial microbrewery if you chose to.

I feel I should also confess that since I increased my batch size I now routinely underpitch. I'm far too tight to use two packets of yeast so my 8 gallons have to make do with one packet (sprinkled). I'm such a bad man. I just don't deserve to make beer...

[Wolfy]

If you read Fermentis' instructions for rehydrating the yeast I'd suggest that very few home brewers will follow them to the letter. Hands up all those who ensure that the initial water/wort temperature is 27C +/- 3c, who wait 15-30 minutes for the cream to form and then maintain "a gentle stirring for another 30 minutes".

I try to get the temp right, but then just swirl/stir every now and then for 30mins rather than something continuous.
After reading the 'Yeast' book where they talk about how critical the temperature is and why, I'll be paying even more attention to it in the future.

[mat69]

post removed

[Grahamf4]

I am also new to AG brewing. I have just brewed a batch of Summer Lightning and used Danstar Nottingham. I thought I'd rehydrate it with with some made up wort (water and DME) rather than with straightforward water. It seemed to start quicker than when I have just rehydrated with water and it tasted pretty good when I racked it after fermentation. It's getting kegged tonight.

I am sure other brewers have rehydrated their yeast this way but have they noticed a difference in taste?

This forum has been a good source of advice/opinion so far as is having a brewing buddy/pal to whom one can direct their queries.

[staplefordbill]

Hands up all those who ensure that the initial water/wort temperature is 27C +/- 3c, who wait 15-30 minutes for the cream to form and then maintain "a gentle stirring for another 30 minutes"

Not exactly, but not far off. I've been using liquid yeast for beer but still use dried yeast for turbo cider. I boil up the kettle, stick 120ml of the water straight into a Pyrex jug and wait 30 minutes or so for it to cool. Then I check the temperature and check again every 10 minutes (or so ) until it gets to around 27c when I sprinkle in the yeast and give it a good stir. Then I wait another 15 minutes and stir. Then I pitch once everything else (e.g. sterilising) is ready. The cream will have formed in that time so I don't need to stir for 30 minutes. It works fine for me and it's not a big job as I fit it around clearing up jobs in the kicthen. (Sigh...)

It would be very rare that I would sprinkle straight into a fermenter now. I want to make sure the yeast is viable before it goes in.