Do I need to rehydrate Safale s-04?

Do I need to re-hydrate this yeast before I use it? I've just sprinkled it in before and it worked well, but after reading the instructions on the site, looks like I'm supposed to.

Is it really necessary?

How do you re-hydrate this yeast? Is there a site somewhere I can find out?

Thanks,
Tom

TomToro said:

Do I need to re-hydrate this yeast before I use it? I've just sprinkled it in before and it worked well, but after reading the instructions on the site, looks like I'm supposed to.

Is it really necessary?

How do you re-hydrate this yeast? Is there a site somewhere I can find out?

Thanks,
Tom

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Ask and you shall receive.
http://http://www.fermentis.com/FO/pdf/HB/EN/Safale_S-04_HB.pdf

Rehydrate by putting in watm water 90* i think. I simply get a cup and run water till it starts to get warm, fill cup and add yeast. let sit 15 minutes , stir and pitch.
does'nt get much easier than that.

I would suggest using preboiled water that has cooled, your tap water has some nasty stuff in it. I know I've had better results that way. I also sprinkle mine in preboiled water closer to pitching temps, say 80ish a half hour before pitching. I figure (caveman logic) that the water is free of oxygen and nasties, and will cool to pitching temps by the time I pitch. Just an opinion, not a scientist.

It is not "necessary" but it is recommended because sprinkling directly into wort has been said to kill half of them.

I pitched dry yeast and had OK results. Seemed like I under pitched a lot with dry yeast. I got better results by rehydrating. I always use water that I boiled and let cool to the propper temp.

I just finished my stirplate so I'm going to go with making starters next

I have both sprinkled and rehydrated, and in my experience the biggest difference has been a shorter lag time when using rehydrated. As I am chilling the wort, I pull 3-4 ounces of 80-90 degree wort and rehydrate the yeast in it for about 30 minutes while I finish chilling and filling the fermenters.

I do re-hydtrate dry yeast. However, I don't bother to boil my water for re-hydrating but I do use water that's been though a charcoal filter. I bring it up to temp (85-ish) in a hot tap water bath. I haven't had a problem yet.

for simplcity ive done both, and neither were better than the other, besides after you stir the yeast in the wort, its rehydrated within minutes!

I have used S04 since around '98, both in commercial breweries and at home, and have never rehydrated it. It works fine as it is. I don't see the need to throw in an extra step and increase the risk of contamination. I pitch dry and always have signs of active ferment in about 8 hours.

It is said that not rehydrating will reduce the viable count, that is probably true, but the yeast will grow quickly and use their dead buddies as food... in the end the result is the same, so why bother? All that matters is what hits the glass

I've been using US-05 for a while now on quite a few brews and have started rehydrating on my last 7 or 8 batches because I read about why it might be helpful. I understand the reasoning behind it and it makes sense, but in my actual experience it doesn't seem to make too much of a difference, at least with US-05. To me it works great either way. Lag time, attenuation, and taste of the beer seems to be about the same. I'm still rehydrating now just because I figure it can't really hurt.

wolverinebrewer said:

Ask and you shall receive.
http://http://www.fermentis.com/FO/pdf/HB/EN/Safale_S-04_HB.pdf

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corrected URL: http://www.fermentis.com/FO/pdf/HB/EN/Saflager_S-23_HB.pdf

Thanks for all the help. Looks like I'm going to re-hydrate. Seems like it's worth the minor effort.

An experiment by Bobby M. Clearly shows that the beer ends up in the same place in the end.

If you sprinkle right in, you're likely to kill 50% of your yeast, as per the "Yeast" book. You still have enough yeast leftover to reproduce and get to the proper level, but you have a longer lag cycle, and will have more stressed yeast, and more ester production. Will your beer finish in the same place? Likely, but you're shorting yourself some yeast. If you can rehydrate, it's worth the effort IMO.

wailingguitar said:

An experiment by Bobby M. Clearly shows that the beer ends up in the same place in the end.

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Nice experiment. I hadn't seen that one before. Thanks Bobby M.:rockin:

Hav3 a Belgian Trappist low alcohol 5-6% in carboy for 7 weeks. Thinking of bottling and using Safale 2 bottle. Any help here is appreciated

i haven't bothered to rehydrate s-04 (or any fermentis yeast) in years. There is just no real world need to do so.

After reading what Dr. Cole from Lallemand says about the need to let dry yeast cells reconstitute their cell walks (via rehydration) before putting them into wort, I always rehydrate dry yeast. Their studies counting cells under a microscope showed as many as 60% cells killed by sprinkling dry. The reason so many brewers get away with pitching dry is the large # of cells in an 11g pack of dry.

Wizard800 said:

Hav3 a Belgian Trappist low alcohol 5-6% in carboy for 7 weeks. Thinking of bottling and using Safale 2 bottle. Any help here is appreciated

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after 7 weeks, you don't need to repitch yeast. you should be fine without it, there should be enough yeast still in the beer to ferment the small amount of priming sugar you'll be adding. not a horrible idea to add fresh yeast but you're just increasing the amount of sediment you'll have at the bottom of your bottle.

BigFloyd said:

After reading what Dr. Cole from Lallemand says about the need to let dry yeast cells reconstitute their cell walks (via rehydration) before putting them into wort, I always rehydrate dry yeast. Their studies counting cells under a microscope showed as many as 60% cells killed by sprinkling dry. The reason so many brewers get away with pitching dry is the large # of cells in an 11g pack of dry.

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yup, that's my understanding too.

I usually use a starter so rehydrating is a moot point with me.

No to threadjack but I made the mistake (it seemed at the time) of blooming/hydrating my yeast while I was still chilling (and not coming down to temperature as quickly as I thought). It sat in its little ramikan for at least 30 minutes.

Did I invite all sorts of nasties into my brew after I pitched it? It was Lalvin D-47.

sharphomebrewer said:

I usually use a starter so rehydrating is a moot point with me.

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starters aren't necessary with dry yeast. unless you need to increase the cell count, there is no upside to making a starter. most packets already have the required cell count, and by making a starter you're getting them to consume their food stores in the starter instead of in the beer. they have all the sterols they need so a starter is redundant.