Dry Yeast - No Hydration

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Col_klink

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All,
I am going to try the PM version of EdWorts Haus Pale Ale tomorrow. I noticed in his recipe, it says "no hydration" in reference to pitching the yeast. Two questions:

1) Does this mean, just dump the dry yeast on top of the wort in the fermentor?

2) Do I need to stir (or shake) the yeast into the wort or just dump them in and put on the airlock?

Thanks in advance for any input.

-Klink
 
If you're not rehydrating your yeast, try to sprinkle it evenly over the wort to avoid clumping.

I know the directions from Fermentis (makers of US-05 and S-04), suggest either hydrating, or sprinkling over your wort, waiting 30-minutes and then gently stirring.

My first batch I simply sprinkled US-05 on top and closed up the fermentor and it was going fine within 12 hours. I've since followed their directions of stirring after 30-min. Generally also kicks off after 12 hours. I meant to rehydrate my last batch, but I had my 2-year old hanging on me, so I just sprinkled it on and left it. Took at bit longer than the others (24hrs), but it's Nottingham, so I also had it at a cooler temperature. It's also bubbling away without issue.

There have been a number of debates here on what you should do. Personally I think it's best to follow the manufacture's instructions (I figure they say you should rehydrate for a reason), but it'll work either way.
 
I guess that just means to sprinkle it on the wort.

What gravity is this recipe supposed to be? If it's a sub-1.050 brew, you'll probably get away with killing a portion of the dry cells by not rehydrating. Personally, I'd rehydrate since it very easy to do.
 
Thanks guys. The recipe is supposed to be 1.051 so maybe that's why it says no hydration. But I'm with you, I think i will rehydrate per the manufacturer's directions. Seems like its really just a matter of lag time anyway and like you said, it's easy to do. Thanks again.
 
Here's a link to Craigtube about the debate of stirring in or sprinkling.

[ame]http://youtu.be/FuZH_OqwjXs[/ame]

I personally always either make a starter or rehydrate. It really is super easy to rehydrate so I don't see any reason not to do it if you're already doing all the work of brewing.
 
I rehydrate and never seem to have a problem. Heck I once made a starter w dry yeast as I didn't realize you really weren't supposed to... it worked out fine for my RIS.
 
And even though you might make beer by doing this, you are wreaking havoc on your yeast by not rehydrating first.

There is a reason there are rehydration instructions on the package. Per the book Yeast, by Chris White (of White Labs ... who also has a Ph.d in yeast science):

While most commercial brewers rehydrate their dry yeast before pitching, many homebrewers just sprinkle the dry yeast on top of their wort. Perhaps they read it in a book, or their local expert told them rehydration was not necessary. Technically, the beer will ferment if you pitch enough nonrehydrated yeast, but you are not giving the yeast an opportunity to make the best beer possible. Skipping rehydration kills about half the cells pitched. Besides only having half as much yeast needed, the dead cells immediately begin to break down and affect the beer flavor. Why would anyone recommend skipping rehydration?

Words to live by.

[edit] I don't have Palmer's book in front of me, but he goes into a little more detail about why/how direct pitching kills dry yeast. I don't remember exactly, but I think it has something to do with the presence/concentration of sugar in the wort impeding the rehydration process for the mummified cells.
 
We can all do what we want. But you can pull up data saying just the opposite.

http://ec.libsyn.com/p/1/a/e/1aeeb0...1ce3dae902ea1d01cf823fd3c15bcfa3&c_id=3529671

"For quite some years there is a debate amongst home brewers whether or not dry yeast should be hydrated before
pitching. Some even state that sprinkling dry yeast on wort would lead to a decrease in cell viability by 60 to
70%.
Based on the historic data desktop research and the experiments that were performed using different yeasts I
conclude that hydration of yeast is not needed to make a good beer. It does not lead to higher degrees of
fermentation. On the contrary, the historic data research showed that the average brewer obtained lower degrees
of fermentation upon hydration of dry yeast. The historic data research showed that for 9 out of 12 yeast
hydration lead to significant lower degrees of fermentation."

"Based on the described data it is recommended not to hydrate dry yeast since this may cause risks when not
carried out in the proper way. Even when hydrating the yeast one might wonder what the benefit will be over the
extra effort and risk."
 
wow I didn't realize there was so many different schools of thought on this. interesting.
 
We can have an even longer debate about craigtube and his advice :mug:

True, so true. :mug:

What everyone's trying to tell you, OP, is that it just doesn't matter one way or another (to the yeast, at least). This is an age old debate, and will likely never really be solved. When I use dry, really, it depends on if I remember, or care to bother, rehydrating. I'd say it goes about 50/50, and I cannot for the life of me see an upside (or a downside) to rehydrating or not rehydrating. I also read a lot and the only thing I can find that states anything concrete about rehydrating in water vs. wort (cuz really you're rehydrating whether you're rehydrating or not, cuz the wort is wet. ;) ) is that, due to osmotic pressure on the cell walls or something, some of the yeast can die off when pitched dry into wort. Some studies estimate "up to 50% loss" in viability, some far less. The answer, pitch two packs of dry. Or don't. It really doesn't matter. Long story not so long, either way you go, you'll make beer. There's far more important concerns in home brewing than hydrating yeast in wort vs. in water.


Oh, and intermingled in between the rare good points that Craig makes in his videos is a bunch of absolute nonsense. I follow him on YouTube, and enjoy his vids quite a bit, but I've always thought the poor guy would serve himself (and many of his followers) very well if he would just pick up a home brewing book and read it.
 
+1 on above you will make beer either way. Fermentation temp is far more important to me.

While I under stand the concept of rehydrating yeast I can't quite wrap my head around how dumping 85-90 degree yeast into 65 degree wort is better than just sprinkling it in dry. I have jumped from a hot tub to a cold pool before.... Its quite a shock.

OK I know you let it cool first so chill everyone. I thought that was funny but oh well. Anyway I'm going to continue to hydrate in my wort if I use dry yeast mainly because I just forget until its time to pitch. Guess sometimers is kicking in ( hope it don't turn into alhiemers!)

Edited because peeps took me to serious.
 
While I under stand the concept of rehydrating yeast I can't quite wrap my head around how dumping 85-90 degree yeast into 65 degree wort is better than just sprinkling it in dry. I have jumped from a hot tub to a cold pool before.... Its quite a shock.

I don't want to take either side in this debate. As noted earlier, regardless of whether you rehydrate the yeast or not, you'll make beer. I simply want to point out that if you are going to go to the trouble of rehydrating, you should really be letting the yeast slurry cool to within 10 degrees of the wort temperature before pitching. Otherwise, the yeast absolutely goes through the same kind of shock you feel when jumping from the hot tub into a cold pool.
 
Good point. I mostly do liquid yeast and starters myself. I have only rehydrated one of the few dry yeasts I have used and by the time I pitched it was probably about 70°
 
+1 on above you will make beer either way. Fermentation temp is far more important to me.

While I under stand the concept of rehydrating yeast I can't quite wrap my head around how dumping 85-90 degree yeast into 65 degree wort is better than just sprinkling it in dry. I have jumped from a hot tub to a cold pool before.... Its quite a shock.

Who says that you're supposed to simply dump 85-90*F rehydrated yeast slurry into 65*F wort? I've never seen anyone here suggest doing that.

You first must slowly adjust ("attempurate") it to within 10*F of the wort by mixing small amounts of the cooler wort into the slurry and let it sit a few minutes. Normally, this takes three additions to accomplish.

While I'm convinced that rehydrating dry yeast gives you the best cell count (based on what Dr. Clayton Cone says), next time I use some I may skip the extra effort and simply sprinkle 2 packs straight into the wort since it's pretty darn inexpensive.
 
I have never rehydrated.

I sprinkle on the top of the wort. Wait 10 minutes. Spray star san on a wire whisk. And mix it around a little.

I don't see any point to adding it to water first for a short time. Plus my wort has 5 gallons of water in it already. And if it kills some yeast, I have about 3 inches of trub on the bottom that looks like they did just fine procreating.
 

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