Do you hydrate dry yeast?

Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

JeffNYC

Well-Known Member
Joined
Apr 20, 2006
Messages
234
Reaction score
1
In the past I just threw it in cooled wort, with very rapid fermentation (compared to liquid yeasts). The directions say to hydrate in sterile water first. Just wondered if anyone followed these instructions and noticed any real difference to just pitching on the wort directly.

As a separate topic, anyone use Safale T-58 successfully for Belgian-style beers, saisons, or biere de garde? Here's the description:

"A specialty ale yeast selected for its estery, somewhat peppery and spicy flavor. This yeast forms a solid sediment at the end of secondary fermentation, and is therefore widely used for bottle and cask conditioning."

Jeff
 
I always rehydrate dry. I remember hearing a podcast, or reading somewhere that by not re hydrating, you are potentially decreasing the viability of the yeast. With dried yeast, there is more than ample cells to ferment a 5 gal batch, so most of the time you will not notice the difference, but in my opinion when it comes to yeast, more is better.
 
You do what you like... I hydrate it for about 20 minutes. They say to rehydrate it in water because the dried cellular structure can be damaged by placing it directly into the wort sugars... and that water offers a better environment for awakening the yeasties. That is what I have read.

R
 
I got some additional color by doing a search, got kinda lazy there. Still not much out there on the T-58, so would like to hear if people feel this makes a good Belgian...
 
All three major manufacturers of dried yeast say rehydrate in warm water, so that's what I do. Pitching into the wort, you'll kill about half of the cells and weaken the rest.

Haven't tried T-58, doesn't suit the styles I make. I suspect most people would opt for liquid for the styles you list.
 
Liquid is expensive, but to get some of the very specific flavor profiles associated with many beer types, it is the only way to go.... I agree. Dry yeast is awesome, it really is, but it does not impart the variety of flavors that a good liquid yeast can. I used Nottingham religously for my first year as a brewer... now I am almost exclusively liquid yeast, simply for flavor profiles.
 
I've heard about the dry 58 designed for Belgian Wits. I'd go all-dry if I didn't have to rely on certain yeast strains for certain styles (Whitbred Yeast for my New Castle).

I started out rehydrating my yeast, but now I just pitch the pack. My last fresh dry yeast (I harvest my yeast cakes) was an English Ale (Safale - 04) and it fermented out in 36 hours.
 
I always just pitch it on dry, but I have only used safale-04 and Nottingham dry yeasts. It has been my experience that even pitched dry they are faster then liquid when it comes to fermentation. I asked the LBS owner about it one time and his reply was that there was more then enough healthy yeast to give a vigerous ferment just sprinkling it on top of the wort foam.

Works great for me, I have a stout that I brewed two days ago that I had to replace the water in the 3 piece lock because the ferment was so vigorous it blew the water right out!
 
I rehydrate it now. I didn't before because I didn't get it. Here's the reason that made sense to me:

Rehydrating your yeast allows it to "stretch its legs" after having been in suspended animation for a while. When rehydrating with water, the cell membranes are first exposed to a rather mild environment. Then, after all the yeast are sort of "back in action" you put them to work by pitching.
 
Both times i've used dry yeast I just grabbed a pint water bottle that was at room temp, added the yeast and let it sit for about half an hour. I've just counted that pint of yeast/water in my five gallon total and been fine.
 
Unless you are doing a fairly low gravity beer (say less than 1.040) you should really rehydrate your dry yeast. Viability of the dry yeast drops by about 50% when pitched into the wort directly. The amount of yeast in one 11 g packet is optimized for a typical brew (say about 1.050), and if you fail to rehydrate, you will be under-pitching. It will still make beer, but it might not end up as good as if you took the few minutes to rehydrate.
 
I hydrated my Nottingham & Safale-05 today with room temp water that was previously boiled for 10 minutes.

They proofed with just water. The Safale-05 showed airlock activity in 2 hours with my Haus Ale. I'll be hydrating from now on.
 
I did the dump a packet on top of the wort twice - wasn't real happy.

I always hydrate now. I boil 500 ml of water with a trace (a little) of yeast nutrient, boil down to 400 ml, cool, and put a packet of US-56 in and spin about 45 minutes before I pitch. BIG DIFFERENCE. I get great starts.

I put the dry yeast in my Erlenmeyer flask and spin until all of the yeast is water-wet. let sit 10 minutes or so, then spin slowly.

Works very well, even though I'm pitching into 60 F wort.
 
I've never rehydrated and my beers take off within 2-4 hours (and usually closer to 2) and finish out within 72, unless I bring the temp down on them.

Maybe I'll start rehydrating them. That would be an interesting little experiment. spilt a batch of beer and pitch one packet in each, one rehydrated and one not and see if there's any significant difference.
 
I've used S-05, S-04, Nottingham, and Brewferm Blanche dry yeasts...

Without rehydration, I was looking at 8-10 hours (on average - sometimes 4-6 hours, sometimes 16-18 hours, etc.) for a low gravity beer to start fermentation just tossing it on top.

Once I started rehydrating for 30 minutes in sterilized (boiled 5 mins or so and cooled to 75-80) water I've been getting kick-off in 3-4 hours average...

Just pitched some rehydrated S-04 this afternoon at 3:30PM EST. Looking for fermentation shortly. :)
 
i rehydrate as well, the main reason i do this is to ensure that everything is working. i sort of do a little starter to verify that everything is normal.
 
JeffNYC said:
As a separate topic, anyone use Safale T-58 successfully for Belgian-style beers, saisons, or biere de garde? Here's the description:

"A specialty ale yeast selected for its estery, somewhat peppery and spicy flavor. This yeast forms a solid sediment at the end of secondary fermentation, and is therefore widely used for bottle and cask conditioning."

I have used it for Am style wheats....IMHO it doesn't really have the flavor profile for what you are looking for.
 
I'm a bit anal when it comes to tap water, so I'll boil my water first, cool it, then pour it over top of the yeast which have been emptied into a sanitized jar.
 
The first couple of batches that I made I did not hydrate the yeast, they turned out fine it just took the fermentation longer to start.

Now I always hydrate the yeast, its nothing complicated. I just pour a sterile teacup full of warm water and put the yeast in it, then let it sit there will I cook. By the time I've got the wort cool the yeast is ready to go.

Just to sort of give you a comparison, on similar extract batches I've hydrated the yeast and also not hydrated. If you hydrate the yeast there will be a strong fermentation going in a matter of hours ( 4-8 ), if you don't hydrate the yeast it may be the next day before you notice the fermentation. I also think that beer finishes faster if hydrate the yeast.
 
nope, just dump and shake

I take it out of the fridge when I start brewing so it's room temp when Im done.
 
Back
Top