How do you guys pitch your dry yeast?

Do you rehydrate? Sprinkle on top? Add to water? This is out of curiosity because I have read that different ways are better but I just sprinkle.

+1 im a sprinkler.

It depends on the yeast. I usually follow the instructions (Notty says to hydrate in warm water, let sit, then stir, then pitch -- Safale says to sprinkle into the wort).

I usually just sprinkle it on top like you. I've heard that re-hydrating is better for the yeast, but I've never had any issues doing it this way. If I'm doing a higher gravity beer I make a starter (usually just pitching my cooled wort on top of my last yeast cake actually).

Cheers!

Terje

"I'm a sprinkler"... that's funny.

Depends on the beer for me. If it's a "big beer"... anything over...say... 1.060 I'll make starter the day before with dry yeast and if it's anything else, I'll rehydrate water in the low 70's as I start my process for the day.

I think rehydrating does help. It kind of wakes them up... gets them moving around before you shock the crap out of 'em with sugar overload.

I rehydrate every dry yeast. I've nothing against sprinkling; lots of people say it works fine and I believe them. I just like to rehydrate, so thats what I do.

i have rehydrated dry yeast the first time I ever brewed. Since then I never have, and have never had a problem. Dump n shake is the way to go with dry yeast.

My name is SD and I am a sprinkler. I just spread it across the top of the wort and seal er up! Havent had a problem yet.


SD

I hydrate at the beginning of each brew session. I love that bready smell of fresh yeast.

I rehydrate as well. I used to pitch directly but then I read the directions on my Nottingham sachets.

I to get my yeast nice and wet before they take the plunge.

Low Gravity beer - Sprinkle
Mid-High Gravity - I use a starter

For typical beers I just sprinkle. For the big beers and lagers I rehydrate before I pitch. I have stopped doing starters for big beers/lagers too and just double up on the packets.

If it's overcast and there are 4 foot swells in the gulfstream, then i hydrate. Otherwise i sprinkle

I hydrate....

I take the extra couple of minutes and rehydrate.

I proof. I make a mini stater with DME at the start of a brew day. 6 hours later, I know the yeast is good to go by the krausen.

I just do what it says on the pack. For my most recent batch, it said to just sprinkle on top. My next batch has a dry yeast that has re-hydrating instructions on it, so I will follow those. I use a yeast nutrient, so that adds a bit of margin for error.

Direct pitching costs you about 50% of the yeast and weakens the rest. I rehydrate per the manufacturer's instructions. A very minor investment in time & effort.

I sprinkle and get great attenuation and no off flavors from my yeast.

I started out rehydrating but have switched to sprinkling. Even the 888 RIS (1.086 SG) I made I just srinkled it into the wort and it was fermenting strong the next morning.

BierMuncher said:

I hydrate at the beginning of each brew session. I love that bready smell of fresh yeast.

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no...its smells like macaroni

thanks for the feedback guys...i might hydrate for the stout im about to brew so i dont shock them with the sugar overload

david_42 said:

Direct pitching costs you about 50% of the yeast and weakens the rest. I rehydrate per the manufacturer's instructions. A very minor investment in time & effort.

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very good to know...thanks

From everything I have read and heard, rehydrating increases the yeast population to the recommended package size, not doing so decreases the active yeast population by 50-60 percent. Wort is too dense for around half of the yeast to come back to life without crushing the cell walls, warm water for 30 minutes allows them to come back to life and do the thing that they do so well.

I follow the directions on the packet.

If it says to rehydrate, I rehydrate. If it says to sprinkle, I sprinkle.

The Safale US-05 I sprinkled on Saturday started bubbling within 5 hours. YMMV.

I always just sprinkle. I've never had any troubles in any part of the ferment as a result. But you should do what you feel comfortable doing.

I used to sprinkle, but the last dozen or so I have rehydrated the yeast.

It seems to get the action in the primary moving sooner using the rehydrated method.

I have always used warm water for 10 minutes. I see some folks leave the yeast in the bath for longer. I'm going to try that next time, which should be this weekend.

I rehydrate... Since, I'm an extract brewer I take a couple spoons of LME (scrape the sides of the container) and boil that in a couple cups of water... Cool it to temp and let the yeast go at it for a while.

I usually get that started during the boil, then by the time I'm pitching they are nice happy fat yeast!

I just sprinkle er

But im a lazy brewer

BierMuncher said:

I hydrate at the beginning of each brew session. I love that bready smell of fresh yeast.

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There is nothing quite like that smell. When I bake bread I always stick my nose in the bloomed yeast and get a good whiff. Yum!

It's also comforting to see a nice, fluffy yeast bloom before pouring it into your fermenter. Yeah, it's dry yeast. Yeah, there's a 99.9999% chance it's viable. But hey, it helps me sleep at night

-Joe

Dillbag said:

I rehydrate... Since, I'm an extract brewer I take a couple spoons of LME (scrape the sides of the container) and boil that in a couple cups of water... Cool it to temp and let the yeast go at it for a while.

I usually get that started during the boil, then by the time I'm pitching they are nice happy fat yeast!

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yup, or DME if not using LME.

I'm new at this but my first batch I sprinkled... it worked fine, fermentation was noticeable within a day and a half but never really bubbled quickly or developed a krausen. The second batch I rehydrated for about 10 minutes in lukewarm water before pitching and fermentation started quicker and it developed a decent foam on top. This last batch I rehydrated for 20-25 minutes before pitching, and it was bubbling like mad under a thick krausen within 8 hours, so I believe that rehydrating definitely gives them a jump start.

I'm a sprinkler and I'll remain one ttdtid... I've never had a stuck or slow fermentation...

It's well known that dry sprinkling in higher gravity worts reduces your starting cell count (1). Now, whether or not it causes a problem for you will depend on the disolved oxygen in the wort and just how much character you were looking for. If you wanted a high attenuation at a rather low temp for a really clean ale, you might want to rehydrate. For many beers, you probably wouldn't know the difference even in an A/B comparison on the finished batch.

(1) I did a side by side test for this and rehydrating significantly reduced lag time.


Do you see how I employed a footnote to sound more credible? That's how you know you can trust me.

Bobby_M said:

It's well known that dry sprinkling in higher gravity worts reduces your starting cell count (1). Now, whether or not it causes a problem for you will depend on the disolved oxygen in the wort and just how much character you were looking for. If you wanted a high attenuation at a rather low temp for a really clean ale, you might want to rehydrate. For many beers, you probably wouldn't know the difference even in an A/B comparison on the finished batch.

(1) I did a side by side test for this and rehydrating significantly reduced lag time.


Do you see how I employed a footnote to sound more credible? That's how you know you can trust me.

Click to expand...

Gotta figure out how to do Superscript though.

I swing both ways, sometime I sprinkle, sometimes I get it wet first. :cross:

My thoughts are that dry yeast will work both ways, sprinkled or rehydrated, and it will even work with a starter.

The decision on how to treat your yeast should be based on the yeast cell count you require for your recipe. A properly rehydrated 11 gram yeast packet should yield about 200 billion cells, which is approximately the right amount for a 5 gal batch at 1.058 gravity.

If you sprinkle yeast directly into the wort, then expect that 25 - 50% of your yeast cells won't make it. The osmotic shock kills them. So that's only about 100 - 150 billion yeast cells available to ferment your wort. But for a low gravity brew in the 1.030 to 1.040 range that is ideal.

Of course, if you underpitch, that doesn't mean the brew won't turn out. Often it will (but roll the dice). Or it might only have minor flaws that most won't detect. No biggie. Sometimes though, it just doesn't live up to expectation. One batch ruined because you didn't spend the extra 5 minutes of work. @$%#&*!

One thing you probably shouldn't do is make a yeast starter or proof dried yeast. The manufacturer actually dries and packages the yeast at its optimal stage in its life cycle. If you use a starter or proof the yeast for a period of time, it could actually go past this optimal point and won't be as healthy when it hits your freshly brewed wort. One reason to use a starter with yeast would be to build up the yeast cell count, but dry yeast is so cheap (especially compared to the cost of dry malt often used to make starter wort) that you are typically better to just pitch more than one packet of yeast. You also reduce your risk of contamination this way.

I've done both sprinkling and rehydrating and I much prefer the short lag times in rehydrating.