Dry vs Wet Lag time

Friday I brewed a batch of wheat ale and for the first time used dry yeast (safale US-05). In the past I've always used Wyeast smack packs. It's been a little over 48 hours now and there is no activity. Those of you, and I'm sure there are many, have you noticed a longer lag time with dry vs liquid?

Did you rehydrate the yeast before you pitched it? What temp are you at?

I have never used liquid, but I just finished a Hefeweizen and have solid activity in four hours. I rehydrate in 90 F water, shake the hell out of the carboy to oxygenate and pitch at high 80 F. Pop the carboy in the fridge/ferm chamber and let it go for a week. I typically use 04 or Nottingham and never had an issue.

DougMagic said:

I have never used liquid, but I just finished a Hefeweizen and have solid activity in four hours. I rehydrate in 90 F water, shake the hell out of the carboy to oxygenate and pitch at high 80 F. Pop the carboy in the fridge/ferm chamber and let it go for a week. I typically use 04 or Nottingham and never had an issue.

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At those kind of temps, I'm surprised you get any lag time at all!

My experience dry takes off faster then liquid (no starter).

MalFet said:

At those kind of temps, I'm surprised you get any lag time at all!

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I live in Florida, my water comes out of the tap at 70+... It makes sense if you think about it though. Yeast is to be rehydrated at 90, then you pitch in to wort a little cooler and then the temp slowly drops in the ferm chamber. Gradual temp adjustment equals no stress for the yeast.

What you say about pitching high sounds logical, but I'm wondering if pitching that warm could have detrimental effects on your flavour profile--potentially a lot of esters. If it's working for you, great!

To the OP, I recently did a split batch with S-05 rehydrated vs. 1056 in a 1.5 litre starter; the batch with the liquid took off a day or more ahead of the other batch. To be fair I was fermenting on the cool side (high 50s) so having the running start was probably a big help to the 1056.

As an aside the two beers were part of our club brew competition and the 1056 was scored higher than the S-05. Myself I notice a cleaner flavour from the 1056; others think the hops came through better in it. FWIW.

Thanks for the input everybody. Guess I should have provided some more info. I pitched the yeast dry, did not rehydrate. I put oxygen in the wort via an oxygen bottle & stainless steel diffusing stone. Wort is in a plastic bucket at 68 degrees. I've got a heat wrap on the bucket being controlled by a Ronco controller set at 68. I'm pretty sure the temp is accurate as I also have a LCD temp strip on the bucket which is reading 68-70. Thanks for all the input as I'm just a bit nervous this being the first time using dry yeast.

DougMagic said:

I live in Florida, my water comes out of the tap at 70+... It makes sense if you think about it though. Yeast is to be rehydrated at 90, then you pitch in to wort a little cooler and then the temp slowly drops in the ferm chamber. Gradual temp adjustment equals no stress for the yeast.

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But they are not reproducing at 90. They are at 80 since you dump the yeast in the warm wort.

So far IME my liquid cultures have taken off much faster than the dry, I usually wake them up pretty good.

I use S04 (1 pack per 5 gallons) and S23 (2 packs per 5 gallons), never rehydrate... see active ferment in 6-8 hours

I myself notice a little more lag in the dry yeast that I rehydrate.
I get a good fermentation , but it seams to take longer as well. Granted, I am the lower end of the temp range. Low 60's. But its clean and I don't mind waiting because the final product is good!