rehydrate yeast too long??

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SudsyPaul

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First time post, and of course, it's because I did something wrong-ish.

I'm rehydrating my yeast, and planned on putting into my cooled wort... but I didn't manage to cool the wort enough before putting it in the fermenting bucket, and it's sitting at 80 F, right now. The yeast has been rehydrating for about 30min (Windsor Ale Yeast), instuctions say to do it for 15min, stir and let sit for another 5min... so I'm 10min over, already.

Can yeast sit and rehydrate for more than 30min? It's in a sterile water solution (boiled and cooled)
 
I bet those poor little yeasts were starving!

No worries on being a couple minutes past the recommended rehydration time on the package.

At least you didn't boil the yeast. :)
 
Thanks. I went ahead and dumped it in, and it's started to ferment. I'm just using a 6gal fermenting bucket, and there's foam up to the top, but nothing coming out. Here's hoping that's fine.

My basement is 65 F, so on the chilly side for the yeast. I've just strapped on the heating belt to bring it up to 75 F, so here's hoping I get some more activity during the day :)
 
Thanks. I went ahead and dumped it in, and it's started to ferment. I'm just using a 6gal fermenting bucket, and there's foam up to the top, but nothing coming out. Here's hoping that's fine.

My basement is 65 F, so on the chilly side for the yeast. I've just strapped on the heating belt to bring it up to 75 F, so here's hoping I get some more activity during the day :)

What Yeast are you using? 75 seems awful high. 65 degrees is actually a really good temp to ferment at. The yeast is gonna make it's own heat . I find the yeast can raise the temperature on it's own.
 
Dude you have a near-perfect-temperature basement and 75*F is quite a bit too high. The activity of fermentation will create a bit more heat, so the core of your beer is likely ~70*F. Just leave it alone and let the yeast do their thing at 65*F ambient.
 
I emailed Danstar about yeast timing. The answer was: “Our technical manager suggests that you don't go longer than 30 minutes after the start of rehydration before pitching the yeast into wort as the yeast needs nutrients. If there is a delay you could actually add more wort to the rehydration water to give the yeast something to eat while you are waiting to pitch it, so long as it isn't too hot.” I avoid having a delay by having the rehydration complete 10 – 15 minutes after the wort is ready for it.

I agree that it's probably fine, but I feel like the better you treat your yeast, the better it will treat you.
 
Cool. The wort is foaming up a bunch, so there's definitely some activity. I'll pick up some more yeast on Monday and keep it handy in case things go awry.

It's best to have too much yeast than not enough, right?

My fermentation bucket doesn't have an airlock (stupid design, won't use it again) so I can't see how much CO2 is being produced
 
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