Dry yeast - what is proper way?

Brewed my 1st batch with the liquid yeast in the tube. Easy. The second batch I accidentally got the dry yeast in the foil pouch. I emptied it in 85 degree water for 15 minutes and then put it in the wort (wort was 75 degrees). After dumping the yeast in, I stirred it. Did I do this properly? Directions on the yeast packet and directions on the sheet that came with the kit were a bit conflicting on how to do it. I forgot to sanitize the cup that I put the yeast and the 85 degree water in--hope it didn't affect it too much.

Dry yeast is very resilient.

The easiest way is to just sprinkle it on wort at around 75°F and it will do fine.

The next way is to rehydrate it and then pitch.

My preferred method is to use preboiled cooled water at 75-77f with a little wort or sugar in a sanitised glass and leave for the duration of my brewing to "proof"

That way I know my yeast is good and I have also got the multiplying stage started as well.

From my limited understanding. You did everything OK except the sanitizing part but youll probably get away with that but dont do it again.

Usually you can make a yeast starter which is basically verifying you have good yeast before you add it.

Making a starter also gets the fermentation going within 10 hours in my exp.

You can search about making starters here on the forum search.:fro:

I've always had very quick starts with dry yeast by just sprinkling them into the cooled wort. I'm not sure if re-hydrating the yeast is worth the effort. Liquid yeast however require more attention. I recommend doing a starter for them.

When using dried yeast, there is no reason to do a starter. Additionally, you do not want to stir. As the yeast rehydrate, they build up their cell walls. The more "toxic" the environment during this stage, the more cells die on their way to a healthy state. Long story short - your yeast would rather float atop your wort as they rehydrate rather than be mixed into a sugar rich solution.

Sprinkle the packet on top of the wort, seal your fermenter, and go have a homebrew.

Ditto - you can simply bring the wort temp in your fermenter to the right range and just sprinkle the dry yeast on top. I am told that it is best not to stir, and there is no need to make a starter.

So if I just open the dry yeast pack and sprinkle on the wort at about 75 degrees--that's it? Sounds too easy. Why would I buy the pitchable tube? No stirring is best?

King of the Swill said:

So if I just open the dry yeast pack and sprinkle on the wort at about 75 degrees--that's it? Sounds too easy. Why would I buy the pitchable tube? No stirring is best?

Click to expand...

It is just that easy.
As I said before, you are limited on the variates of dried yeast strains and there are a lot of folks who say the the liquid yeast make better beer. I think with the improvements made lately with dried yeast this is becoming less of a factor.

All of the above work, but here is Danstar's recommendations.

Basically: Sprinkle on warm water, wait 15 minutes, stir, wait 5 minutes, adjust to pitch temperature.

Just adding it to your wort knocks out about 40% of the cells, but that's still plenty. Dried yeasts are great, but it will be a long time before we see the variety we see in liquid yeasts. Only recently has a dried lager yeast been available. Most yeasts cannot survive drying.

Aye - the dried yeasts are fine for their intended use, but some varieties of brews required speciatly yeasts. Hefes come to mind as one example. I would not, on the other hand, be inclined to pay six or eight bucks for liquid yeast if I intended to make a pale ale.

Yup dried yeast is very forgiving. When I started brewing I was careful about hydration temps, etc. Now if I'm using dry yeast I just open the pack and dump it in.

RichBrewer said:

I've always had very quick starts with dry yeast by just sprinkling them into the cooled wort. I'm not sure if re-hydrating the yeast is worth the effort. Liquid yeast however require more attention. I recommend doing a starter for them.

Click to expand...

Just like to add here that I have never had a problem with any liquid yeast. I Don't use starters. Just pitch and you get good fermentation. No more attention needed. Warm yeast to room temperature, wait awhile if want and then pitch. Ditch the dried yeast. Use Wyeast smack packs or White Labs.

If you insist on using dried yeast cultures, just sprinkle on top of the cooled wort as per instructions just like everyone says and you will get good beer.

(ducks and takes cover)

treehouse said:

Just like to add here that I have never had a problem with any liquid yeast. I Don't use starters. Just pitch and you get good fermentation. No more attention needed. Warm yeast to room temperature, wait awhile if want and then pitch. Ditch the dried yeast. Use Wyeast smack packs or White Labs.

If you insist on using dried yeast cultures, just sprinkle on top of the cooled wort as per instructions just like everyone says and you will get good beer.

(ducks and takes cover)

Click to expand...

Why close yourself off from using either dry or liquid?

brewt00l said:

Why close yourself off from using either dry or liquid?

Click to expand...

Prejudice, ignorance, stick-in-the-muddness I suppose. And some not so pleasant experiences long ago. Dry yeast used to come in white packets that said simply "Beer Yeast" and that was it. It mostly worked. Then when I discovered liquid yeasts in the late eighties, my beer improved by a quantum leap. I've never gone back.

Now I'm sure this dry versus liquid debate has be flogged to death on this forum and modern dry yeasts are vastly improved over the old "Beer Yeast" packets I used to us, but like most homebrewers I think, I stick to what works for me and I guess that is why I close myself off to dry.