XpeedeeX
Active Member
I was wondering, everywhere says to boil the water you will use to rehydrate your dry yeast packet. My question is can you avoid that step by just using bottled water or would that have to be boiled as well?
Rehydrating dry yeast packet
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mixedbrewer
Well-Known Member
I dont boil my water because I really like my tap water. It all just depends on if you think it is clean or not.
XpeedeeX
Active Member
And you haven't had any problems doing that?
DrawTap88
Well-Known Member
If you do use RO or distilled water, add a little bit of yeast nutrient to the water since the yeast will be absorbing all those nutrients as they rehydrate and be healtier when they're added to your wort. Not necessary if you're using tap water since it will already have enough nutrients in it.
hamiltont
Well-Known Member
I boil the tap/well water, chill and pitch. The water tastes great & full of nutrients. Just not a risk taker I guess?? YMMV Cheers!!!
It really doesn't take much to boil it. At the very beginning of my brewday I take a glass 2cup measuring cup and toss it in the microwave with water covered in clingwrap. Once it starts boiling, I pull it out and leave it on the workbench. By the time I'm ready to rehydrate, it's down to room temp and ready to go.
midfielder5
Well-Known Member
your call, but i like to have all water that is used post-boil to be sanitary.
why not spend that minute to boil water? i'd rather not risk infection of my 5 gallons of beer in case some cooties come through.
why not spend that minute to boil water? i'd rather not risk infection of my 5 gallons of beer in case some cooties come through.
I'm fairly certain that yeast nutrient doesn't include all the essential minerals... not in adequate amounts, anyways, so it's not at all a decent substitute. The addition of all sorts or mineral salts would be highly recommended and isn't really worth it unless you want complete and precise control of ion content, something which isn't worth the time and money for even many of the most obsessive homebrewers.
DrawTap88
Well-Known Member
You are correct that it doesn't include all of the essential minerals, nor does it have to since it will quickly be pitched into the nutrient rich wort.
I add the nutrient because it doesn't hurt to give your yeast a leg up before pitching.
r8rphan
Well-Known Member
I boil a pot of water for 20 mins, then pour a cup or so into a sanitized measuring cup.. stick a sanitized thermometer in it and wait for it to drop to 95-100 degrees (I place the measuring cup in a container of ice cold water to speed it up)... Then I pour the dry yeast on top and let it soak for a few minutes with a foil cover on the measuring cup.... Then, I stir it all up real good with a sanitized fork.... recover for a few minutes.. and then restir to suspend the yeast, and pitch... whole process takes about 10-20 minutes from when I stop boiling the water...
works good so far...
works good so far...
Ace_Club
Well-Known Member
+1. This is the easiest way that I've found to do this.
idlasna
Member
I have a question, are you supposed to rehydrate a dry yeast? I did not read anything on the packet of Safale 04 that I used last week. It actually took about 72 hours for any fermentation to begin. Could that be a reason?
remilard
Well-Known Member
Yes. Go to the Fermentis website and read the instructions in the section for pro brewers. All of the yeast companies dumb down the instructions they give homebrewers to not scare them off. The best practices will be described in their instructions to pro brewers.
r8rphan
Well-Known Member
My experience with SA04 is that it is 'fast and aggressive'.. It usually starts vigorous ferment for me with 4-8 hours... and then goes crazy.. The krausen usually falls within 36 hours or so...
If you don't want to rehydrate, you can always pitch two packages of yeast...
Pick
Well-Known Member
I just grab a cup of the wort after it has boiled for 10 minutes or so.
bullinachinashop
Well-Known Member
Pick
Well-Known Member
You shouldn't use wort to rehydrate your yeast. Just sanitzed water.
Why is that? I figure that is where it's going to end up in less than 2 hours, what's the diff?
Which part of NE Ohio are you from? I moved from Geauga about 7 years ago!
Why is that? I figure that is where it's going to end up in less than 2 hours, what's the diff?
Which part of NE Ohio are you from? I moved from Geauga about 7 years ago!
bullinachinashop
Well-Known Member
When the yeast are dry, they don't have any choice of what they can absorb when they rehydrate. Here is a great article on it.
I'm from Mentor.
Bull
Originally Posted by Dr Clayton Cone, Lallemand
Let me give you some facts regarding rehydration and you can decide for yourself where you want to compromise. Every strain of yeast has its own optimum rehydration temperature. All of them range between 95 F to 105F. Most of them closer to 105F. The dried yeast cell wall is fragile and it is the first few minutes (possibly seconds) of rehydration that the warm temperature is critical while it is reconstituting its cell wall structure.
As you drop the initial temperature of the water from 95 to 85 or 75 or 65F the yeast leached out more and more of its insides damaging the each cell. The yeast viability also drops proportionally. At 95 - 105 F, there is 100% recovery of the viable dry yeast. At 60F, there can be as much as 60% dead cells.
The water should be tap water with the normal amount of hardness present. The hardness is essential for good recovery. 250 -500 ppm hardness is ideal. This means that deionized or distilled water should not be used. Ideally, the warm rehydration water should contain about 0.5 - 1.0% yeast extract.
For the initial few minutes (perhaps seconds) of rehydration, the yeast cell wall cannot differentiate what passes through the wall. Toxic materials like sprays, hops, SO2 and sugars in high levels, that the yeast normally can selectively keep from passing through its cell wall rush right in and seriously damage the cells. The moment that the cell wall is properly reconstituted, the yeast can then regulate what goes in and out of the cell. That is why we hesitate to recommend rehydration in wort or must. Very dilute wort seems to be OK.
We recommend that the rehydrated yeast be added to the wort within 30 minutes. We have built into each cell a large amount of glycogen and trehalose that give the yeast a burst of energy to kick off the growth cycle when it is in the wort. It is quickly used up if the yeast is rehydrated for more than 30 minutes. There is no damage done here if it is not immediately add to the wort. You just do not get the added benefit of that sudden burst of energy. We also recommend that you attemperate the rehydrated yeast to with in 15F of the wort before adding to the wort. Warm yeast into a cold wort will cause many of the yeast to produce petite mutants that will never grow or ferment properly and will cause them to produce H2S. The attemperation can take place over a very brief period by adding, in encrements, a small amount of the cooler wort to the rehydrated yeast.
Many times we find that warm water is added to a very cold container that drops the rehydrating water below the desired temperature.
Sometimes refrigerated, very cold, dry yeast is added directly to the warm water with out giving it time to come to room temperature. The initial water intering the cell is then cool.
How do many beer and wine makers have successful fermentations when they ignore all the above? I believe that it is just a numbers game. Each gram of Active Dry Yeast contains about 20 billion live yeast cells. If you slightly damage the cells, they have a remarkable ability to recover in the rich wort. If you kill 60% of the cell you still have 8 billion cells per gram that can go on to do the job at a slower rate.
The manufacturer of Active Dry Beer Yeast would be remiss if they offered rehydration instructions that were less than the very best that their data indicated.
One very important factor that the distributor and beer maker should keep in mind is that Active Dry Yeast is dormant or inactive and not inert, so keep refrigerated at all times. Do not store in a tin roofed warehouse that becomes an oven or on a window sill that gets equally hot.
Active Dry Yeast looses about 20% of its activity in a year when it is stored at 75 F and only 4% when refrigerated.
The above overview of rehydration should tell you that there is a very best way to rehydrate. It should also tell you where you are safe in adapting the rehydration procedure to fit your clients.
I'm from Mentor.
Bull
Originally Posted by Dr Clayton Cone, Lallemand
Let me give you some facts regarding rehydration and you can decide for yourself where you want to compromise. Every strain of yeast has its own optimum rehydration temperature. All of them range between 95 F to 105F. Most of them closer to 105F. The dried yeast cell wall is fragile and it is the first few minutes (possibly seconds) of rehydration that the warm temperature is critical while it is reconstituting its cell wall structure.
As you drop the initial temperature of the water from 95 to 85 or 75 or 65F the yeast leached out more and more of its insides damaging the each cell. The yeast viability also drops proportionally. At 95 - 105 F, there is 100% recovery of the viable dry yeast. At 60F, there can be as much as 60% dead cells.
The water should be tap water with the normal amount of hardness present. The hardness is essential for good recovery. 250 -500 ppm hardness is ideal. This means that deionized or distilled water should not be used. Ideally, the warm rehydration water should contain about 0.5 - 1.0% yeast extract.
For the initial few minutes (perhaps seconds) of rehydration, the yeast cell wall cannot differentiate what passes through the wall. Toxic materials like sprays, hops, SO2 and sugars in high levels, that the yeast normally can selectively keep from passing through its cell wall rush right in and seriously damage the cells. The moment that the cell wall is properly reconstituted, the yeast can then regulate what goes in and out of the cell. That is why we hesitate to recommend rehydration in wort or must. Very dilute wort seems to be OK.
We recommend that the rehydrated yeast be added to the wort within 30 minutes. We have built into each cell a large amount of glycogen and trehalose that give the yeast a burst of energy to kick off the growth cycle when it is in the wort. It is quickly used up if the yeast is rehydrated for more than 30 minutes. There is no damage done here if it is not immediately add to the wort. You just do not get the added benefit of that sudden burst of energy. We also recommend that you attemperate the rehydrated yeast to with in 15F of the wort before adding to the wort. Warm yeast into a cold wort will cause many of the yeast to produce petite mutants that will never grow or ferment properly and will cause them to produce H2S. The attemperation can take place over a very brief period by adding, in encrements, a small amount of the cooler wort to the rehydrated yeast.
Many times we find that warm water is added to a very cold container that drops the rehydrating water below the desired temperature.
Sometimes refrigerated, very cold, dry yeast is added directly to the warm water with out giving it time to come to room temperature. The initial water intering the cell is then cool.
How do many beer and wine makers have successful fermentations when they ignore all the above? I believe that it is just a numbers game. Each gram of Active Dry Yeast contains about 20 billion live yeast cells. If you slightly damage the cells, they have a remarkable ability to recover in the rich wort. If you kill 60% of the cell you still have 8 billion cells per gram that can go on to do the job at a slower rate.
The manufacturer of Active Dry Beer Yeast would be remiss if they offered rehydration instructions that were less than the very best that their data indicated.
One very important factor that the distributor and beer maker should keep in mind is that Active Dry Yeast is dormant or inactive and not inert, so keep refrigerated at all times. Do not store in a tin roofed warehouse that becomes an oven or on a window sill that gets equally hot.
Active Dry Yeast looses about 20% of its activity in a year when it is stored at 75 F and only 4% when refrigerated.
The above overview of rehydration should tell you that there is a very best way to rehydrate. It should also tell you where you are safe in adapting the rehydration procedure to fit your clients.
Pick
Well-Known Member
Thanks, very good article!
Henrythe9th
Well-Known Member
I have been using the method for Mead re-hydrating dry yeast with great success
1.25g GO Ferm per gram of yeast with 166ml boiled water cooled to 115f, add GO-Ferm let cool to 105f and add dry yeast. stir, cover with plastic wrap and pitch within 20 mins. after 20 min or so yeast is aprox 75-80f at pitching
takes off with in 8 hrs and has very good fermentation
works for me
1.25g GO Ferm per gram of yeast with 166ml boiled water cooled to 115f, add GO-Ferm let cool to 105f and add dry yeast. stir, cover with plastic wrap and pitch within 20 mins. after 20 min or so yeast is aprox 75-80f at pitching
takes off with in 8 hrs and has very good fermentation
works for me
EineProsit
Well-Known Member
I am relatively a new brewer with 14 extract brews under my belt. The last 6 brews I have boiled and cooled all my liquids, including the wort dilution and the yeast hydration. The results, "best beer ever". For me boiling is an importantant part of sanitation and quality beer.
That's a great article. I do everything it says based on the instructions at the fermentis website. But their instructions don't say anything about the hardness of the water and that's something I didn't know. Since I use ro water exclusively for brewing (my tap water tastes like an anchovy's anus), I'm going to add the hardness to it from now on.
Who's this everyone you talk about? When I rehydrate my dry yeast (rarely) I use hot tap water.
You only really need to boil water if you are having a municipal boil water advisory. Doing it any other times is choice, not everybody's doing it....
You only really need to boil water if you are having a municipal boil water advisory. Doing it any other times is choice, not everybody's doing it....
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