dry yeast and hydration

Ok, so I've been brewing for a bit and have stuck with liquid yeast up till now (with the exception of my very first batch and we won't talk much about that)... So.. I've started to venture into the dry yeast with the thought that it should be easier... how do folks manage to get your water to 100 deg to hydrate and time it so that it's hydrated and ready to go when your wort is cooled? I'm used ot having a starter sitting there and it's ready damn well whenever the temp of my wort is right.

I feel like I need to boil water then cool to 100deg to hydrate my yeast. Am I worrying about nothing? should I just be using some wort to hydrate for a few mins then pitch? What do you dry yeast users actually do? Certainly not just sprinkle the dry yeast? That sounds deadly to my yeasties.

I boil some water while the mash is going. If it has cooled too much I can zap it in the microwave for 10-30 seconds and get it to temp (high 70's or so). 100F is too warm IMO. Just before I start chilling the wort I pitch the yeast into the re-hydration jar. But basically you don't have to be so exact with all your timing. You can wait until your all done chilling and then rehydrate your yeast, the wort isn't going to suffer by waiting 1/2 hour for the pitch.

And in the event I forget to do all of that I just dry pitch the yeast and never had a problem doing that. I just feel more comfortable with the re-hydration process.

I have only used dry yeast since I started brewing and I have only used Safale Fermentis US 05. I have pitched it directly into my wort and stirred it in with a paddle. I have also re-hydrated it using ONLY TAP WATER! around the 90 degree range. The reason I only use tap water is the I do partial boils of about 3.5 gallons and top off with tap water to 5 or 6 gallons depending on the what I am brewing. I have made numerous batches using tap water to top off. I have never had a bad or even off flavor batch of beer. If your tap water is from a good source there is no need to boil the water to hydrate your yeast. I will add that hydrating gives the yeast a head start on their job and I have always had better results hydrating the yeast about a half hour before pitching. Most of my brews are with US 05 I have harvested from a previous batch to make a stepped up starter of about 500-600 ML. or a little more for bigger beers.

GW

i usually boil my water when I put the wort on for boil. I let it boil for 5-10 minutes. then put it into A MEASURING CUP WITH TIN FOIL ON TOP. damn caps. then i put a thermometer in it and put on the countertop. when the temp gets closer to 110 I put it in the mocrowave to keep at that temp.

I also dump some boiling water in another measuring cup. I use this water to wash out the first cup after pitching so I can get all the yeast out of the cup.

when I have 15 min left for boil I put the yeast in the cup and spin it back and forth a little. after I get the IC set up and running I come back and stir the yeaST WITH a sanitized spoon.

sounds like I was over thinking the process. Batch is bubbling away nicely now. I guess the hydrating is a tiny bit more effort than I was expecting but really.. in a 6 hour brew what's a 5 min complication? Still way less effort than doing a starter.. just not on a different day. I'm going to do a few more dry yeast batches before I decide wether to go back to 100% liquid. S04 and S05 are the only dry yeasts I looking at being regulars though.. This batch was S04 next will be S05.