What do YOU do with dry yeast?

I had a professional brewer tell me that they never rehydrate their dry yeast. I always have, just because most people seem to do it. Just looking for some data either way!

I rehydrate but I am not professional brewer so I could be wrong

all the best

S_M

I proof in 1.25:1 ratio of Go-Ferm:dry yeast in 150mL of water for 15-20 minutes.

I never rehydrate - works fine every time.

2-3 packets works great to stabilize a wobbly table.

I always rehydrate. Typically in 5 gallons of wort!

For beer I rehydrate. For cider, so far I've just dry pitched.

Rehydrate because Palmer said so!

There is data out there...

http://seanterrill.com/2011/04/01/dry-yeast-viability/

http://bkyeast.wordpress.com/2013/03/13/more-on-yeast-rehydration/

Results agree with the conventional wisdom that rehydrating in warm water is the way to go.

Those are very interesting articles, thanks for sharing!

SconnieBrewer said:

There is data out there...

http://seanterrill.com/2011/04/01/dry-yeast-viability/

http://bkyeast.wordpress.com/2013/03/13/more-on-yeast-rehydration/

Results agree with the conventional wisdom that rehydrating in warm water is the way to go.

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I don't see a control group of "no rehydration" in either study. They are merely comparing rehydrating to itself or starters. It IS good info though, thanks for sharing it.

jbaysurfer said:

I don't see a control group of "no rehydration" in either study. They are merely comparing rehydrating to itself or starters. It IS good info though, thanks for sharing it.

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That would be the cool wort data from Sean's experiments.

AZ_IPA said:

That would be the cool wort data from Sean's experiments.

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:smack:

Doh!!! Thanks for sharing YOUR data and work with us Sean!!!!

I use liquid, except for US 05 for my "screw it I'm brewin" days and don't have a starter going.

I never used to re-hydrate and usually had good results, but the last year or so I started to notice a longer and longer lag time.( 12 to 20 hrs) Started to re-hydrate with 80 deg plain water for 1/2 hour or so and the long lag went away.

I have airlock activity in 6 to 8 hrs, and a full blown star-san Afro on my airlock in 12. I never re-hydrate for more than an hour though.

Argument of authority

jbaysurfer said:

2-3 packets works great to stabilize a wobbly table.

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Haha. Nice

I think rehydrating makes the yeast feel better. However, Bob has convinced me to start harvesting from previous batches (without washing) so I'm in a new phase.
I love brewing -- there's always something new to try.

If I use dry yeast, I rehydrate. There is lots of information out there on the subject and it seems to be a general consensus that if you do not rehydrate, you cut down the viability of the yeast by about half. When the yeast rehydrates in water or a solution of water and "go-ferm" that was mentioned earlier (this is the very best option) the cell walls get a chance to reconstitute with little to no damage. When directly pitching into sugary wort, the sugars damage the fragile cell walls and you have roughly half the healthy yeast you could have had if you rehydrated.

I have used is once and just pitched it. Worked fine

Did someone say bacon?

Some packs, such as Notty, have instructions on them telling you to rehydrate.
However, I rarely do and really can't tell any difference at all. If you pitch enough, you should be fine.

501irishred said:

I always rehydrate. Typically in 5 gallons of wort!

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That's what I do. Then I repitch a generous portion of the resulting yeast cake for 2 more generations.

davekippen said:

I had a professional brewer tell me that they never rehydrate their dry yeast. I always have, just because most people seem to do it. Just looking for some data either way!

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I have experimented with dry pitch vs rehydration on the commercial level and concur with opinion you were given. I have seen no difference in the finished product.

Rehydrating is another potential avenue for contamination, any benefits that might be incurred from rehydration (and those are questionable) are more than offset by reducing the risk of infection.

I read...somewhere recently...a study that the no-rehydration method cost about 50% in terms of cell count. I don't know what it does for cell vitality.

The same article (maybe this will jog someone's memory) said that the optimal temp was 105 and that for every 10 degree drop, you would lose about 10% cell count. Of course with the price and ease of use, you could just double the yeast.

Last, I have also been told by a professional brewer that he pitches dry. He said he tried to rehydrate once and could not climb the ladder to pitch the yeast in time to avoid it bubbling out of the bucket. FWIW.

nealperkins said:

I read...somewhere recently...a study that the no-rehydration method cost about 50% in terms of cell count. I don't know what it does for cell vitality.

The same article (maybe this will jog someone's memory) said that the optimal temp was 105 and that for every 10 degree drop, you would lose about 10% cell count. Of course with the price and ease of use, you could just double the yeast.

Last, I have also been told by a professional brewer that he pitches dry. He said he tried to rehydrate once and could not climb the ladder to pitch the yeast in time to avoid it bubbling out of the bucket. FWIW.

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That would typically NOT be the way to hydrate yeast on a commercial level, and therefore not the reason that you see so many pros say they pitch dry. Usually you would either run the warm water into the bottom of your Unitank and dump the yeast in OR hydrate in something like a corny keg and push the slurry into the wort with CO2

As far as no hydrating killing off cells, that is true.. however, what seems to happen is that the remaining cells use the dead ones as nutrient and it energizes them. With all else being equal, your ferment will finish out at the same time and to the same degree either way.

48 datapoints (not including option 1 or 4!) 56% rehydrate, 44% do not. I am really surprised at how many people do not rehydrate. I really thought it would be more like 80 / 20

I don't re-hydrate. I pretty much always use S-04 or US-05, and always been happy with the results. I have not tried liquid yeast yest, but would like to do a comparison on my house IPA. In typing this, I am going to try a comparison with my house IPA between re-hydrated and non. Well, just planned out my next brew day.

I typically go by what the manufacturer recommends. If it says to rehydrate, I will. If it says to sprinkle on top, I dont.

Galactik said:

I don't re-hydrate. I pretty much always use S-04 or US-05, and always been happy with the results. I have not tried liquid yeast yest, but would like to do a comparison on my house IPA. In typing this, I am going to try a comparison with my house IPA between re-hydrated and non. Well, just planned out my next brew day.

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I have pretty much been using those two also. Have some Nottingham I am going to try out also. Used a smack pack once with a starter.

scubasteve03 said:

I typically go by what the manufacturer recommends. If it says to rehydrate, I will. If it says to sprinkle on top, I dont.

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Reading AND following directions? Careful, your "man card" may be in Jeopardy!

Always rehydrate and prefer dry over liquid yeast for the most part. I switched to dry a couple years ago and found I got better and quicker fermentation. Of course, I never made a start when I used liquid, so that could be the difference.