No more rehydrating. I sprinkle!

I rehydrate and fermentation starts in 8 to 12 hours. I sprinkle and fermentation starts in 8 to 12 hours. It finishes at the same time too. If I was fermenting over 1.060 then I would rehydrate or pitch two packets.

In fact the Fermentis package states " sprinkle on wort". Save yourself some work and time and just sprinkle.

rehydrating is not to speed up fermentation it is to verify if the yeast is healthy so that there is no guessing it just cuts out one more issue that could be avoided

You've got a hell of an eye if you can tell yeast health from rehydration.

The real reason for hydrating is it's more gentle on the cell walls. In practical terms however, there's so many cells in a pack of yeast, it doesn't make a difference so sprinkle away.

jkarp said:

You've got a hell of an eye if you can tell yeast health from rehydration.

The real reason for hydrating is it's more gentle on the cell walls.

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That's correct I believe. IIRC when they rehydrate at first they are not able to regulate what goes in an out of the cell through the cell wall. Rehydrating in boiled (and cooled) water ensures they have a chance to strengthen their cell walls both structurally and physiologically (i.e. ion channels, pumps, etc.)

However, personally I sprinkle it right in because:

jkarp said:

there's so many cells in a pack of yeast, it doesn't make a difference

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I've been doing that for the last several years. I think I gave up on rehydrating on my 3rd or 4th batch. I've said it a million times, sprinkling it on the wort IS a form of rehydration. Just with the wort, and not water. I sprinkle, go and clean up for awhile, then move my fermenter to the brew closet which mixes in the wort rehydrated yeast a bit.

One of the first things I learned from Chuck at What Ale's Ya is sprinkle, sprinkle, sprinkle. It has served me well in the 2 years I've been brewing.

whutever said:

One of the first things I learned from Chuck at What Ale's Ya is sprinkle, sprinkle, sprinkle. It has served me well in the 2 years I've been brewing.

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Chuck is awesome.. and I am also a sprinkler! I rehydrated on my first batch, and all the rest have been sprinkle (dry) or starter (liquid).

Get your sprinkle on!

Sprinkling isn't the same as rehydrating, since you're using wort not water. But I hate boiling and cooling water, so I never rehydrate.

Sprinkling rocks :rockin:

+1 more for sprinkling! For even faster reaction time, after initial fermentation subsides, brew another beer and pitch directly onto the cake. I know, lots of this or that "CAN" happen, but the last three batches have had actual Krausen in less than 2 hours and finished awsome!!

ksbrain said:

Sprinkling isn't the same as rehydrating, since you're using wort not water. But I hate boiling and cooling water, so I never rehydrate.

Sprinkling rocks :rockin:

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How can you say it's not rehydrating? What the heck do you think the yeasties are doing if you let them sit on the surface of the wort for 15-30 minutes before moving the fermenter? The backstroke? If you look at the yeast after a period of time, they are getting just as creamy as if they sat on water.

From the fermentis PDF

Rehydrate the dry yeast into yeast cream by sprinkling it in 10 times its
own weight of sterile water or wort. Gently stir and leave for 30 minutes.
Finally, pitch the resultant cream into the fermentation vessel.

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Or this;

Re-hydrate the dry yeast into yeast cream in a stirred vessel prior to pitching. Sprinkle the dry yeast in 10 times its own weight of sterile water or wort at 23C & 3C. Once the expected weight of dry yeast is reconstituted into cream by this method (this takes about 15 to 30 minutes), maintain a gentle stirring for another 30 minutes. Then pitch the resultant cream into the fermentation vessel.

Alternatively, pitch dry yeast directly in the fermentation vessel providing the temperature of the wort is above 20C. Progressively sprinkle the dry yeast into the wort ensuring the yeast covers all the surface of wort available in order to avoid clumps. Leave for 30 minutes and then mix the wort e.g. using aeration.

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The only difference is that rather than having the wort in a seperate container it's the wort we're brewing with.

Seriously if you are sitting your yeast on the surface of a liquid, it is re-hydrating it.

Meh. My wort is always to pitching temp before it goes into the fermenter.

I dose the fermenter with the yeast and then fill with wort. The yeast rehydrate and the filling of the wort mixes it all in.

If it's not showing signs of life (churning, foaming) after a half hour, your yeast may be too old or dead. Unfortunately, this can be a common problem with dry yeast packets, especially if they are the non-name brand packets taped to the top of malt extract beer kits. Using name brand brewers yeasts like those mentioned previously usually prevents this problem. Have a third packet available as back-up.


John Palmer has one hell of an eye Beer herder

GilaMinumBeer said:

Meh. My wort is always to pitching temp before it goes into the fermenter.

I dose the fermenter with the yeast and then fill with wort. The yeast rehydrate and the filling of the wort mixes it all in.

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That's cool. Never thought about that way.

Do you think though, there would be an issue with direct contact with starsan or iodophor residue in the bottom of the fermenter? I know it becomes yeast food. But that is still a higher concentration of sanitizer touching the yeast then if it had already been hit with 5 gallons of wort.

But I guess if that were an issue, you wouldn't have had success with it, eh?

Revvy said:

That's cool. Never thought about that way.

Do you think though, there would be an issue with direct contact with starsan or iodophor residue in the bottom of the fermenter? I know it becomes yeast food. But that is still a higher concentration of sanitizer touching the yeast then if it had already been hit with 5 gallons of wort.

But I guess if that were an issue, you wouldn't have had success with it, eh?

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I have. And to be honest, I usually run a bit of wort into the fermenter first, pitch the sachet, and then run the rest of the wort.

I typically get fermentation sign within 4 to 6 hours.

GilaMinumBeer said:

I have. And to be honest, I usually run a bit of wort into the fermenter first, pitch the sachet, and then run the rest of the wort.

I typically get fermentation sign within 4 to 6 hours.

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I'm going to give it a try on my next batch.

Oh, how to you aerate then?

Revvy said:

I'm going to give it a try on my next batch.

Oh, how to you aerate then?

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Inline. I use a chill wizard so the Oxygen is in solution before it leaves the chiller system.

I am not entirely convinced that would be a problem tho'. Especially if you are aerating rather than oxygenating. the actions of the aeration I would think only serve to further mix the yeast.

thethirsty1 said:

If it's not showing signs of life (churning, foaming) after a half hour, your yeast may be too old or dead.

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I dont think this is accurate at all. There may be signs, just not visible, I've used older yeast strains well maintained and dry yeasts that have takes 24 hours to get ramped up and made quality beer

MeanGreen said:

I dont think this is accurate at all. There may be signs, just not visible, I've used older yeast strains well maintained and dry yeasts that have takes 24 hours to get ramped up and made quality beer

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Up to 72 hours for some yeasts.

Heck, I don't even wait 30 minutes. I sprinkle, close lid and carry it downstairs to the basement where the temps are in the low 60's.

thethirsty1 said:

If it's not showing signs of life (churning, foaming) after a half hour, your yeast may be too old or dead. Unfortunately, this can be a common problem with dry yeast packets, especially if they are the non-name brand packets taped to the top of malt extract beer kits. Using name brand brewers yeasts like those mentioned previously usually prevents this problem. Have a third packet available as back-up.

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You're confusing starters with re-hydration. The yeast will not show "signs of life" or foam from re-hydration as there's no food.

From the Lallemand site:
"Nottingham British Ale yeast has been conditioned to survive rehydration. The yeast contains an adequate reservoir of carbohydrates and unsaturated fatty acids to achieve active growth. It is unnecessary to aerate wort."

jkarp said:

You're confusing starters with re-hydration. The yeast will not show "signs of life" or foam from re-hydration as there's no food.

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+1,000...But often even starters don't show "visible signs" other than the creamy band of yeast at the bottom. Sometimes it happens so fast, even over night that we miss the action. Some don't even krausen or if they do it falls rapidly.

I've learned a good process improvement from this thread...time to sprinkle! One question though, do you sprinkle, then let sit for 20 min roughly, -then- do your aeration and transfer to ferm chamber? I would presume that's the play-by-play.

ThreeTaps said:

I've learned a good process improvement from this thread...time to sprinkle! One question though, do you sprinkle, then let sit for 20 min roughly, -then- do your aeration and transfer to ferm chamber? I would presume that's the play-by-play.

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I aerate prior to sprinkling, usually with an o2 bottle and stone, but often I'm lazy and just hold the autosiphon hose high above the bucket so it foams as it is filling. Then I sprinkle, let it sit on the surface for between 15-30 minutes. Then I move my fermenter from where I am brewing it to my closet. That shakes up the yeast into the wort.

Revvy said:

I aerate prior to sprinkling, usually with an o2 bottle and stone, but often I'm lazy and just hold the autosiphon hose high above the bucket so it foams as it is filling. Then I sprinkle, let it sit on the surface for between 15-30 minutes. Then I move my fermenter from where I am brewing it to my closet. That shakes up the yeast into the wort.

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Thanks for the info, Revvy!

I use my spoon to whilrpool the wort around the chiller for 15 minutes while it cools. Then I pour it into the bucket, sprinkle on the foam and close the lid. Then I carry it to the basement and leave it in the cold. I guess you could leave it for 30 minutes but after 5+ batches of sprinkling it has worked fine for me.

My AG process is down to 3.5 hours and I continue to look for time-cutting areas.

See my post in this thread: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/starter-no-starter-149547/

Two separate yeast manufacturers recommend rehydrating in tap water. If you're happy not doing so, that's fine, but the facts are clear.

I don't know any better way to convey that rehydration in water yields more viable cells than dry pitching than the experiment I've conducted here.



You can conclude that given the conditions of the wort in each sample, it ultimately did not matter from a FG perspective but the reduced lag time and overall faster fermentation speaks volumes about colony size when rehydrated in water. Though it has not been repeated for confirmation, it's data that I trust more than anecdotal "works for me" type posts.

Geekery aside, I dry pitch in 1.050 worts and below if I happen to be using dry yeast.

Im not confused I do understand the difference between a starter and rehidrating I guess we will agree to disagree and continue the way we are brewin as it seems we all are doing somethings different as long as it all makes good beer it doesnt matter

Bobby_M said:

I don't know any better way to convey that rehydration in water yields more viable cells than dry pitching than the experiment I've conducted here.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOrfmzpDmPk

You can conclude that given the conditions of the wort in each sample, it ultimately did not matter from a FG perspective but the reduced lag time and overall faster fermentation speaks volumes about colony size when rehydrated in water. Though it has not been repeated for confirmation, it's data that I trust more than anecdotal "works for me" type posts.

Geekery aside, I dry pitch in 1.050 worts and below if I happen to be using dry yeast.

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That's some pretty convincing stuff...thank's for confusing me I guess that since rehydrating in the past has worked well for me, and your visual experiment comes to the same point, I'll keep doing it.

"As long as it makes good beer"

I always used to mix up a few teaspoons of table sugar in a cup of water and boil/cool, and 'proof' my yeast. This is also rehydrating it, btw. I mainly did it because i liked seeing the blooming when they woke up.
Since then, I have learned that using table sugar is not a good idea, and pitching dry yeast directly is the preferred method. I use my brewing spoon to incorporate a lot of air into the wort, and pour any top off water in so it makes a nice splash.
I have to add my method of pitching because there were only 199 other ways to do it already mentioned here.

ThreeTaps,
Per the dry yeast mfrs. you don't need to aerate when using dry yeast but it won't hurt anything. They explain why in their FAQs.

Regarding using tap water to rehydrate: my tap water has chloramines so I use bottled spring/drinking water. Not sure how much damage the chloramines would do but I've read yeast don't like it...and we're all slaves to the yeast (not the other way around imo ).

I have done this as well on my last 3 batches. I just sprinkle it and shake the crap out of it to airate. Been working great so far.

Rehydration is a pain.

1. Get mason jar and lid
2. Get pot
3. Get water
4. Boil water and jar together
5. Pour water into jar
6. Chill water
7. Test the water temp. Can't be too hot.
8. Sanitize the packet and scissors
9. Pour yeast in jar and let sit.

Or

1. Sanitize the packet and scissors
2. Sprinkle

I cannot get Notty to work UNLESS I rehydrate it. I have tried 4 times, nothing. I rehydrated to try a fifth time, worked. I am a believer.

jjones17 said:

I cannot get Notty to work UNLESS I rehydrate it. I have tried 4 times, nothing. I rehydrated to try a fifth time, worked. I am a believer.

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I have used Nottingham so many times I can't count. I recently started bypassing the 'proofing' steps. No difference.
Something is wrong with your packets.

Proofing and rehydrating are not interchangable terms. Communication gets really hard when definitions aren't common and clear.

Here's the boomerang: Dry yeast doesn't benefit from, nor is it harmed by aeration. *Ducking*

From the Fermentis (Safale US-05) web site:

"Re-hydrate the dry yeast into yeast cream in a stirred vessel prior to pitching. Sprinkle the dry yeast in 10 times its own weight of sterile water or wort at 27C ± 3C (80F ± 6F). Once the expected weight of dry yeast is reconstituted into cream by this method (this takes about 15 to
30 minutes), maintain a gentle stirring for another 30 minutes. Then pitch the resultant cream into the fermentation vessel.

Alternatively, pitch dry yeast directly in the fermentation vessel providing the temperature of the wort is above 20C (68F). Progressively sprinkle the dry yeast into the wort ensuring the yeast covers all the surface of wort available in order to avoid clumps. Leave for 30 minutes and then mix the wort e.g. using aeration."

Interesting read but still though, I'll just keep sprinkling.

So, Fermentis says aerate. Lallemand, on the other hand: "Nottingham British Ale yeast has been conditioned to survive rehydration. The yeast contains an adequate reservoir of carbohydrates and unsaturated fatty acids to achieve active growth. It is unnecessary to aerate wort."

Pilgarlic said:

Proofing and rehydrating are not interchangable terms. Communication gets really hard when definitions aren't common and clear.

Here's the boomerang: Dry yeast doesn't benefit from, nor is it harmed by aeration. *Ducking*

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Proofing includes rehydrating. Rehydrating does not necessarily include proofing. I thought I made that point clear before, but I have now.