Safale US-05 Yeast question...

I did a google search to find out more about my yeast that came with my beer kit and i found a .pdf on the www.fermentis.com site and the directions for pitching the yeast confused me.... here are the instructions as written by Fermentis.

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.

Where i am confused is i have heard not to Aerate the wort after the yeast has been added, but to aerate before adding the yeast... Can someone tell me what i am missing here?

Aerate the wort BEFORE pitching. Thats bad info...

I don't think it matters whether you aerate before or right after pitching. You just don't want to do it once fermentation has started.

I use US-05 a lot and I always re-hydrate it rather than sprinkle it on the wort. I like to sprinkle it into a cup or two of warm water (sanitized container of course) and let it dissolve, then stir and pitch after 20 minutes or so. I aerate (by shaking) before I pitch, usually have fermentation starting within 12 hours.

If you'd rather pitch the dry yeast directly onto your wort, you can aerate before or after, but a few minutes after pitching I would shake it a bit to mix the yeast in a bit. Doing it after pitching kind of does both at once.

thanks for the response ifishsum. I was going to brew an American Wheat kit tomorrow and was going to make sure i aerated the wort and rehydrated the yeast this time for my second batch. Just wanted to make sure about the aeration

Hoserama said:

Aerate the wort BEFORE pitching. Thats bad info...

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That's info from the yeast manufactures. Hardly bad at all.

You sprinkle and wait so that the yeast can rehydrate their cell walls. Better practice is to rehydrate with boiled water cooled to proscribed temperatures and then pitch to the wort.

Hoserama said:

Aerate the wort BEFORE pitching. Thats bad info...

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Why do you think that is bad info? Remember, the wort is thoroughly depleted of oxygen after the boil and yeast need oxygen to reproduce. Aerating just before or just after the pitch is pretty much the same animal.

Hoserama said:

Aerate the wort BEFORE pitching. Thats bad info...

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I call BS on your answer....

The microbiologists @ fermentis, or Wyyeast, or Whitelabs, know a hell of a lot more about the yeasts they produce then we do...

They know what's best for their products, and how to get the best out of them....and it may be different the the "common wisdom" we have come to believe.

For example fermentis as opposed to danstar says you don't need to rehydrate their yeasts either. They also know that their yeast is gluten free for the first 2-3 reuses then spontaneously produces gluten proteins....So it is the only true gluten free yeast since it's grown on mollases plates.

Chris Whyte @ Whitelabs says that up to a certain gravity you DON'T need to make a starter, and for beer's over 1.070 you should give it ANOTHER blast of O2 between 11 and 12 hours after pitching (contrary to what we've come to believe about oxygenation post pitching.)

If you've ever listened to interviews with the people @ fermentis, or Whitelabs, or Wyyeast, you'll realize that they ARE experts.

SO if they say, or their labels say it, you can be assured that their suggestions will net the best results for THEIR specific products...It may not work with Danstar or another yeast, but if they say to do something for THEIR OWN YEASTS, then I tend to listen.

mmb said:

That's info from the yeast manufactures. Hardly bad at all.

Better practice is to rehydrate with boiled water cooled to proscribed temperatures and then pitch to the wort.

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Not necessarily the case either...It may say it on danstar yeasts like Notty to rehydrate, but it specifically doesn't say so in fermentis yeasts. So I go by the manufacturer's recommendation on THEIR specific products nowadays. After hearing the folks at the three companies, I follow their leads for their products and not generalized common wisdom anymore...I may not trust much stuff, but I trust that each of them know what the heck they're doing with their stuff.

You should aerate well before pitching the yeast. But i would also follow the directions with the yeast packet.

The reason you aerate the wort is to provide O2 that the yeast need to reproduce during the first stage of fermentation. Aerating the wort during the first 24hours is going to be beneficial to the yeast. With meads it is often recommended to aerate for the first few days due to the high gravity and longer ferment time.

Once you are past this point the yeast will no longer use the extra O2 so the O2 leads to oxidation and off flavors in your beer.

So as long as the beer is in the lag phase or early stages of ferment it will not hurt to aerate.

As for rehydration vs direct pitch, in moderate gravity beers both have advantages and disadvantages. Correctly done with the proper temperatures and moderately hard water (not distilled or RO) rehydrated yeast will have better viability and a lower mortality rate. However if your temperatures are too high you can kill the yeast, too low with cause extra stress and RO water causes higher mortality. Therefore the manufacturer may chose to play it safe and recommend direct pitch, which is safer, with less chance of infection or killing the yeast. Plus the 11.5g packages of yeast these manufacturers sell provide a pretty high pitch rate. So even with a less than ideal environment the pitch rate is still sufficient.

Personally I pitch direct on low to moderate gravity ales and rehydrate with GoFerm for high G beers like barleywines and Russian Imperial Stouts.

Craig

Revvy said:

Not necessarily the case either...It may say it on danstar yeasts like Notty to rehydrate, but it specifically doesn't say so in fermentis yeasts. So I go by the manufacturer's recommendation on THEIR specific products nowadays. After hearing the folks at the three companies, I follow their leads for their products and not generalized common wisdom anymore...I may not trust much stuff, but I trust that each of them know what the heck they're doing with their stuff.

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Sorry Revvy, Shenanigans. If you get the Fermentis "Pro" pdf documentation they recommend rehydrating the dry yeast. I've heard you'll kill off close to half if you just pitch directly into the wort. They don't on the "consumer" information because they have enough dry yeast in the pack to properly inoculate even with killing off a bunch of the yeast.

In the beer I ferment with US-05 I'm going for as clean a yeast profile as possible. The more yeast that survive the pitch, the shorter the growth phase they have and the fewer esters they release.

http://www.fermentis.com/FO/EN/pdf/SafaleUS05.pdf

Fermentis Industrial Brewing Information

mmb said:

Sorry Revvy, Shenanigans. If you get the Fermentis "Pro" pdf documentation they recommend rehydrating the dry yeast. I've heard you'll kill off close to half if you just pitch directly into the wort. They don't on the "consumer" information because they have enough dry yeast in the pack to properly inoculate even with killing off a bunch of the yeast.

In the beer I ferment with US-05 I'm going for as clean a yeast profile as possible. The more yeast that survive the pitch, the shorter the growth phase they have and the fewer esters they release.

http://www.fermentis.com/FO/EN/pdf/SafaleUS05.pdf

Fermentis Industrial Brewing Information

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Interesting links, thanks!...but I read it as being either or, on the pro-link. Looks like they suggest sitting it on the surface of the wort to rehydrate (rather than hot water) then stirring it into the wort. Pitching dry onto the wort, letting it sit for 20 minutes then mixing would have the same effect as pitching onto hot water, waiting 15-20 minutes, stirring, then pitching into the wort.

Directions for use

Dry yeast requires rehydration prior to pitching into fermentation. Two methods of rehydration are possible depending on the brewery plant available:

a) Direct pitching to fermentation vessel
Run a proportion of the wort into the fermenting vessel to achieve an elevated temperature (23C ± 3C for Saflager and 27 ± 3C for Safbrew and Safale). Sprinkle yeast onto the surface of the wort and agitate to fully suspend the yeast. After 15 to 30 minutes, resume wort run down to achieve the desired start of fermentation temperature.

b) Use of yeast tank
This is the preferred method. Make up a slurry using either sterile brewing liquor or wort in a stirred vessel (e.g. a yeast pitching tank). Run sufficient liquor (10:1 ratio or above) to cover the agitator fully and mix to a cream at the recommended temperature (23C ± 3C for Saflager and 27 ± 3C for Safbrew and Safale). Agitate slowly to suspend yeast and allow to stand for 15 to 30 minutes. Agitate for a further 30 minutes and pitch as normal to wort flow to fermenting vessel

Yeast cell counts at pitching can be easily controlled using dry yeast. Use the following simulation to establish dry yeast pitching rates in multi-brew fermentation vessels. It is important to note that dry lager yeast being so-called generation 0 yeast, it requires a minimum pitching temperature of 11C when pitching at recommended usage rates (80 g/hl to 120 g/hl).

Calculate the amount of dry yeast required in your process.

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But either way I still stand, like you and others here have stated, on following the company's info and NOT "collective" wisdom.

Did not mean to cause such a fuss on this post haha.. But just to let everyone know i e-mailed fermentis and asked them if i should do it before or after pitching and the customer service agent told me to aerate before not after.

Also i did brew my wort today and aerated prior to adding the yeast and i am seeing bubbles in the fermenter 4 hours after capping the bucket. So hopefully this is a good sign!!!! It is just a simple American Wheat kit made with muntons wheat malt extract.

ohill1981 said:

Did not mean to cause such a fuss on this post haha.. But just to let everyone know i e-mailed fermentis and asked them if i should do it before or after pitching and the customer service agent told me to aerate before not after.

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thank you!

I'm bumping this thread because I was looking for some general info on the Safale US-05 yeast that came with a kit I'm brewing. I checked out the PDF from Fermentis and I noticed that it gives two recommendations for pitching:

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.

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Assuming that the manufacturer basically recommends either/or, then I would be left to assume that re-hydrating before pitching is probably better.

Or, really, does it not matter one way or the other? I mean, 30 minutes of gentle stirring doesn't sound like fun...

And despite what Fermentis told ohill, it seems that when pitching dry you shouldn't aerate first... you let the yeast re-hydrate in the wort for 30 minutes and then aerate (which serves the dual purpose of mixing up the yeast).

I simply sprinkle the dry yeast on the surface of the cooled wort in the fermenter, leave it for 15 minutes, and the stir the heck out of it.
Been doing it that way for over a year and not a problem yet.

I cool the wort, put the lid on the fermenter and then shake it well for airation. then I sprinkle the dry yeast on top of the foam of the wort. This way the yeast has the time to rehydrate and adjust to the wort's temperature.
Been doing it that way for 9 years and not a problem yet

Scooby_Brew said:

I cool the wort, put the lid on the fermenter and then shake it well for airation. then I sprinkle the dry yeast on top of the foam of the wort. This way the yeast has the time to rehydrate and adjust to the wort's temperature.
Been doing it that way for 9 years and not a problem yet

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That's pretty much what I do, except I aerate with an airstone and o2 bottle instead of shaking, and I usually sit the yeast on top of the wortfoam for 15-20 minutes. But same principle and it works for me as well.

I usually rehydrate on anything with a OG of over 1.060 but just sprinkle on beers under 1.060.

The 11g satchels have so many cells that sprinkling on lower OG beers gives you more than enough viable cells.

I basically followed the instructions for this yeast when I brewed yesterday; although I shook to aerate, then I sprinkled the yeast on the wort, let it sit for about 20 minutes, then shook to aerate again.

I'm just starting to see a little airlock activity (about 12 hours) at about 66 degrees. Hope it's a good one!