Raspberry Ale

I just brewed my first fruit beer, which was also my first 1 gallon boil, which was also my first time rehydrating dry yeast. It's just an ale as of now but plan to rack on top of .5 lb of raspberries. Now I usually use the smack pack Wyeast activators, so bare with me. I was told to use half a package of the yeast for the small batch so I only used half a cup of warm water to rehydrate it in. Was that the right way to go? And it did not foam up like the pics in Palmer's "How to Brew", should it have? It was a good learning experience, although I have had quite a few Grainbelts Premiums so I don't know how much I'll take away from it.....

How big was the total volume? 3 gallons?

When you rehydrated the yeast, how warm was the water? Did you let it stand for at least 15 minutes WITHOUT stirring, swirling etc? It doesn't always, necessarily, foam up, but you should notice something different going on. Also, when I rehydrate for a full 5ga batch, I only use 4oz water, which is equivalent to your 1/2 cup. I don't think this makes a HUGE difference but just FYI. You don't need a lot of water to rehydrate.

Have fun.

The total volume was 1 gallon. The original gallon boiled down to a little less than half. The water I used to rehydrate the yeast was boiled and then brought back down to ~100 degrees. Yes I let it stand 15 minutes before stirring it in, I expected more of a reaction than I got. I suppose I will find out if it worked really soon,

CHEERS

It worked. Take my word.

Unless your dry yeast were old and dead.