Im going to be trying out some dry yeast for the first time and I always make a starter and was wondering if I still had to rehydrate the yeast before I mix it in the slurry or I could just sprinkle it on lol. I use a stir plate.
Rehydrating yeast?
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Boil a cup of water and let it cool to room temp. then put the dry yeast in there an hour or 2 before you put it in your wort.
Something with a lid you can cover the top, but don't seal because the pressure will build up inside.
Something with a lid you can cover the top, but don't seal because the pressure will build up inside.
I know how to rehydrate yeast lol I was wondering if I needed to do so to make a starter because I would need to do the math on how much water to use as a starter since Ill have a cup already with the rehydrated yeast. Or if I could make a starter as normal (2l) and just add the dry yeast to that to get the optimal result.
Yes you should rehydrate the yeast first this way they can build up their cells walls first.
If you're making a standard gravity ale at 5 gallons or more, the amount of yeast that comes in a single packet is not equal to the recommended yeast / ml of beer that pro's use.
That said, you will still make beer. It will have more of the flavors associated with yeast reproduction. Sometimes this is desired, other times it is not. I usually just make an appropriately sized starter using one of the many yeast calcs out there.
That said, you will still make beer. It will have more of the flavors associated with yeast reproduction. Sometimes this is desired, other times it is not. I usually just make an appropriately sized starter using one of the many yeast calcs out there.
Doing a starter with dry yeast is, IMO, not worth the time, effort and money. The folks at Fermentis and Danstar guarantee something like 6 billion cells/gram, but in reality microscopic cell counts done in their labs reveal that it's more like 20-30 billion. An 11g packet, properly rehydrated ends up being a good and healthy pitch for a 5 gallon batch of ale up to 1.060 gravity.
According to Dr. Cone at Danstar, it you sprinkle dry into room temp starter wort, you end up wiping out up to half the cells before they can reconstitute their cell walls. That's why we rehydrate in warm tap water.
According to Dr. Cone at Danstar, it you sprinkle dry into room temp starter wort, you end up wiping out up to half the cells before they can reconstitute their cell walls. That's why we rehydrate in warm tap water.
ianw58
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+1 to BigFloyd.
The point of the dry yeast is to NOT make a starter. If your making a bigger batch of need a bigger pitch, use a couple of sachets. It'll still be cheaper than a single smack pack or vial of load yeast.
The point of the dry yeast is to NOT make a starter. If your making a bigger batch of need a bigger pitch, use a couple of sachets. It'll still be cheaper than a single smack pack or vial of load yeast.
boydster
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I have to respectfully disagree with this statement One packet of Fermentis or Danstar yeast should have about 200 billion cells, which if rehydrated is perfect for most 5 gallon batches of standard gravity ale.
I wouldn't make a starter though. Just buy a second packet of yeast. Much easier.
flars
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OP is using dry yeast, not liquid yeast. An 11.5 gram pack of dry yeast is more than adequate for a 1.060 brew if rehydrated.
You have 220 billion cells. The packaging process kills about 10% of the yeast. You also lose anywhere between 2-4% per month for yeast stored at the perfect temperature. You only get this if you're using it before it's been shipped or handled in anyway. Realistically it's north of 5%. Proper rehydration techniques will kill another 4-8%. Figure 85% viability, optimistically.
If you pitch a standard packet of 1 month old yeast, you pitch ~170 billion cells if you re hydrate properly, when you should be pitching ~209 billion cells.
If you fail to rehydrate, depending on yeast strain, IBUs, and wort temp, some studies suggest that you are bringing viability down to single digit percentages.
RonPopeil
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yeah you're not supposed to do starters with the dry packs. in fact the saf products specifically say not to. if you need more yeast than a single packet will provide then pitch another packet. re hydrating is recommended but not required. i don't when i use dry yeast. as long as the packs have been out of the fridge for a few hours fermentation starts within a few hours.
I rehydrate dry yeast,usually US-05 in 70-80F water. I use 400mL in my flask.
Sprinkle the yeast on top of the water,wait 15 minutes. Then stir it in with a sanitized skewer & cover. Let sit 30 minutes while chilling wort. After straining wort into fermenter & stiriing in top off water,stir & pitch rehydrated yeast. Works real well & attenuates properly. So far,up to OG1.074.
Sprinkle the yeast on top of the water,wait 15 minutes. Then stir it in with a sanitized skewer & cover. Let sit 30 minutes while chilling wort. After straining wort into fermenter & stiriing in top off water,stir & pitch rehydrated yeast. Works real well & attenuates properly. So far,up to OG1.074.
Pitching the calculated perfect pitching rate can make you some excellent beers if the rest of your process is excellent. Pitching slightly under or over the perfect pitching rate will still make some darn good beers. If the rest of your process is done well, those beers can be nearly impossible to tell from the perfectly pitched ones. If you deviate a lot from the proper pitch rate you will notice the loss of quality but you can still make some pretty drinkable beers.
When stored at refrigerator temps, dry yeast loses about 4% of it's viability per year (I believe that comes from Dr. Cone at Danstar).
Both Mr. Malty and Fermentitis disagree with this statement. While I have no doubt that a PHD at Danistar has better equipment then most, the fact that his income is directly effected by his results invalidate his argument for me. I realize this is a bit paranoid, but I know how the marketing/numbers game works. It is just like how my car amplifier is somehow supposed to create 5000 watts with an input of 12 volts and 16 amps ( did they throw a MR fusion in it? ). Maybe they actually got those numbers in a lab with a silo size super cap and a few tons of liquid nitrogen, but I sure as hell won't get those numbers.
Anyway, I place my faith in the 3rd parties whenever possible. At the end of the day you just have to be comfortable with your own process. If you think your beers taste awesome rock on.
ianw58
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I think you may have misread something from these two sources.
From the Fermentis FAQ:
What is the shelf life of the yeast?
The shelf life is shown on the sachets individually and is two years from the date of manufacture
I could not find a single mention of dry yeast viability on the Mr. malty site, but in Yeast: The Practical Guide to Beer Fermentation, Zainasheff and White state "...at 75°F dry yeast loses about 20 percent of its viability per year. Stored under typical refrigeration temperatures of 38°F it only loses about 4 percent of its viability per year." Page 160, bottom, (italics mine)
I just wanted make sure that proper information was posted.
EarlyAmateurZymurgist
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All one needs to do to re-use yeast is to crop it into a sanitized container. There no need to separate the yeast from the trub (trub is a source of nutrients). A cropped culture can be repitched as is if it is less than a couple of weeks old by replacing the supernatant (the clear green beer above the solids) with fresh wort before swirling the solids back into suspension and waiting a few minutes for the heaviest organic material to settle out of suspension. If the the culture is more than a week or two old, the supernatant should be replaced with fresh wort 12 to 24 hours in advance. It's that easy.
Anyone who wants to know the gory details as to why yeast rinsing is little more than amateur brewer voodoo should read the posting linked below.
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/conflicting-advice-lhbs-hbt-447056/index5.html#post5735086
400ml is over 1 1/2 cups.
Instructions from my LHBS are 1/2 cup of water at 94-100 degrees.
So that's three somewhat different processes. Am I to assume that the actual amount of water used is not all that important, or is one or more of these three methods slightly, or badly flawed?
boydster
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Sprinkle yeast into 95-105° water (boiled & cooled to this temp is good) trying to make sure there are no clumps. Use 10x as much water as yeast by weight (for 11.5 g packet, that is 115 ml of water). Let it sit for 15 minutes. Stir to make a cream. Let it sit for 15 more minutes. If yeast slurry is within 10° of wort temp, pitch. Otherwise, add a small amount of wort to the slurry to bring the temp down by 5-10°, wait 5 minutes, and repeat as necessary until slurry is within 10° of pitching temp.
Check this sticky out:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/dry-yeast-faq-441967/
Check this sticky out:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/dry-yeast-faq-441967/
I know it's more than the usdual amount of warm water,but it's been working well with the usual 11.5g & 15g yeast packets. It still makes a foamy/creamy opaque liquid when stirred right before pitching.
