Directly pitchable yeast.

[lowend]

Most of the dry yeasts that I've been using say that they're directly pitchable. Still, I've been going through the hydrating process just to be careful. Has anyone tried sprinkling the yeast directly onto the wort? It sounds so much easier, but somehow it just doesn't sound right.

 

[nibiyabi]

That's what my first kit instructed me to do. It told me to lower the wort to 70-80º, so once it hit 75º, I racked it to the primary and just sprinkled the yeasties on top. OG was 1.043 and current G (might be FG, need to check again in a couple days) is 1.011 so it definitely worked.

 

[double_e5]

I rehydrate my yeast, but many people will just directly pitch their dry yeast. YMMV...

 

[Bobby_M]

In general, pitching dry reduces the number of viable cells to about half. In a low gravity batch, it may not matter. Anything over 1.050 and I'd rehydrate.

 

[Revvy]

If you look at the fermentis website, one of the recommended methods is to sprinkle on the wort, then wait 30 minutes and stir or lightly agitate...

http://www.fermentis.com/FO/pdf/HB/EN/Safale_US-05_HB.pdf

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.

That is pretty much the same thing as rehydrating dry yeast outside of the fermenter, except you are doing it on the surface of the wort instead of water....So it's rehydrating with wort rather than water...and actually that makes more sense to me, letting it wake up to breakfast instead of water first...

If I'm waking up to the smell of bacon, I know I'll have a bigger appetite, than if I woke up to the smell of water, why would our yeastie friends be any different?

That's what I've been doing for the last 6 months or so, actually I haven't been stirring the yeast in after the half hour.... What I doo is aerate, pitch my yeast, close the fermenter, and start cleaning and packing up my gear, then in about a half hour I move my fermenter into my brew closet, which pretty much shakes it up enough to incorporate.

 

[Laughing_Gnome_Invisible]

When I started brewing I pitched dry to keep it simple. Later on, with more confidence I rehydrated. These days I make starters. No need to rush into things, try everything and see what works for you.

Edit: In my case, i am talking about ales. For lagers, it's a different matter.

 

[Weizenheimer]

I have always pitched dry yeast directly without rehydrating and without stirring. Just toss it in on top and seal it. Never had a problem doing it this way.

 

[CiscoKid]

Keeping in mind that I don't follow this, and have been pitching dry yeast similar to the way most of you have described, just sprinkling it on top, I did find the following from Clayton Cone (who according to the internet knows a thing or two about yeast, but I can't say I know who he is...):

For the initial few minutes (perhaps seconds) of rehydration, the yeast
cell wall cannot differentiate what passes through the wall. Toxic
materials like sprays, hops, SO2 and sugars in high levels, that the yeast
normally can selectively keep from passing through its cell wall rush right
in and seriously damage the cells. The moment that the cell wall is
properly reconstituted, the yeast can then regulate what goes in and out of
the cell. That is why we hesitate to recommend rehydration in wort or
must. Very dilute wort seems to be OK.

Rehydrating Dry Yeast with Dr. Clayton Cone « The Koehler Brewery

But like I said, I'm lazy and just sprinkle it over the top, seal it up, wash my dishes, and carry my fermenter to the basement.

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

Revvy, IIRC, Fermentis has changed their recommendations and now suggests that all yeast be re-hdrated prior to pitching.

OP:

There are a couple issues with direct pitching dry yeast. I will explain but first, if you are looking for a truely direct pitchable yeat then you should be looking at liquid and buy larger quantitites to avoid having to make a starter. An expensive option to say the least.

The reasoning behind it not being advisable to direct pitch dry yeast is that the cell walls are vulberable. During re-hydration the walls will allow everything to pass through, including sugars and possible bacteria, and this can stress and possibly mutate the yeast. By re-hydrating first you ensure that the yeast has a fighting chance to regulate how, what, and when it metabolizes. You reduce the potetntial for stress and mutations also increasing the rate of viability. Which further boosts the reduction of the lag phase.

The yeast will still survive and ferment without re-hydration but the lag phase may be extended and the potetnial for petite mutants in the cake is increased.

 

[Revvy]

Revvy, IIRC, Fermentis has changed their recommendations and now suggests that all yeast be re-hdrated prior to pitching.

OP:

Show me the change...because that PDF is still on their website....

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

http://www.fermentis.com/FO/pdf/Tips-Tricks.pdf

I will digress. They do still advocate re-hydration in wort as long as it is sterile. Odd however, that the T&T is found only in the Craft section.

I guess this means that HB'er know it all already and the Craft guys need all the help.

 

[Revvy]

http://www.fermentis.com/FO/pdf/Tips-Tricks.pdf

I will digress. They do still advocate re-hydration in wort as long as it is sterile. Odd however, that the T&T is found only in the Craft section.

I guess this means that HB'er know it all already and the Craft guys need all the help.

LOL...

I was just reading that pdf...it's a good read for everybod6y I think...


The original PDF (which was pointed out to me by Flyangler, iirc,) was in the pro section as well.

So yeah I guess they need more help than us humble homebrewers....

I'm gonna stick with the sprinkle, wait 30, stir method for now, it's been working fine for the last 6 months or so....

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

From personal experience.

I use dry yeast exclusively and flor a very long time I always intended to re-hydrate it just never happened. I never thought about it, or read my checklist apparently, until I was ready to fill the fermenter.

So, I did a side by side. Same recipe, same yeast. One direct pitched the other re-hydrated. The re-hydrated yeast took off within 6 hours and fermented violently. Bulk fermentation was complete within 72 hours. The direct pitched lagged for approximately 36 hours and took a full week to attenuate.

Both were in a temp controlled environment.

From that I was sold on teh benifits of re-hydartion. I just need to learn to read my own dang checklists.

 

[cuinrearview]

I'm still sprinkling my dry yeasts on the wort. I see advantages to re-hydrating but I guess until I see a disadvantage (bad beer) to "sprinkling" in my brewery I'll keep doing it. I'm not afraid of long lag times and fermentations as long as the results are good. As long as I remember to take the packet out of the fridge six hours or more before pitching my Nottingham and S-05 fermentations start somewhere between eight and 24 hours after the packet is sprinkled and the fermenter sealed.

 

[Christian]

LOL...

I'm gonna stick with the sprinkle, wait 30, stir method for now, it's been working fine for the last 6 months or so....

Same, i have been doing this for a year now and have always had very, very favorable results. So i see no reason to change it now.

 

[bsay]

Very rarely do I rehydrate my dry yeast. Never had a problem.

 

[Jared36]

I work at an ethanol plant in ohio and we deal with fermentis and let me tell you those guys are wacko, we have a 5000 gallon (pretty much conical ferm.) that we use to rehydrate the yeast in, when we first started using fementis I personally dealt with a few of the guys from the company and one guy would tell me to hydrate it one way and the other would tell me a different way in the end we came up with our own way which work the best (add water, heat water, recirc the tank, turn on the agitator add yeast walk away) the viability was through the roof. Even tho those guys know what their talking about sometimes they put way to much thought into it. but as far as beer goes i just sprinkle it on top with great results.

 

[Revvy]

I work at an ethanol plant in ohio and we deal with fermentis and let me tell you those guys are wacko, ....

Well considering they spend their days turning sugar water into hooch I'm not surprised....I wouldn't be surprised if they use their products on things that we would find quite scary...and sample it too...

"Hey Joe....I just pitched 05 in 5 gallons of goats blood, come to my lab on Friday and we'll do some "research" on it "

 

[MajorTom]

I have pretty much started dry pitching fermentis yeast now. I don't even aerate anymore. I can't tell any difference in the beer from when I made a starter or rehydrated. I just cool to 65*, rack it to the fermenter, pour the yeast in and put it away. Usually it is starting to foam in just a few hours. I think it is much simpler and much less chance to contaminate anything.

 

[Bobby_M]

I'm sure everyone has favorable results with whatever method you choose, but dry pitching does kill some yeast. As long as you're fine with that, sprinkle away. You're really just experiencing conditions where about half a pack of yeast is OK. It really depends on the OG of the beer and how aggressive you want the attenuation. It's not really a matter of lag time. It's potentially pitching a less than ideal cell count. If you look at the Mrmalty.com pitch calc (it assumes you rehydrate), there are very few beers that *should* be fermented with half a viable pack. Maybe you don't know the difference but claiming that "I haven't had a problem yet" is like saying you won't wear a seat belt because you haven't been ejected through the windshield yet. The brew might be more estery than it should be. It may hang a few points above the desired FG. If you're trying to brew the best possible beer, why cut corners?

 

[Brandon O]

Most of the dry yeasts that I've been using say that they're directly pitchable. Still, I've been going through the hydrating process just to be careful. Has anyone tried sprinkling the yeast directly onto the wort? It sounds so much easier, but somehow it just doesn't sound right.

I have never rehydrated nottingham. It's incredibly consisten and vigorous every time.

 

[Qdog]

been using safale 05 and I actually inspect every little yeast nugget to insure it is smiling and not frowning prior to pitching.......


just kidding:cross: i just chuck the whole thing in there and stir the hell outta it. Never failed thus far

 

[HP_Lovecraft]

The brew might be more estery than it should be. It may hang a few points above the desired FG. If you're trying to brew the best possible beer, why cut corners?

Though, there is something that Chris White said, from White Labs during a Brewcast, that changed my opinion about yeast.

He said that most homebrewers OVER pitch. To make good beer, you are supposed to have a certain lag time for flavors to develop. Pitching massive amounts of starters REDUCES those flavors (ie esters, etc).

He went so far to say that making starters is bad, unless you are making an extremely high gravity beer. Reusing cake is the worst thing, since the yeast at the bottom is the least healthy yeast. Both dry yeast, and liquid vials are designed to provide the ideal number of yeast cells, given the environment of a typical wort, adjusting for a certain percentage of die.

What he said goes against everything I learned, but since then, I stuck to his advice, and tried to allow for a healthy amount of lag sutable for the style I'm shooting for.

 

[Bobby_M]

I hate to idolize anyone and I'm still not doing it here, but if Jamil tells me how much yeast I should be pitching, I'll probably trust that the answer is good, if not great advice. The pitch calculator is there for anyone to use or disregard. I simply don't believe that "most home brewers over pitch". I think it's exactly the opposite unless you're talking about those who consistently pitch on full yeast cakes by default regardless of the desired outcome. I think more people DON'T make starters than do.

What's under pitching in my opinion? A single WL vile in ANY beer, a WYpropagator in any beer, an Activator pack in wort over 1.060 and an 11 gram dry yeast pack straight pitched in wort over 1.060. That's my 2 cents.

Overpitching is probably less of a problem when the end result is just a cleaner yeast flavor profile than the style may dictate. Grossly oversimplified, but it can make an ale taste more like a lager than you were going for.

If you want to make the best beer possible attention to these details is pretty important and "good enough" is a poor philosophy. If you're more about RDWHAHB, then more power to you.

 

[Brandon O]

I think more people DON'T make starters than do.

If you're more about RDWHAHB, then more power to you.

/agreed 12345

 

[yeoldebrewer]

So what would be the upper OG limit for pitching dry yeast directly to sterile wort or pitching re-hydrated dry yeast? Can you compensate for not using a big starter or yeast cake on a big beer by just pitching more dry yeast?