No more rehydrating. I sprinkle!

[TeufelBrew]

I really muck up the waters then. Love the March pump so much, I recirc the entire volume of water during the mash. Boil then no chill right into buckets. Allow to cool overnight, then sprinkle dry yeast, close again and wait 2 - 4 weeks, depending on the beer.

 

[mymbtheduke]

That is the Aussie method. So it goes from 200+ degs to 70 overnight? I have considered chilling for 5 mins which gets me to 120 and leaving it overnight; then add the yeast.

 

[Starderup]

I use an immersion chiller until it feels like 78 degrees or below, and pitch. This batch I just did, I forgot to check the OG until after I put the Nottingham on the foam. No problem.
Use the hydrometer to push the foam aside until you get a hole so you can test. Is it just me, or does the specific gravity scale ALWAYS rotate out of view and show you whatever you don't need?
Anyway, no harm, no foul.
1.060, just like the last batch.
Dang, I need more fermenters, bottles, and time.

 

[EricT]

I use an immersion chiller until it feels like 78 degrees or below, and pitch. This batch I just did, I forgot to check the OG until after I put the Nottingham on the foam. No problem.
Use the hydrometer to push the foam aside until you get a hole so you can test. Is it just me, or does the specific gravity scale ALWAYS rotate out of view and show you whatever you don't need?
Anyway, no harm, no foul.
1.060, just like the last batch.
Dang, I need more fermenters, bottles, and time.

LOL I thought it was just my Hydrometer that did that

 

[JuanMoore]

I like to stress the yeast as little as possible to avoid minor off flavors, so I rehydrate when using dry yeast. My process is simple; pour bottled spring water in sanitized glass, microwave for ~ 35 sec (aiming for 95-105F), dump yeast in glass, pitch to fermenter 20 min later. It may be in my head, but I think this shortens the conditioning time, and my beers reach optimal drinkability sooner

I think Yuri linked this earlier, but here it is again-

Let me give you some facts regarding rehydration and you can decide for yourself where you want to compromise. Every strain of yeast has its own optimum rehydration temperature. All of them range between 95 F to 105F. Most of them closer to 105F. The dried yeast cell wall is fragile and it is the first few minutes (possibly seconds) of rehydration that the warm temperature is critical while it is reconstituting its cell wall structure.

As you drop the initial temperature of the water from 95 to 85 or 75 or 65F the yeast leached out more and more of its insides damaging the each cell. The yeast viability also drops proportionally. At 95 - 105 F, there is 100% recovery of the viable dry yeast. At 60F, there can be as much as 60% dead cells.

The water should be tap water with the normal amount of hardness present. The hardness is essential for good recovery. 250 -500 ppm hardness is ideal. This means that deionized or distilled water should not be used. Ideally, the warm rehydration water should contain about 0.5 - 1.0% yeast extract.

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.

We recommend that the rehydrated yeast be added to the wort within 30 minutes. We have built into each cell a large amount of glycogen and trehalose that give the yeast a burst of energy to kick off the growth cycle when it is in the wort. It is quickly used up if the yeast is rehydrated for more than 30 minutes. There is no damage done here if it is not immediately add to the wort. You just do not get the added benefit of that sudden burst of energy. We also recommend that you attemperate the rehydrated yeast to with in 15F of the wort before adding to the wort. Warm yeast into a cold wort will cause many of the yeast to produce petite mutants that will never grow or ferment properly and will cause them to produce H2S. The attemperation can take place over a very brief period by adding, in encrements, a small amount of the cooler wort to the rehydrated yeast.

Many times we find that warm water is added to a very cold container that drops the rehydrating water below the desired temperature.

Sometimes refrigerated, very cold, dry yeast is added directly to the warm water with out giving it time to come to room temperature. The initial water intering the cell is then cool.

How do many beer and wine makers have successful fermentations when they ignore all the above? I believe that it is just a numbers game. Each gram of Active Dry Yeast contains about 20 billion live yeast cells. If you slightly damage the cells, they have a remarkable ability to recover in the rich wort. If you kill 60% of the cell you still have 8 billion cells per gram that can go on to do the job at a slower rate.

The manufacturer of Active Dry Beer Yeast would be remiss if they offered rehydration instructions that were less than the very best that their data indicated.

One very important factor that the distributor and beer maker should keep in mind is that Active Dry Yeast is dormant or inactive and not inert, so keep refrigerated at all times. Do not store in a tin roofed warehouse that becomes an oven or on a window sill that gets equally hot.

Active Dry Yeast looses about 20% of its activity in a year when it is stored at 75 F and only 4% when refrigerated.

The above overview of rehydration should tell you that there is a very best way to rehydrate. It should also tell you where you are safe in adapting the rehydration procedure to fit your clients.

 

[mymbtheduke]

LOL I thought it was just my Hydrometer that did that

Mine does that everytime. Too funny.

 

[mymbtheduke]

I know what everyone says about rehydrating but notice the instructions on the S04 pack.

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/__3FL_n8LF4w/SXIPW_mlVNI/AAAAAAAAAH0/eYX-PlLvcJM/s320/yeastbs04.jpg

Pitching: Sprinkle into wort

 

[Starderup]

I like to stress the yeast as little as possible to avoid minor off flavors, so I rehydrate when using dry yeast. My process is simple; pour bottled spring water in sanitized glass, microwave for ~ 35 sec (aiming for 95-105F), dump yeast in glass, pitch to fermenter 20 min later. It may be in my head, but I think this shortens the conditioning time, and my beers reach optimal drinkability sooner

I think Yuri linked this earlier, but here it is again-

Thanks for the information. If I use dry yeast again, I will rehydrate it. I did not know that about the cell walls, but I have learned recently just how much I DON'T know about yeast, brewing, etc.
I think I have been playing the numbers game myself. Of course, I have had fantastic results just sprinkling. I wonder how much better it would get. Here is a grainy, dim video of the Pale Ale I pitched dry yeast directly into about 10 hours ago.
http://home-and-garden.webshots.com/video/3080229860074286987yAawNm

 

[Yambor44]

+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.

So glad to read this. My starters rarely show signs of krausen or activity. All I see is this when I check on it:



Pitched it and it started fermenting along in about 12 hours.

 

[Yambor44]

I like to stress the yeast as little as possible to avoid minor off flavors, so I rehydrate when using dry yeast. My process is simple; pour bottled spring water in sanitized glass, microwave for ~ 35 sec (aiming for 95-105F), dump yeast in glass, pitch to fermenter 20 min later. It may be in my head, but I think this shortens the conditioning time, and my beers reach optimal drinkability sooner

I think Yuri linked this earlier, but here it is again-

Thanks for posting this. Up until I read your pasted info I was not going to try rehyration any longer. This makes sense to me as most of my beers take 18 to 24 hours to get rolling and then only krausen about 2-3 inches. One question. Is it saying that when you take your dry yeast out of the fridge you should let it cme to room temp before rehydrating in the 95-105* water?

Sometimes refrigerated, very cold, dry yeast is added directly to the warm water with out giving it time to come to room temperature. The initial water intering the cell is then cool.

 

[JuanMoore]

Thanks for posting this. Up until I read your pasted info I was not going to try rehyration any longer. This makes sense to me as most of my beers take 18 to 24 hours to get rolling and then only krausen about 2-3 inches. One question. Is it saying that when you take your dry yeast out of the fridge you should let it cme to room temp before rehydrating in the 95-105* water?

Yep, I take mine out of the fridge sometime during the boil to give it chance to warm up.