Rehydrated yeast

[WortHawks]

Brewed a batch of Brewers Best English Brown Ale yesterday and while hydrating the yeast I let it get to warm (105). Went ahead and pitched the yeast. After 24hrs very little activity (bubbling) from the fermenter. Worried that I killed the yeast? If I did, is there anything I can do to save the batch?

Nottingham ale yeast...

 

[dickproenneke]

Brewed a batch of Brewers Best English Brown Ale yesterday and while hydrating the yeast I let it get to warm (105). Went ahead and pitched the yeast. After 24hrs very little activity (bubbling) from the fermenter. Worried that I killed the yeast? If I did, is there anything I can do to save the batch?

Nottingham ale yeast...

It's unlikely that you killed all the yeast, even at 105. Just give it time. It can sometimes take 48-72 hrs for signs of fermentation to appear.

 

[RM-MN]

At about 140 you start to kill the yeast. 105 won't do it. Any bubbling you have means the yeast are working so just ignore that fermenter for a couple weeks.

 

[WortHawks]

Good to hear, thanks for the feedback!

 

[boydster]

I agree that the yeast is fine rehydrating at 105. Just be sure to keep your fermentation temps in the very-low-60 with Notty, it can get a little funny as the temp increases.

 

[jakeasaur]

At about 140 you start to kill the yeast. 105 won't do it. Any bubbling you have means the yeast are working so just ignore that fermenter for a couple weeks.

^ don't touch that fermenter for at least 2 weeks

 

[andy6026]

If i'm not mistaken, doesn't Charlie Papadoc recommend that yeast be rehydrated in the 95-105 tmp range?

 

[unionrdr]

The critical part is getting the rehydrate down to within 10 degrees of current wort temp at pitch time. You may've shocked the yeast,pitching it @ 105F into,say,60-65F wort. It can take maybe an extra day to get going after that.

 

[boydster]

The critical part is getting the rehydrate down to within 10 degrees of current wort temp at pitch time. You may've shocked the yeast,pitching it @ 105F into,say,60-65F wort. It can take maybe an extra day to get going after that.

Good point. I like to use cooled wort to bring the temp down a little at a time. Generally I do 3 wort additions, each 5 minutes apart and enough to lower the temp by 8-10°, and the yeast is cool enough to pitch.

 

[flars]

If i'm not mistaken, doesn't Charlie Papadoc recommend that yeast be rehydrated in the 95-105 tmp range?

I rehydrated a package of SA-05 a couple days ago. Fermentis recommends 80°, + or - 6°. Using the recommended time for the rehydration brought the yeast solution down to 67°. My cooled wort was at 63° when I pitched. Strong airlock activity on the carboy in 6 hours, wort at 65°.

 

[unionrdr]

That was a good thing to do. I rehydrate US-05 at 70-75F myself. & since my initial wort temp is usually 64-67F,it works quite well.

 

[peterj]

If i'm not mistaken, doesn't Charlie Papadoc recommend that yeast be rehydrated in the 95-105 tmp range?

I know Dr. Clayton Cone of Danstar does: http://koehlerbeer.com/2008/06/07/rehydrating-dry-yeast-with-dr-clayton-cone/

Around 105F is ideal for yeast rehydration, so you should be fine. It is important to get the temperature down close to the wort temperature before pitching though. But I think it can be within 10 degrees Celsius (18F) so that's not too hard to do.

 

[IslandLizard]

This is from the current S-05 spec sheet, my emphasis:

Sprinkle the yeast in minimum 10 times its weight of sterile water or wort at 27°C ± 3°C (80°F ± 6°F). Leave to rest 15 to 30 minutes.
Gently stir for 30 minutes, and pitch the resultant cream into the fermentation vessel.​

The "Gently stir for 30 minutes" always gets me, and really gives you confidence they know what they're doing, huh?

I remember the instructions being different in the past, for some reason, and 90-100°F seem to have stuck somehow.

Anyway, I now use 125 ml boiled water @80°F.

• About 20-30 minutes after sprinkling the yeast, I stir until none of the yeast granules remain on the surface and most of the yeast clumps have dissolved. There is always a whole bunch of yeast stuck to my (stainless) spoon.
• I just let it soak for 10-15 minutes and stir again. It's usually all dissolved by then.
• I wait another 5-10 minutes before I pitch.
• Then I shake the carboy which is laying on a soft but firm foam cushion to aerate the wort.
• I usually have "lift off" within 6-12 hours at 62-65°F.

 

[unionrdr]

I've been boilingsom water & letting it cool,covered to room temp,about 75F or so. I sanitize my 1000mL erlyimier flask & pout in 400mL of the water. Sprikle the yeast carefully on top of that to keep it on the water & off the sides. Let it sit 15 minutes. Sanitize a metal skewer & stir it into the water. Cover the top of the flask with the sanitized empty yeast packet. Let sit 15 minutes more. Then stir one more time & let it sit 30 minutes. Stir when ready to pitch.

 

[flars]

This is from the current S-05 spec sheet, my emphasis:

Sprinkle the yeast in minimum 10 times its weight of sterile water or wort at 27°C ± 3°C (80°F ± 6°F). Leave to rest 15 to 30 minutes.
Gently stir for 30 minutes, and pitch the resultant cream into the fermentation vessel.​

The "Gently stir for 30 minutes" always gets me, and really gives you confidence they know what they're doing, huh?

I remember the instructions being different in the past, for some reason, and 90-100°F seem to have stuck somehow.

Anyway, I now use 125 ml boiled water @80°F.

• About 20-30 minutes after sprinkling the yeast, I stir until none of the yeast granules remain on the surface and most of the yeast clumps have dissolved. There is always a whole bunch of yeast stuck to my (stainless) spoon.
• I just let it soak for 10-15 minutes and stir again. It's usually all dissolved by then.
• I wait another 5-10 minutes before I pitch.
• Then I shake the carboy which is laying on a soft but firm foam cushion to aerate the wort.
• I usually have "lift off" within 6-12 hours at 62-65°F.

The gently stir for 30 minutes puzzled me also. It may be meant for breweries where they might be rehydrating kilograms of yeast.

I let it soak like you do then stir it in. Over the next 15 minutes I will give it a gentle stir a few times then pitch. 30 minutes total time.

 

[IslandLizard]

The gently stir for 30 minutes puzzled me also. It may be meant for breweries where they might be rehydrating kilograms of yeast.

That makes more sense!

I let it soak like you do then stir it in. Over the next 15 minutes I will give it a gentle stir a few times then pitch. 30 minutes total time.

Yeah I don't time it that precisely, but my gut feeling says I have it all pitched in 30-40 minutes, tops, from sprinkling time.

The instructions for Lallemand's Belle Saison are even more curious. I replaced the missing parts with those from Notty's

Before you publish something, wouldn't you at least have someone knowledgeable proofread it? And of native tongue if it's a translation? We can "send" files over the internet now, doh!