What temp to use for pitching hydrated yeast into wort?

[bmanbrew]

I usually pitch the yeast dry directly to the wort. I've been reading about benefits of hydrating yeast. So I tried yesterday. This is a 5 gallon batch of 1.06 and using one packet of Safale 05.

I boiled water and cooled it to 98 degrees and added dry yeast to 1 cup water. Now, the question/issue. I've been cooling my wort to low 60's before pitching dry yeast. I was concerned about pitching 98 degree yeast into 62 degree wort. So I chilled ( put into freezer for a few minutes then let sit at room temperature for a bit ) the hydrated yeast to 68 degrees and pitched. The hydrated yeast had foamed and looked active. Dry yeast was in the water for about one hour by this point. Usually by a 15 hour mark (this morning) I would have some activity in the fermenter. Not heavy activity but some bubbles. Do you think I freaked the yeast out by cooling it's temp down? Should I have pitched the hydrated yeast at 98 degrees into 62 degree wort? I guess I assumed that hydrating yeast gives it a kickstart and this morning I have more activity in fermenter. I'll want another day for activity. If nothing by Wednesday I'll pitch another pack. Thanks for reading and any advice.
Brian

 

[friarsmith]

98* water is too warm for rehydrating. You may have killed or at least stressed some/all of the yeast. The rehydrating water should ideally be close to your fermenting temperature, within 5 degrees or so, during rehydration and when you pitch into wort. I would recommend pitching more yeast asap.

 

[flars]

Danstar recommends 86° to 95°F for rehydration. Fermentis recommends 80°F ± 6°F. Both say to pitch within 30 minutes of rehydration. After 30 minutes the yeast will begin using built in nutrient reserves reducing viability. Danstar also recommends not to exceed a quick temperature drop of 18°F. Temperature changes exceeded 18° should be done with atemperation steps by adding cool wort in a 15 to 20 minute time period.

Your yeast was most likely weakened by the long hydration period and cold shocked. The yeast may recover slowly, but pitching another pack dry may be advisable.

Pitch the yeast dry. Let it rehydrate for 30 minutes on top of the wort then stir or swirl it in.

 

[bmanbrew]

I started to get activity this afternoon in the fermenter. Broke the rule of homebrewing and I didn't have patience. However, pitching yeast into 98 degrees then cooling has me worried but 05 is pretty resilient. I'm expecting some off flavors due the high pitching temp. I did read the Palmer article about hydrating yeast and he stated between 95-105 degrees. So I went with that advice. Next time I'll try for about 65-70 degree water temp.

 

[kh54s10]

I started to get activity this afternoon in the fermenter. Broke the rule of homebrewing and I didn't have patience. However, pitching yeast into 98 degrees then cooling has me worried but 05 is pretty resilient. I'm expecting some off flavors due the high pitching temp. I did read the Palmer article about hydrating yeast and he stated between 95-105 degrees. So I went with that advice. Next time I'll try for about 65-70 degree water temp.

Your rehydrating temperature was a little high, but IMO, not high enough to cause any major problems. Again IMO, you would have had to be over 110 degrees to do major harm. Ideal at 98 degrees - no. Terrible - no. Besides that as soon as you put the yeast in the water it probably dropped another couple of degrees.

At the end of the hour (which is longer than advised) the yeast was probably at room temperature. How cool did it get when you had it in the freezer? To low and you might have sent them dormant. Pitch the yeast as close to the temperature of the wort as possible. I have pitched at least 10 degrees warmer and had fermentation the following morning.

65-70 degrees is too cool for rehydrating. Look at the temps quoted earlier and use those. Or go to the MFGs website and get directions for the particular yeast.

You won't get any off flavors from rehydrating warm, unless you killed off a lot of the yeast. Warm fermentation temperatures is what will give you off flavors.

 

[kh54s10]

Less than 24 hours for fermentation to start... I don't see anything at all to worry about in this case.

 

[eadavis80]

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