Whoops Pitched dry without hydrating 1st anyone else?

[Bubbles2]

Thanks for looking in. I usually brew and am so used to pitching dry yeast right on the wort...I pitched Lalvin EC 1118 right on the Must...? No hydrate in 2oz of H20, 15 min stand...
Anyone else do this and no problems?
Or pitch another rehydrated?

1 Gallon batch of grapes 1100 O.G

 

[bigdawg86]

You will be just fine. Since it's only a 1 gallon batch I don't see there being an issue.

 

[Bubbles2]

thanks for the heads up. Was not sure if it is too tall for the yeast, where they get stressed due to a big lunch at wakey wakey time

 

[Jayjay1976]

I don't rehydrate unless I feel like it. Can't tell the difference TBH.

 

[Seamonkey84]

With most situations you should be fine. But If it’s an old or previously opened package, I’d rehydrate just to make sure it’s still active. Then again the worst that would happen is repitching in 3 days if it didn’t work.

 

[hamiltonkiler]

I always sprinkle dry yeast on top of my wine liquor.

 

[kh54s10]

15+ wines and never rehydrated... You are good to go!

 

[Bubbles2]

It is not recommended per manu's website...However, it's active, just was concerned about stressin yeast. Thanks Y'all.

 

[Mumathomebrew]

I've always rehydrated using JK's lemon juice and sugar and near always it's been fine. However recently have been sprinkling neat yeast too with a starter as back up. Haven't been noticing any difference in speed enough not to think neat sprinkling would save a lot of bother.

 

[bernardsmith]

I am always fascinated by claims that are not backed by solid data. Absent the lab's advice that we rehydrate dry yeast in water (or the claim by mead makers that dry yeast should be rehydrated with Go Ferm (not standard nutrient - and here there are good data), what is the rationale for rehydrating in water rather than must? My assumption is that if the sugar concentration in the must is high (say, above 1.100) this may cause osmotic shock but if the concentration of sugar is relatively low (say 1.050) why is this not what even wild yeast look for in nature? Has anyone done any rigorous scientific testing to determine the reduction in viable cell count if you rehydrate in must vs rehydrate in water vs rehydrate in water with Go Ferm? And .. how critical is that loss of viable yeast? In other words, if the lab provides say for most wines around 12-14% ABV say, 150% of the yeast count needed for a good fermentation, does any loss that MAY result leave us with more than 100% of the yeast needed, 75% of the amount or 125% of the amount of yeast we need? And again, if the labs provide us with 150% of the yeast count needed per pack, does any rehydration protocol provide us with 200%?

 

[Maylar]

If you consider that a classic yeast "starter" is made with 1.040 must (or wort) then your argument makes sense. Though starters are generally for liquid yeasts, not dry. And people often pitch dry yeast directly without rehydrating.

However Scott Labs says rehydration increases viable cell count by something like 10 times. So, why argue with the people who make the stuff?

 

[bernardsmith]

If you consider that a classic yeast "starter" is made with 1.040 must (or wort) then your argument makes sense. Though starters are generally for liquid yeasts, not dry. And people often pitch dry yeast directly without rehydrating.

However Scott Labs says rehydration increases viable cell count by something like 10 times. So, why argue with the people who make the stuff?

But presumably their claims are based on some very specific protocol. How warm is the rehydrating water? What is the mineral content of that water? What compounds are not found in this water? How much O2 is in this water? What's its pH? How long do they allow the yeast to sit before stirring? etc. etc. Is the 10X increase in biomass because they hydrate in water or because of conditions in the water so that if these same conditions were found in the must the same order of increase of cell count would result?

 

[Maylar]

But presumably their claims are based on some very specific protocol. How warm is the rehydrating water? What is the mineral content of that water? What compounds are not found in this water? How much O2 is in this water? What's its pH? How long do they allow the yeast to sit before stirring? etc. etc. Is the 10X increase in biomass because they hydrate in water or because of conditions in the water so that if these same conditions were found in the must the same order of increase of cell count would result?

I dunno. I'm not a yeast jockey. Perhaps it's healthier for the yeast to not have access to sugar until they're prepared for it.

 

[bernardsmith]

And that, Maylar, is certainly a good testable hypothesis but I wonder if bakers assume differently: to proof yeast you add sugar to the water. That said, some say "proving" is a test of the viability of the yeast while others appear to claim that you are not "proving" the viability but you are readying the yeast for the work it needs to do when you add the first portion of dough to create a sponge.

 

[Mumathomebrew]

I've been pondering this too. If yeast love pure water so much, then why don't they colonise it in the wild? I fail to see why a weak solution of the actual must or of the dilute acids (juice) plus sugar won't encourage a more vigorous growth. I bought some more expensive yeast recently and so was more careful to follow instructions of the pure filtered water alone. They all start so much more slowly than my previous following of dear Mr Kellers lemon juice and sugar recommendation. The true answer has to be to do four in a row each time and see which baby wins...
1) sprinkle dry
2) water
3) lemon juice plus sugar
4) weak must of the intended
Then mix the lot anyway. You'd be no worse off. Probably better because the risk is split in four and the must has a chance of being colonised sooner. Fun at the very least.

 

[bmd2k1]

My go to yeasts are both dry -- D47 & S04. My first year making cider & vino I never rehydrated - just tossed a full pack on top of the must & away she went. Never seemed to have any issue.
Dec2018 I read Chris White's book on Yeast & the yeast guru Strongly recommended rehydrating dry yeast before pinching -- since then I've been rehydrating using my tap/well water a bit of yeast nutrient & bit of white sugar. Again...no issues in any of my batches. My observation -- w rehydration my batches get off to a faster start than w/o rehydration. The quality of my end products has been the same...fantastic [emoji111]

YMMV [emoji57]

Cheers!

 

[kh54s10]

My go to yeasts are both dry -- D47 & S04. My first year making cider & vino I never rehydrated - just tossed a full pack on top of the must & away she went. Never seemed to have any issue.
Dec2018 I read Chris White's book on Yeast & the yeast guru Strongly recommended rehydrating dry yeast before pinching -- since then I've been rehydrating using my tap/well water a bit of yeast nutrient & bit of white sugar. Again...no issues in any of my batches. My observation -- w rehydration my batches get off to a faster start than w/o rehydration. The quality of my end products has been the same...fantastic [emoji111]

YMMV [emoji57]

Cheers!

At least as far as Fermentis Yeasts is concerned, rehydrating is outdated. They no longer recommend rehydrating their yeasts. Pitch dry. In my experience if there is a difference in lag time, rehydrated vs dry pitch it is minimal. A couple hours at best.