Adding Yeast?

[PAPPAS]

G'day all,
I am about to brew a kit of coopers aussie pale ale, do I just sprinkle the kit yeast on top or do I hydrate it with boiled water??

 

[mrmatt]

Dont pour boiling water onto the yeast it will kill it/them. You can just sprinkle it on to the wort or mix with a little room temp pre-boilled water in a clean container, some even add a teaspoon of sugar or a little wort.

 

[Cube]

Just sprinkle mate. I'm one to think re-hydrating is just one more way to get an infection. Low chance yes -- It all ferments in the end.

If reculturing or building up yeast for a reason other for just the hell of it then go for it.

 

[piraterum]

Just sprinkle mate.

+ 1 just sprinkle it in

 

[JestersDarts]

+1 on that!

see how it goes, then if you neeed to change your method becasue it didnt work, do it next time.

 

[warra48]

I've done both, and either method works OK.

 

[Josh]

Rehydrate.

 

[Steve]

sprinkle

 

[Dazza_devil]

Rehydrate.

I've done both and reyhdrating considerably cut lag time in my experience, although it's a bit of stuffing about.

 

[MarkMc]

Just opened my first bottle of Coopers IPA ....its gooooood

oh yeah - sprinkle once wort is below 24 degrees

 

[hamstringsally]

when you rehydrate what is the best way and how long before you pitch?

 

[Nick JD]

when you rehydrate what is the best way and how long before you pitch?

For dry ale yeasts:

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. 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.


But who does this? Not me. I chuck it in a glass of cold boiled water with a pinch of sugar to liven her up (can't be asked putting wort in there) at room temp. I wait 30 minutes usually - but it doesn't really matter if you wait hours if you fed the stuff.

Or just bung it in - BUT only if you know it's good yeast. Doing the above will proof to you that it is good yeast and you won't sit there wondering why your brew is slowly rotting because you pitched dead yeast into it. #1 newbie fault.

The proof is in a head at least as big as the liquid volume within 45 minutes at 25C. If you don't get this go to your homebrew shop and complain with photos.

 

[Hatchy]

I've done both. I used to think rehydrating was a waste of time until I started reading these forums. Someone said that every brew is infected, it's about managing the infection & ensuring you give yr yeast the best chance of surviving/thriving in the wort. If you pitch rehydrated yeast into an aerated wort then you give the yeast the best chance of domination inside yr fermenter.

Or you can sprinkle.

 

[Halfbeak]

Here's a video of a guy's experiment with dry yeast rehydration and oxygenation:

It's a nice little experiment, note however that the music used in the clip is awful.

TL;DR version: rehydrating slightly decreased lag time, oxygen injection slightly increased it, but no real difference was apparent after about 1 day.

 

[DKS]

I haven't used dry yeast for a while now but to add info to thread
How does a pitched dry yeast reused from slurry compare a liquid smack pack reused slurry.
Thinking US-o5 dry then reused slurry against, 1056 smack pack slurry, for example.
Do the dry stand up? or just as good same either way.
Daz

 

[jiesu]

As you can tell yeast conditioning/prep is one of the more controversial topics among home brewers eventual you will find a process that works for you.
First up though and less controversial I would go to my local Home brew store or order a better yeast online. The yeast you find in the lids of kit beers tends to be shitty tasting yeast that
is designed to eat sugars and to reproduce itself in temps anywhere between about 18 and 30 degrees. It is certainly hardy but it also tends to produce some pretty poor beer. Temperature stability and
a quality yeast is key to producing a quality beer.
Any to answer you question I will give you my process.
If you have to use kit yeast then I would just sprinkle it in after giving my fermenter a good rock and shake for 3 or 4 minutes (to aerate the wort although don't bother if you haven't boiled your wort) As I said before kit yeasts are hardy and will produce beer without any fuss.

If you use a good quality dry yeast this is what i do.
1/Boil up about some water and pour about 150ml into a sanitised cup.
2/Cover with cling wrap and let it sit in the fridge until it reaches about 26 degrees give or take 2C (Definitely not higher then 30).
3/Pour yeast ontop and leave the cup on a bench for about 10 minutes.
4/Gently stir the yeast until it all suspended, Ie no more clumps.
5/Add a little amount of pitching temperature wort (lets say 18 degrees) to your cup (say 30mls)and stir.
6/Continue to add another 30mls or so every 3 or 4 minutes until your yeast gets within a degree or two of your wort.
The purpose of this is to slowly lower your yeast temperature to your pitching temperature to avoid temperature shocking your yeast.
While I am waiting the 3 or 4 minutes between each top up of wort I aerate the main wort by resting the fermenter full of wort on the ground and rocking it fairly vigorously back and fourth to slosh the wort around to aerate it. Yeast likes to have alot of oxygen in the wort for it to activate and reproduce and will generally reduce the lag time of fermentation.
On another note I don't think that adding sugar (or wort) to your yeast to try and start it fermenting is going to achieve anything within the first two or three hours. If you want your yeast to start kicking into gear and being active for fermentation you will have to leave your yeast/wort slurry covered lightly for at least 12 hours preferably 24. Without leaving the yeast for that period all you will be doing is hydrating the yeast not starting it.

 

[Nick JD]

On another note I don't think that adding sugar (or wort) to your yeast to try and start it fermenting is going to achieve anything within the first two or three hours. If you want your yeast to start kicking into gear and being active for fermentation you will have to leave your yeast/wort slurry covered lightly for at least 12 hours preferably 24. Without leaving the yeast for that period all you will be doing is hydrating the yeast not starting it.

Are you sure about this? Where does all the CO2 come from then when I proof with sugaz? Are those bubbles made from something else when the yeast is trying to climb out the top of the glass?

Perhaps yeast farts.