Lagers - Pitching Cold With Dry Yeast

[PostModern]

Not saying yay or nay but if sprinkling on the wort doesn't work why does Fermentis' literature and certain site sponsors freely advocate just sprinkling on the wort?

Maybe less misleading by people and manufacturer's would be in order then?

Either that or a site sponsor and multi national know less than certain forum members?

Warren -

It obviously DOES work, as does (apparently) pitching 5g of kit yeast in a 23 litre brew. Neither practice is best practice, tho.

 

[warrenlw63]

No foot in either camp. Just like to see both sides of the story.

Warren -

 

[0M39A]

My local homebrew shop, in contrast (I never shop there any more), just scoop a little into ziplocks or paper envelopes. For starters this is less than sanitary. For seconds it then sits on the shelf at room temperature for who knows how long. This yeast is probably about the lowest viability you're likely to come across. I can tell you most of it can still make good beer. It just goes to show you.

sorry, just had to have a little lol at that.

i used to use their yeast all the time, 1 pack for a 23L batch (and they are only 7g packs, not 11.5g fermentis ones!) and it always worked, but i was still rather naive (not that im still not in many regards) and didnt know much better.

nowdays i usually use 1x11.5g pack for a regular strength ale, 2 for a high grav.

as for lagers, ive only ever done 2, first one i used 1 11.5g pack, made a 2L starter and it fired off in no time. second one was straight onto the yeastcake of the previous.

looking back now, probably wasnt the best practice, and the 2nd one definatly tasted better than the first. could possibly be due to this fact, hard to say.

 

[agraham]

Another update:

Beer has finished fermenting, taste is fine and will be transferring to secondary and then dumping a G&G wort kit i got on weekend on it.

 

[DUANNE]

sorry to drag up an old thread but im about to put down 2 lagers side by side and will be using s-189 due to not having 2 stirplats to get 2 identical pitches. would best practice be to rehydrate and let the yeast cool and atemerise before pitching and running the risk of hurting the yeast holding it in plain water for to long or rehydrate for 30 mins and pitch into the cold wort risking cold shocking the yeast. hoping some one on here can shed some light on this one for me cause im cause im completely unsure of what to do.

thanks dwayne

 

[DUANNE]

any ideas,anyone?

 

[unrealeous]

If you are re-hydrating for 30 mins, place the container in your fermentation fridge and by the time you pitch it will be roughly the same temperature. I do this and it seems to work well.

 

[DUANNE]

thanks unrealeous,I think thats how ill go about doing it. seems so obvious now that you mention it.

 

[Bribie G]

If fermenting at say 10 - 12 degrees I'd be looking at using both sides of a repack of S-189 per brew - giving you 24g per brew. Still only about the price of a liquid yeast and I've found S-189 to be a relaible and trouble free yeast for saving brew-to-brew for a few generations so you get excellent value in the long run.

 

[Nashmandu]

Very interesting discussion everyone! The way we treat the yeast - overpitching/underpitching, temperature shock, crash cooling, aeration etc- as we all no is important. However generally speaking there shouldnt be any/many adverse affects unless we are using the yeast across many generations and wanting the same results consistantly. The yeast will stay healthy and viable for much longer if we do everything to the letter..where I work at the moment we repitch up to 8 times and therefore need to be more careful..should be...

 

[Bribie G]

Yes Nashmandu just reminded me when he mentioned underpitching, if you are using just 12g of yeast per brew, you could start the fermentation at 20 and then bring it down over 24 hours to lager fermenting temperature to ensure the yeast kicks off more robustly. With S-189 that shouldn't be a problem, and in fact many brewers use S-189 at ale temperatures and still get acceptable results, it's one of those very generous yeasts :icon_cheers: .

 

[paulmclaren11]

Just came across this thread as I am researching my next brew - a Boh Pils.

I have some S-189 I need to use before October - seems most have differing view on rehydrating. I plan to cool the wort to about 10 or 12c and then just sprinkle 2 packets of S-189 on top of the wort.

My question is do I need a D-rest with this method or just leave at 10-12c for a couple of weeks then keg?

 

[Florian]

One way would be to sample the beer towards end of fermentation. if you detect Diacetyl, do the extra rest. if you don't detect it, either leave the rest or do it anyway just in case.

I usually let my lagers go up to 16 for about three days, then slowly chill back down.

 

[paulmclaren11]

Good call, was planning on tasting as it went.

With cold pitching with 2 packets, what day of fermentation roughly would be the best for ramping up for a D-rest (eg day 4 or 5?) or should I be relying on hydro samples?

 

[Florian]

Hard to say which day without getting into trouble with the best practice police.

Personally though i rarely take hydro samples these days and usually start ramping up roughly after a week, when there is hardly any Krausen left.

YMMV by far though, it depends on many factors how well your ferment progresses, so best to start of with hydro samples and bank the results as experience.

And in case you're bottling, definitely hydro samples before bottling.

 

[brente1982]

Is there a general rule of thumb, if using hydro samples, when to do a D-rest??? And if say, im brewing one at 12 degrees now, what temp would i go up to, and then back down to???

 

[Florian]

Generally about 2/3 to 3/4 into fermentation, or at about 1.020, depending on OG, FG and so on.

As above, I go up to 16 for lagers, some go higher up to 18 or 19, your call. Maybe start a bit warmer to be safe and go from there for your next brews.

Back down to lagering or where ever you want it, generally as cold as your fridge can go without freezing the beer. You can rapid chill or go the best practice way if you're not in a hurry, 0.5 to 1 degree per day.

As with anything brewing, experiment for yourself, take plenty of notes and compare results to find your best balance between mucking around and an enjoyable end result.