Re-Hydrate v Not..

[Pickaxe]

 

[Florian]

I must be nuts to bring this topic up again, but here goes:

Slash's link is the one that came to mind when I read the topic. The pertinent points in relation to the OP are:

The water should be tap water with the normal amount of hardness present. The hardness is essential for good recovery. 250 -500 ppm hardness is ideal. This means that deionized or distilled water should not be used. Ideally, the warm rehydration water should contain about 0.5 – 1.0% yeast extract

As per the bold bit: half to one gram of Vegemite per 100ml of tap water for rehydration? Or is there a more pure yeast extract available?

 

[jyo]

Why?????????????? It had slept for 7 months!


I certainly hope you re-hydrated the thread...

 

[jc64]

Ahhh, memories

 

[Dunkelbrau]

I must be nuts to bring this topic up again, but here goes:




As per the bold bit: half to one gram of Vegemite per 100ml of tap water for rehydration? Or is there a more pure yeast extract available?

I'm going out on a limb and assuming this is an honest question. (Didn't read thread).

Don't use vegemite, it's salty as ****, yeast and salt in high concentrations don't mix.

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

Ahhh, memories

Nightmares...

 

[Bribie G]

When using dry yeast I have never seen the need to re-hydrate first. Especially if done in plain water. The yeast will hydrate just as well in the ferm, if not better. Remember water has no nutrients so wont help it along. The wort has everything it needs to hydrate and get to work

Yeast Book says no.
Cell walls are delicate beasties and rehydrating in a sugar solution i.e. wort can burst cell walls.

P 146
While most commercial brewers rehydrate their dry yeast before pitching, many homebrewers just sprinkle the dry yeast on top of their wort. Perhaps they read it in a book, or their local expert told them rehydration was not necessary. Technically the beer will ferment if you pitch enough nonrehydrated yeast, but you are not giving the yeast an opportunity to make the best beer possible. Skipping rehydration kills about half the cells pitched. Besides having only half as much yeast as is needed, the dead cells immediately begin to break down and affect the beer flavor.

Whitelabs hath spoken.

edit: necro trap.... I thought this was a new thread. Wow 367 posts. My brain hurts.

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

Whats your point Bribe...are you just being a smartass for your pure self pleasure....

 

[Bribie G]

I don't think that passing on top quality brewing information from a notable expert to a home brew forum is being a smartass. However I really should have posted that at the beginning of the thread, not post #367

 

[Donske]

I like this thread, there are some cracking posts amongst the bickering.

 

[verysupple]

Yup, amongst the rubbish there is actually some good info.

Back on the quote from Dr. Cone

The water should be tap water with the normal amount of hardness present. The hardness is essential for good recovery. 250 -500 ppm hardness is ideal. This means that deionized or distilled water should not be used.

Is it just me or is that a sh*t load of hardness? I know water for rehydrating and water for brewing are two different things, but who brews with that much hardness? I've taken his advice and rehydrate in either 0.9 (w/v) saline or water made up to that hardness with CaCl2 and it seems to give good results, but it still seems like a lot of salts to be adding.

Does anyone have any info on why that level of hardness is needed?

 

[pnorkle]

Just got this link in my email (as I'm sure others have) and thought you'd all appreciate me resurrecting this thread...

http://byo.com/stories/issue/item/3107-dry-yeast-mr-wizard

 

[DeGarre]

I used to rehydrate for above 5% beers, now I don't bother, works fine either way for me.

 

[micblair]

I've done some work experience in a few different micros, and believe it or not the pros don't even bother re-hydrating.

 

[peas_and_corn]

Yeah but they are also pitching a lot of dry yeast, which makes up for yeast death. The yeast sachets don't have excess yeast.

 

[Ducatiboy stu]

I thought this thread was left so it could quietly sleep.....

 

[GalBrew]

This thread is soooo 2013.....

 

[Lord Raja Goomba I]

He he he.

FWIW - I now rehydrate. I never used to, just used to bung it in. And you know what, I made good beer.

I now rehydrate - part of it's just following instructions - one usually presumes (correctly or otherwise) that the manufacturer knows about their product. I think also that since becoming an almost exclusive no-chiller, I've kinda got the time to rehydrate and pitch, whereas it was "okay, wort is chilled, let's get the yeast in there". Another variable on brew day isn't always fun, whereas the next day when everything is calm, burns are healing and mess is cleaned - it's kind of therapeutic.

I've found the biggest advantage in rehydrating to be getting the wort up and cracking with fermentation quicker. I actually get a krausen with US-05, and for the more notoriously slow starters like BRY97, the Mangrove Jacks yeasts - it means I'm up and running quicker than anecdotal evidence suggests is typical.

 

[Goose]

You can certainly brew excellent tasting beer using dried yeast and the basic science suggests that hydrating in warm water prior to pitching is the best way to handle this type of yeast.

I am convinced that rehydrating gets my yeast going quite a bit faster than dry pitching. However it may also be specific to the yeast and method I am using.

If I'm brewing a lager and use dry yeast then the only one I'll use is S189. I pitch into well oxygenated wort at fermentation temp, ie 11 deg C, but first rehydrate for 20 mins in previously boiled but cooled tapwater also at 11 deg C to avoid any temperature shock. I also even hold my packets at 11 deg C prior to hydrating, anal as it may be. However I know that the yeast have been well woken as evidenced by the mini krausen that forms atop the surface of the vial that I am rehydrating in. I find I get bubbling pretty much straight away after pitching.

By comparison, when I have pitched dry it seemed to take a couple of days to fire up... but it still worked.

 

[pnorkle]

I thought this thread was left so it could quietly sleep.....

Yeah, uh - sorry about that.. I saw the link and instantly thought of this thread.