Re-hydrating Yeast

[dpadden]

Just thought I'd share one my experiences this week. After about 15 brews just simply sprinkling the yeast on the wort, I thought I'd re-hydrate the yeast for 1/2 hour before pitching, after the advice of many on this forum.

Wow, what a difference. The fermentation kicked off much faster and has been much more vigorous throughout the week. I also found the FG was quite a bit lower than normal for the type of beer I was brewing (Ale).

Can't wait to see if there is any difference in taste as well..... :icon_cheers:

 

[Cube]

Nice - am going to try this myself this weekend. How did you do it? luke warm water from tap or boiled and how much? Also kit or other yeast?

Cheers

 

[doon]

On my second brew which is still in the fermenter, i rehydrated and made a starter with it, it started fermenting like a bomb! it was crazy bubble within twelve hours and hasnt stopped since monday, be interesting to see what it does to taste etc, its a different brew then first but i was impressed with how the starter kicked butt

 

[dpadden]

Nice - am going to try this myself this weekend. How did you do it? luke warm water from tap or boiled and how much? Also kit or other yeast?

Cheers

Used boiled water in a sterilised jar at about 40 deg (covered in cling wrap), foams up nicely after 1/2 hour. For ales I usually use Safale S04, gave away the kit yeasts after the first brew

 

[dpadden]

Used boiled water in a sterilised jar at about 40 deg (covered in cling wrap), foams up nicely after 1/2 hour. For ales I usually use Safale S04, gave away the kit yeasts after the first brew

Oh....and about 1 cup water

 

[MichaelPlum]

Hey,



one sachet of 11,5g dried yeast plus approx. 120 ml boiled water put on a magnetic lab stirrer. Rehydrating time: 1 hour. Works perfect!

Greets

Michael

 

[gsxrmck]

Don't have the water to warm. If your using a ale yeast have the water used for pre-wetting the yeast at the same temp you are going to be fermenting with.

For example if you are fermenting at around 20 Deg C the water used for rehydrating the yeast should be the same.

I always just put 1 teaspoon of sugar in a cup with around 20 Deg C water in t then add the yeast. It'll start to foam up and I then add it to my wort after about 15 mins. I haven't had any problems yet and I'm up to my 20th Brew. Although the last 2 I've tried liquid yeast that I cultured. I'll see how that goes... :chug:

 

[Thirsty Boy]

You shouldn't really put any sugar into your re-hydrating liquid - it defeats one of the purposes of re-hydrating yeast, which is to allow them to get back into their fully functional state before exposing them to sugars. Plain boiled then cooled (to about 20C) tap water. NOT - distilled or RO water.

Oh, its not gonna hurt that much, but it probably goes a chunk of the way to getting you back to the level of yeast viability that you would get by not re-hydrating in the first place.

The sugar - is about "proofing" the yeast, not about re-hydrating. Re-hydrate first, then proof if you want to, then pitch.

 

[buttersd70]

You shouldn't really put any sugar into your re-hydrating liquid - it defeats one of the purposes of re-hydrating yeast, which is to allow them to get back into their fully functional state before exposing them to sugars. Plain boiled then cooled (to about 20C) tap water. NOT - distilled or RO water.

Oh, its not gonna hurt that much, but it probably goes a chunk of the way to getting you back to the level of yeast viability that you would get by not re-hydrating in the first place.

The sugar - is about "proofing" the yeast, not about re-hydrating. Re-hydrate first, then proof if you want to, then pitch.

Some people (no names mentioned :unsure: ) get flamed to the ninth circle of hell (much to the amusement of a particular retailer ) for daring to use the word 'proofing'........

 

[stm]

What is the reason for using boiled (then cooled) water to rehydrate? Sanitation? I'm topping up the fermenter with tap water anyway, so wny wouldn't I just use tap water for the rehydration? Thanks.

 

[buttersd70]

Its partly to do with sanitation. The yeast is more vulnerable when its on its own, than it is whilst working in a wort. The other thing is dechlorinating the water, boiling it boils out a lot of the chlorine. The water that the yeast is being rehydrated in is actually going to be absorbed by the yeast cell walls, so needs to me better than the water (in the wort) that the yeast is going to be swimming around and working in. So to use an analogy, you might be happy swimming in pool water, but you wouldn't want to drink it.

 

[cdbrown]

Is it better to use just the plain cooled boiled water, or some of the wort?

At u-brew-it they take about 80ml of the wort from the kettle, let it cool to around 25C, add the yeast and whisk it all lightly. Then get's added to the fermentor after it's gone through the chiller plate.

 

[stm]

Butters - thanks.

Cdbrown - boiled water (as per above explanation re sugars and proofing).