Cold Yeast

Ingredients
1

Is pitching dry yeast directly from fridge ok ?

Thanks

2

Absolutely. Pitching liquid yeast direct from the fridge is fine, too.

3

Thanks, I thought so wasn’t sure, it was mentioned with liquid yeast, had to double check.
No longer going to re-hydrate.  Next batch will be first time using S-23 yeast, and first time
in a long time using pellet hops, 2022 Hallertau Mittelfruh.

Cheers

4

Not necessary with liquid yeast, either. Colder yeast into warmer wort is fine, but not vice versa.

5

I’m curious, do you use hop sacks ? or re-hydrate dry yeast ?

Thanks

6

Neither. Tried both many times. My system doesn’t need hop sacks. And dozens of trials rehydration dry yeast showed me it made no difference.

7

Here is some info from Fermentis - Tips & Tricks for brewers - Beer fermentation documentations - Fermentis
Navigate to Tips And Tricks - English
TODAY A STUDY DEMONSTRATES THAT THE USE OF ACTIVE DRY YEASTS (ADY) is very
easy and does not necessarily include a rehydration step. To the contrary, the
ADY can advantageously be immediately put in contact with the wort into the
fermentation vessel (direct pitch). Several rehydration and direct pitch conditions
do not show any significant differences in terms of viability and vitality of
the ADY. This concept is protected under the E2UTM umbrella.

This seems to be the norm from what I’ve read.

8

How does your system handle hop sludge ?

Thanks

9

Backs up Denny’s statement.

10

Excellently. Huge hop filter on the G40, and trub dumps on the fermenter. Even on the old, less fancy systems (kettles,buckets, carboys) it wasn’t a problem.

11

My info came from several sources, including my own experience.  I talked to a lab guy at Lallemand about it and he told me rehydration is a leftover from when they only made wine yeast. Said there was no reason to do it for beer.

12

Pitched 2 packs of S-23 into 5 gallons wort (1.038) directly from fridge,
after sanitizing packs.  Bubbling away no issues.

No more warming yeast to room temp, or rehydrating yeast for me.
Small time savings, but I’ll take it.

Cheers

13

I usually grab the yeast pack as I pass by the fridge when the alarm tells me the 60 min boil is complete. I lay it on the counter in the brewery as I begin to cool the wort. I do that more so that it will be sitting there when I am ready to drain the wort into the fermenter. I don’t see much if any time saving by not doing that. In fact it’s one less trip from the brewery to the fridge for me so it actually saves time to grab it on the way by. I’ve seen no detriment to doing this.

14

There is approx 20 oz of bottom-cropped S-23 yeast saved in fridge.
The saved yeast came from a batch using two packs of S-23,
pitched into 5 gallons 1.038 OG wort.

Next batch will be about the same, 5 gallons, 1.038 OG.

When ready to use the yeast what would you do ?
Take saved yeast out of fridge, scoop out about half,  and toss directly in wort  ?

Thanks

15

If it is only 3-4 weeks old, I would decant most of the liquid off the top, shake it up, and pour the slurry into the new batch.

If it is older, I would make a starter. You can scoop 2-3 tablespoons of slurry into a 1-liter starter and proceed as normal when making a starter.

16

That’s what I’d do and have done, assuming it’s not much older than about 3 weeks

17

Thanks, that’s what I’ll do, yeast is 5 days old from cropping.
Will try to get middle portion of it the best I can.
Not saving crop for another batch, I have itchy fingers
to pitch my Novalager.

Cheers

18

Pitched early this morning, and it’s already beginning to create an initial foam layer.
Worked as advertised.

Thanks