Everything I have read on T-58 says no need to hydrate. That make me feel a bit unsettled. So the question is, hydrate or not.
When you pitch a rehydrated dry yeast you will be pitching more viable cells. Up to half the yeast cells may be damaged when pitched into a wort dry. It may work pitching dry, but why risk it for your brew when rehydrating is a simple process.
My research has shown me that it helps to rehydrate. It has also shown that I produce an acceptable beer if I don’t.
Do it if you can, don’t worry about it, if you can’t.
i don’t use a lot of dry yeast for beer, but IME for wine and beer, I get less lag time and when fermenting cool it helps. I usually re hydrate then add some wort or must and in a few hours I pitch it.
Here’s what Fermentis has to say: http://www.fermentis.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/SFBT58.pdf
For the extra few minutes it takes to hydrate, I think it’s worth the time even if the odds are 50/50 that it will make a better beer.
Thanks everyone. Confirms my gut feeling. I only started using dry yeast in some of my brews. After 17 years of brewing I thought it was time.
+1, My rehydrated pitches always take off faster compared to direct dry pitch.
IMO, there is no need to rehydrate any dry yeast. No one has ever found a real difference either way.
yeah that would be a difference that I experienced also…so there is a difference…just perhaps or perhaps not that nobody has found a difference in the finished product.
That’s pretty much it. You may see a difference in performance at the beginning, but no one has translated that into better beer at the end.
agreed- Ihavent seen data that says it produces better beer/wine/cider/etc. perhaps someone has decided it does based upon their perceptions.
I will say for higher OG (1.080+) and colder fermentation (<55F)-Ive had better experience getting fermentation to start when I rehydrate and add some wort/must before pitching.
I don’t recall using a single pack of dry yeast in a beer over 1.080. At that point I pitch 2, but still without rehydration.
I don’t rehydrate only because I have never had any issues. I add the yeast to the fermenter while transferring from a bottling bucket above which serves as my aeration method. After transferring is complete, I give a good stir and call it good.
interestingly -this is reminding me off Mark’s shaken not stirred discussion. the theory that larger quantity of yeast in perhaps not optimal state (3qt starter on stir plate fully fermented out) vs 1qt shaken starter (not fully fermented and pitched at high krausen)… both get the job done with good results.
so yes, 2 packs of dry yeast not rehydrated for higher OG and colder fermentation will get the job done with good results. I’m not a yeast expert and only have my experience and what I read…but lets say what some suggest is true- that not reydrating yeast results in death of around 50% of yeast cells (not sure if anyone has measured/validated this % or not). the need for 2 packs would seem more prudent to get the job done. But with Mark’s theory on yeast, lets say 1 pack rehydrated results in more optimal condition of the yeast and with higher amounts of cells, then perhaps all you really need is 1 pack to get the job done and with equal results then 2 packs pitched dry?
I am so lazy, I prefer to spend the extra $3.50 on a second packet of dried yeast, rather than rehydrate. Which is what I did yesterday when I brewed a 1.078 OG IPA.
haha I get it. this is one of those topics people feel strongly one way or the other, or land somewhere in between. I remember when Mark started talking about no stir plates…man it got people jacked.
In case anyone stumbles on this thread and wants a little more info if they choose to rehydrate (explains somethings about dry yeast and rehydration):
"Every strain of yeast has its own optimum rehydration temperature. All of
them range between 95 F to 105F. Most of them closer to 105F. The dried
yeast cell wall is fragile and it is the first few minutes (possibly
seconds) of rehydration that the warm temperature is critical while it is
reconstituting its cell wall structure.
As you drop the initial temperature of the water from 95 to 85 or 75 or 65F
the yeast leached out more and more of its insides damaging the each cell.
The yeast viability also drops proportionally. At 95 - 105 F, there is
100% recovery of the viable dry yeast. At 60F, there can be as much as 60%
dead cells.
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
For the initial few minutes (perhaps seconds) of rehydration, the yeast
cell wall cannot differentiate what passes through the wall. Toxic
materials like sprays, hops, SO2 and sugars in high levels, that the yeast
normally can selectively keep from passing through its cell wall rush right
in and seriously damage the cells. The moment that the cell wall is
properly reconstituted, the yeast can then regulate what goes in and out of
the cell. That is why we hesitate to recommend rehydration in wort or
must. Very dilute wort seems to be OK.
We recommend that the rehydrated yeast be added to the wort within 30
minutes. We have built into each cell a large amount of glycogen and
trehalose that give the yeast a burst of energy to kick off the growth
cycle when it is in the wort. It is quickly used up if the yeast is
rehydrated for more than 30 minutes. There is no damage done here if it is
not immediately add to the wort. You just do not get the added benefit of
that sudden burst of energy. We also recommend that you attemperate the
rehydrated yeast to with in 15F of the wort before adding to the wort.
Warm yeast into a cold wort will cause many of the yeast to produce petite
mutants that will never grow or ferment properly and will cause them to
produce H2S. The attemperation can take place over a very brief period by
adding, in increments, a small amount of the cooler wort to the rehydrated
yeast.
Many times we find that warm water is added to a very cold container that
drops the rehydrating water below the desired temperature.
Sometimes refrigerated, very cold, dry yeast is added directly to the warm
water with out giving it time to come to room temperature. The initial
water entering the cell is then cool.
How do many beer and wine makers have successful fermentations when they
ignore all the above? I believe that it is just a numbers game. Each gram
of Active Dry Yeast contains about 20 billion live yeast cells. If you
slightly damage the cells, they have a remarkable ability to recover in the
rich wort. If you kill 60% of the cell you still have 8 billion cells per
gram that can go on to do the job at a slower rate.
The manufacturer of Active Dry Beer Yeast would be remiss if they offered
rehydration instructions that were less than the very best that their data
indicated.
One very important factor that the distributor and beer maker should keep
in mind is that Active Dry Yeast is dormant or inactive and not inert, so
keep refrigerated at all times. Do not store in a tin roofed warehouse
that becomes an oven or on a window sill that gets equally hot.
Active Dry Yeast looses about 20% of its activity in a year when it is
stored at 75 F and only 4% when refrigerated."
I would think that, disregarding any flavor pro/con of rehydrating, that the improvement in performance warrants the small amount of time spent rehydrating, no?
If by “improvement in performance” you’re talking about shortening lag time as I was, it’s not a concern for me.
dry or liquid- the goal is to minimize the amount of stress on your yeast. personal experience tells many of us that chucking a pack of dry yeast into average OG wort will get the job done with good results. just like with liquid yeast- experience has proven good results for me with 1 pack fresh pure pitch, starter on stir plate, starter shaken not stirred (ales for me).
If you do go down the path of rehydrating (whatever your reasoning may be), I’d make sure its done properly (guidelines above in this thread).