Dry yeast starter a no no?

maltster · Post by **maltster** » Mon Jun 06, 2011 10:27 pm

I've noticed on the Danstar(Lallemand) dry yeasts (Windsor, Nottingham, Munich) that they say to rehydrate the yeast in warm water (86 -92F) for 15 minutes before pitching. The Fermentis packets simply say "sprinkle into wort".
I usually use Fermentis and just sprinkle it into the wort. I had only one problem with this method. It showed no signs of fermentation after 24-36 hrs but a good stir got things going after that.

Should all dry yeast be rehydrated before pitching?

akr71 · Post by **akr71** » Mon Jun 06, 2011 10:59 pm

For the amount of effort if takes, yes.

Post by **mr x** » Mon Jun 06, 2011 11:06 pm

http://www.fermentis.com/fo/pdf/HB/EN/S ... -05_HB.pdf" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

NASH · Post by **NASH** » Mon Jun 06, 2011 11:11 pm

John G wrote:I've always been told that dry yeast should first be rehydrated with water before introducing it to wort. Dehydrated yeast first needs water to properly re-establish cell wall permeability before taking in food from malt sugars. Viability is supposedly higher in water hydrated dry yeast compared to wort hydrated yeast. I've not tested this myself though.

John

I haven't always been told this but i have read it a lot

Seriously though, I don't think it makes much difference in this scenario. it may be more important for 'proper' pitch rates, repitching etc. I've re-hydrated in water many times, in wort many times, and no re-hydration at all many times, in my real world experience it doesn't make a whole lot of difference but I certainly haven't done any scientific experiments or much reading on it. It seems a bit bizarre that a packet didn't get 1.5L going in a hurry, what was the gravity of this starter? It's also important to note that I was wrong once. :spilly:

TimG · Post by **TimG** » Tue Jun 07, 2011 7:23 am

Ya.. I expected it to really get going overnight but this morning still not much action (really none compared to when I shook it up yesterday). I guess i expected some foam and rockin' action.. possible it did its thing 'before' I got home from work yesterday? I'm going to check the SG of the starter this evening and see whats up. If it is low (1.01 or 1.015) then I guess I'll make up my batch of beer and fire it in. I didn't put it in the fridge but the yeast sure seems to have settled out significantly.

I'll post up a pic soon.

TimG · Post by **TimG** » Tue Jun 07, 2011 7:48 am

So here is what it looks like this morning;

The yeast cake at the bottom seems 'bigger' than when I pitched the dry yeast into it, but to be honest I don't really remember (could just be hydrated).

Tim

jeffsmith · Post by **jeffsmith** » Tue Jun 07, 2011 9:16 am

Looks to me like you've definitely had some action in there as that's a fairly sizeable yeast cake for a single packet of yeast.

TimG · Post by **TimG** » Tue Jun 07, 2011 9:59 am

That is kind of what I was thinking.. I should have had a time lapse camera no it while I was at work (or taken it to work!).

SG check tonight should tell the tale. Can anybody confirm that I'm good to just dump this in my batch tonight (didn't cold crash and pour off any 'extra' beer).. nor am I doing it at peak krausen (missed it I guess).. so not really 'following the rules' I've read anyways.

Tim

LiverDance · Post by **LiverDance** » Tue Jun 07, 2011 10:22 am

you should be fine to dump it in tonight.

jeffsmith · Post by **jeffsmith** » Tue Jun 07, 2011 10:46 am

You should be fine to dump as is. Just give it a good swirl to make sure you pick up all the healthy yeasties and dump 'er in. I quite often don't decant my starters and I've never run into any issues. However, it will change up your volumes a minor bit.

TimG · Post by **TimG** » Tue Jun 07, 2011 11:46 am

Cool, thanks for the bit of confidence guys. The newbie in me is a bit tentative when I'm not doing it 'by the book' (not that there is much consistent info on the net, ha!)

I'll let you all know how I make out.

Tim

LiverDance · Post by **LiverDance** » Tue Jun 07, 2011 12:14 pm

There's a book?

There's no reason to question your confidence Tim, your on the right track for sure.

TimG · Post by **TimG** » Wed Jun 08, 2011 3:49 pm

Success! Brewed last night (I really need a bigger pot or start on my Keggle.. boil overs suck!) and pitched it right in. This morning it was bubbling away quite nicely.

Thanks for all the help guys, my first starter experience didn't go according to plan but I think it worked out in the end.

jeffsmith · Post by **jeffsmith** » Wed Jun 08, 2011 3:54 pm

TimG wrote:my first starter experience didn't go according to plan but I think it worked out in the end.

Such is the case with a lot of things in brewing I think—things often don't go as expected, but usually turn out just fine.

maltster · Post by **maltster** » Tue Jul 26, 2011 10:42 pm

I set aside 2l of wort from todays brew to use as a starter on my next batch. Can I just store it in the fridge for a day or two until needed? Can it be frozen until it's needed?
Is it better to pitch the yeast now, let it ferment, and then store it in the fridge? I plan to use the starter this Sat or Sun.

akr71 · Post by **akr71** » Tue Jul 26, 2011 11:44 pm

A day or 2 in the fridge has never given me any problems.

Dry yeast starter a no no?

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