Brewer Instructions or Yeast Instructions?

Before brewing a gallon of Irish Red I found a problem. The yeast instructions call for hydration and the brew instructions call for just adding the dry yeast. Which should I follow?

You’ll see proponents of both… either way will work, but for 1 gallon, I’d probably just add dry yeast. My reasoning would be that you are adding a significant enough volume with water used to rehydrate, and half a packet of yeast should give you a plenty high cell count without rehydration.

You are going to get conflicting answers on this. I stand by that you are wasting your time rehydrating. Especially when using half of the packet meant for five gallons.

There is a thread here somewhere with data proving the difference is so minimal that on a home brewing level it’s not worth the effort.

My vote=just sprinkle in the yeast.

I would sprinkle yeast when brewing small. Brews. Like one or two gallon. Five and up would. Make a starter.

Simplest thing possible:

  • When I initially brew a kit, I follow the kit instructions (unless there is an obvious typographical error)

  • When I initially brew a recipe from a reliable source, I follow the recipe instructions (unless there is an obvious typographical error).

Thanks for responses. Appears adding dry yeast is okay. On to more brewing!

I agree with the others regarding using the dry yeast in your 1 gallon kit. Having said that, kit instructions are some of the worst brewing advice on the planet. Do some research here, other forums, and reputable magazines, etc, then formulate your own processes around todays accepted best practices. A perfect example is, “chill your wort to around 80 degrees and pitch your yeast.” WHAT? I’m not sure if that one is still around but it was on all the NB kit instructions when I started brewing. It will make beer and if you’re lucky it will be drinkable but it’s certainly NOT best practice.

warning: drifting off topic as the initial question about yeast pitching and my response was about simple starting points.

  • If there’s a problem with the five gallon extract NB kits, le them know.

  • As for the one gallon kits, as a starting point for an initial brew:

Thread drift? Around here? couldn’t be…

Glad to see NB has updated their instruction sheet. I doubt it’s a standard being followed across the industry so doing a little research on best practices in homebrewing still seems to me good advice to new brewers.

Nice formatting though…really…I mean what is that 4 different fonts, bolding AND 3 colors… man, you’re making me feel lazy…

It wasn’t me - it was the forum software that did that :open_mouth:

edit: here’s the editing window to back up my point:

Update - Checked three and they say 78 or lower. (Chinook, Scottish Wee Heavy, Dead Ringer)