OK… I know this might sound stupid but I’ve never worked with a dry yeast before. I was given a beer kit that contains Safale US-05 Ale Yeast. I’ve always used White Labs liquid yeasts and made a starter from it. Can I use the dry yeast to make a starter and if so, do I do anything differently?
don’t bother, it actually makes for worse beer (the cells burn up their glycogen reserves while replicating in the starter and don’t have enough left over when you pitch into your beer). Those packs have enough cells for a 5 gallon batch up to about 1.070. Rehydrating can’t hurt, though I haven’t in awhile, and have made excellent beers.
Thanks! Woo-Hoo! I’m making beer today instead of tomorrow!
There are two schools of thought (and they both work.) One is to rehydrate with water, and the other is to just sprinkle dry onto the wort. I’ve made a handful of batches with dry S-04 sprinkled on top and one batch with US-05, and have had no problems with sprinkling. My reasoning is that rehydrating just gives me a chance for infection. As far as making a starter from dry - I’ve only ever seen negative opinions on doing that (as Pietro mentioned.)
I’ve sprinkled, and rehydrated dry yeast. I find rehydrated yeasts start bubbling faster, but that’s just anecdotal.
