Question about rehydrating the yeast?

Northern Brewer General
#1

Good morning I just brewed the bourbon barrel porter and did not rehydrate the yeast. Will I be ok?

#2

You will be fine. I’ve done it both ways and always get the same result. I usually rehydrate simply because that’s what it tells you to do on the packet.

#3

I rehydrate by sprinkling it into the wort. :wink:

#4

So you don’t make starters? I know at least one award winning Brew Master who never makes starters, but he does rehydrate his yeast. Even after like 25 brews or so I’m still experimenting and still haven’t decided if pitching directly on the wort, rehydrating, or making a starter is best. So many great brewers on this site have said starters make a huge difference, but I can’t tell. I’m wondering if the thought process on starters and rehydrating is a throwback to when dry yeast wasn’t as good as it is now? I know Palmer has changed his opinions on today’s dry yeasts.

#5

So you don’t make starters? I know at least one award winning Brew Master who never makes starters, but he does rehydrate his yeast. Even after like 25 brews or so I’m still experimenting and still haven’t decided if pitching directly on the wort, rehydrating, or making a starter is best. So many great brewers on this site have said starters make a huge difference, but I can’t tell. I’m wondering if the thought process on starters and rehydrating is a throwback to when dry yeast wasn’t as good as it is now? I know Palmer has changed his opinions on today’s dry yeasts.[/quote]Nope. I’ve made over 750 batches and won numerous awards. I usually use US-05 dry yeast.

#6

So you don’t make starters? I know at least one award winning Brew Master who never makes starters, but he does rehydrate his yeast. Even after like 25 brews or so I’m still experimenting and still haven’t decided if pitching directly on the wort, rehydrating, or making a starter is best. So many great brewers on this site have said starters make a huge difference, but I can’t tell. I’m wondering if the thought process on starters and rehydrating is a throwback to when dry yeast wasn’t as good as it is now? I know Palmer has changed his opinions on today’s dry yeasts.[/quote]Nope. I’ve made over 750 batches and won numerous awards. I usually use US-05 dry yeast.[/quote]

Thanks Greg I always respect your opinion!!!

#7

I’ve tested fermentation performance via fermentation lag time for rehydrated and dry yeast and have found that the lag time was a few hours less when the yeast was rehydrated first. I can only assume that that might mean that the yeast might have been healthier after rehydration, but it also might only mean that the yeast had a head start due to already being rehydrated. I did not find that the resulting beers were significantly different.

My take is that rehydration is not absolutely required. However, it makes sense that rehydration does not hurt and might help. My only other recommendation is that you boil and cool the rehydration water to body temperature or less, so that you don’t make a mistake and add the yeast to overly hot water that ends up killing cells. Yeah, I know that there are recommendations to rehydrate in warm water, but I’m concerned that it might be too hot. Too cool won’t kill yeast.