First time with dry yeast

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sa1126

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I am going to brew the centennial blonde from the recipe list here and have never used dry yeast.

I have to ferment at room temp (77 degrees). Should I think about switching to a white labs yeast instead?

Is there a link to a how to as far as pitching dry the yeast or do I just sprinkle it in?
 
At 77 degs you're going to get esters from the yeast regardless of what strain you use. I've seen some sprinkle the yeast in, but most usually rehydrate it first. Get a sanitized glass of warm water (70-80 degrees-ish) and mix the yeast in that. I usually do this with about 5 minutes left in the boil, then cool the wort, then pitch the yeast slurry.
 
Yeah, at 77° F ambient, I wouldn't even bother, you're going to get terrible esters and fusel alcohol off-flavors. Find a way to get that temperature down before worrying about the yeast strain.
 
Hate to beat a dead horse but both posters are right. Try your damnest to get that temp down. Swamp coolers are simple and effective. Otherwise you might be wasting your time and efforts on a less than savory brew...
 
Bummer. I'm tempted to crank the temp on my keezer up to about 60 degrees and see if that helps. I only have a stout in there that hasn't gotten much love lately...
 
I use an old igloo cube cooler, put FV in it and fill water up to beer level and switch out frozen ice bottles 2 to 3 times a day. I can usually keep pretty stable temps in the dead of summer when it can get 75ish in my basement. I think the insulated cooler is key, I couldn't keep temps nearly as stable in rope handle bucket. I use a lab thermometer to take the temp of the water. Works great.
 
I found a garage fridge on Craigslist today for $40. Gonna pick it up tomorrow...hers hoping I don't need another temp controller tho.
 
I'd say try a saison yeast. You'll get some belgian funk but who knows it might come out great.

Tried my friends pale ale that he did with 8# pale some crystal and 1# wheat with a saison yeast. Real light hops, about 20-30ibus total. Was tasty and dry.
 
Without temperature control a Saison is an option. If not search "swamp cooler". You need to control fermentation temperatures. That is the actual temperature of the wort, not the air around the fermenter.
 
sa1126 said:
I found a garage fridge on Craigslist today for $40. Gonna pick it up tomorrow...hers hoping I don't need another temp controller tho.
Click to expand...

You won't regret the purchase. Temperature control is probably the biggest improvement most home brewers can make. You will need to "throttle" the fridge in some way tho. Even the highest setting on most fridges is in the 40's. sorry I don't have a link, but I did see a DIY temperate control thread somewhere explaining how to use an existing fridge thermostat instead of an external controller. Certainly worth a google search...
 
Simple evaporative cooler. Bucket full of water with fermenter inside, put a t-shirt over the fermenter and tuck the tail in the water, turn the fan on medium and walk away. check the water level daily and refill as needed. It will keep your fermenting brew cool enough to be drinkable. That's how I did it till I built a keezer/lagering chamber with a medium size freezer and an STC-1000 controller. Total cost 84 bucks for it all. Craiglist freezer for 50 bucks and the venerable Ebay controller. Both work excellent and it was cheaper than buying one pre-built for sure.

Wheelchair Bob
 
The garage fridge doesn't appear to be 100% in the fridge area and is averaging about 60-65 degrees so I think it should work out okay. I'm brewing as we speak so here goes nothing :)
 
sa1126 said:
The garage fridge doesn't appear to be 100% in the fridge area and is averaging about 60-65 degrees so I think it should work out okay. I'm brewing as we speak so here goes nothing :)
Click to expand...

You'll be just fine at those temps, but when the opportunity presents itself, I'd invest in another temperature controller. If you strap the probe directly to the fermenter, you can guarantee that the wort is always at the proper temperature. Before that, I was making "homebrew." Almost immediately after, I was making commercial quality beer.

And for the record, your initial reaction was dead wrong. A packet of dry yeast has more than enough cells to ferment a 5 gallon batch. A white labs vial typically requires a starter for best results. So the dry yeast would be the safer bet. Also, sprinkling directly on the wort is fine. Do a search and you'll find the huge debate, but if Fermentis says it's OK, I'm fine with it. Personally, I've tried it both ways and can't tell a difference. YMMV.
 
gr8shandini said:
You'll be just fine at those temps, but when the opportunity presents itself, I'd invest in another temperature controller. If you strap the probe directly to the fermenter, you can guarantee that the wort is always at the proper temperature. Before that, I was making "homebrew." Almost immediately after, I was making commercial quality beer.

And for the record, your initial reaction was dead wrong. A packet of dry yeast has more than enough cells to ferment a 5 gallon batch. A white labs vial typically requires a starter for best results. So the dry yeast would be the safer bet. Also, sprinkling directly on the wort is fine. Do a search and you'll find the huge debate, but if Fermentis says it's OK, I'm fine with it. Personally, I've tried it both ways and can't tell a difference. YMMV.
Click to expand...

What do you reckon for yeast harvesting this batch? Is it okay to do despite hydrating the yeast?

I'm gonna build the DIY aquarium controller...can't wait :D
 
Sorry, I didn't mean to suggest that hydrating the yeast was a bad idea - in fact, it's probably a good one - however, it's not strictly necessary (in my opinion).

As far as yeast harvesting goes, it's perfectly fine. Just think of your beer as a giant starter. No matter how far your pitching rate is off, you're still going to end up with a ton of healthy, active yeast at the end of fermentation. They're your friends. It's kind of a shame to let them go to waste after one batch.
 
Rehydrating the yeast is mainly done to cut lag time before visible fermentation begins. Just get the rehydrated yeast slurry down to within 10 degrees of wort temp to prevent shocking the yeast & lengthening lag time.
 
gr8shandini said:
Sorry, I didn't mean to suggest that hydrating the yeast was a bad idea - in fact, it's probably a good one - however, it's not strictly necessary (in my opinion).

As far as yeast harvesting goes, it's perfectly fine. Just think of your beer as a giant starter. No matter how far your pitching rate is off, you're still going to end up with a ton of healthy, active yeast at the end of fermentation. They're your friends. It's kind of a shame to let them go to waste after one batch.
Click to expand...

No worries. I went ahead and hydrated it before reading your post. I definitely am going to harvest/wash as much yeast as possible from here on out, especially with the fridge.

I went and checked the garage fridge and it is going like gangbusters! I can't wait to see how this brew turns out.
 

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