[beersk]

I guess I'll follow this thread around the corner it's taking...

I have been brewing about a year.  Only once have I used dry yeast (S-05), and as in everything else I do, I researched rehydrating exhaustively and followed what I learned to the best of my ability.  It was a bust.  Nothing.  I ran down to the LHBS and picked up some wet yeast and off it went.

I have been hearing about a peachy flavor that one can get if one ferments with S-05 at low temps, so I want to try again on an IPA I will be brewing this weekend.  I am seriously thinking about following some of the advice I read which is to just pour 2 packets straight into the wort without rehydrating at all. 

Thoughts?

I never rehydrate 05 and I get great performance from a single pack on beers even in the 70s gravity range.

This is just crazy to me. You're some kind of anomaly, Denny.

[denny]

This is just crazy to me. You're some kind of anomaly, Denny.

Really?  It doesn't work for you?

[beersk]

I don't know...not as well as you purport it does, I don't think. Maybe I should try it again. I usually just rehydrate by boiling 8oz of water in a mason jar for 3 minutes in the microwave at the beginning of the brew session, wait for it to come down to 95F, dump the yeast in, and let it rehydrate for the rest of the brew session. It's pretty easy. My last lager, I did that with 34/70, and stuck it in the fridge over night with my wort while it cooled to pitching temp. That worked out pretty well also.

[Jimmy K]

This is just crazy to me. You're some kind of anomaly, Denny.

Really?  It doesn't work for you?

I do what Denny says.

[Three]

I never rehydrate 05 and I get great performance from a single pack on beers even in the 70s gravity range.

+1

Using it dry in a fermenting bucket has always worked for me as well.  It may be an extra step but I find it easier to hydrate before I pour it into a carboy......

[beersk]

I never rehydrate 05 and I get great performance from a single pack on beers even in the 70s gravity range.

+1

Using it dry in a fermenting bucket has always worked for me as well.  It may be an extra step but I find it easier to hydrate before I pour it into a carboy......

Agreed. The way I described it above doesn't feel like more work than just sprinkling.

[Jimmy K]

Using it dry in a fermenting bucket has always worked for me as well.  It may be an extra step but I find it easier to hydrate before I pour it into a carboy......

Me too. Yeast viability aside, in a carboy you really can't "sprinkle it on the wort". I always wind up with a pile in the middle that takes forever to fully hydrate.

[hospter81]

I have been hearing about a peachy flavor that one can get if one ferments with S-05 at low temps, so I want to try again on an IPA I will be brewing this weekend.
Thoughts?

Really?? I make my apa with a lot of amarillo at FWH using US05 fermented at 64 and it has a very pleasant peachy flavor. But i always thought it was a hop flavor contribution....

[thebigbaker]

I also have never rehydrated my dry yeast.  I mainly use carboys and Speidel fermenters and just sprinkle the yeast right on top.  Most of my ales get US-05 and I recently had great results with Belle Saison dry yeast.  I haven't tried using dry yeast for high gravity beers (1.070+) as I usually will use liquid yeast w/ a starter.

Temp wise, I keep my ales in the low 60's, even fermented my last Saison in the low 60's and really liked the results.

I'm not sure if it's a peachy flavor, but I did an American Wheat beer that I split with US-05 and 1056.  The US-05 had a slight tartness to it.  Not sure if pitch rates had anything to do with the tartness as they were each 3 gallon batches, so with an entire pack of US-05 I probably over-pitched where as the pack of 1056 was closer to an ideal pitch rate (no starter). 

[drjones]

Only once have I used dry yeast (S-05), and as in everything else I do, I researched rehydrating exhaustively and followed what I learned to the best of my ability.  It was a bust.  Nothing.  I ran down to the LHBS and picked up some wet yeast and off it went.

I've never experienced any issues with US-05 - it has always been fool-proof.  I have normally just sprinkled a single pack over the foamy head on the wort after aeration and not stirred to give it time to absorb fluids slowly.  Lately I've been rehydrating my dry yeasts (e.g. Belle Saison).  It is probably wiser to let the cells gently absorb H20 and build up their cell walls, but I have not experienced any fermentation issues when I have not done so at the 5-gallon batch size for normal gravity beers.  I've also seen some "old schoolers" from a nearby club just dump a pack into their very high-gravity IPAs.  They seem to do fine.  I always keep US-05 on hand in the fridge for any unanticipated brewing needs.  It's a work horse for most American style ales.  I'm a fan of dry yeast - perhaps I'm just cheap.  My last liquid purchase was a Koelsch - liquid is obviously great for specialty varieties like that. 

[erockrph]

I never rehydrate 05 and I get great performance from a single pack on beers even in the 70s gravity range.

+1 - When in doubt, listen to Denny

My SOP for over 50% of my beers is something like this:

1) Pour wort into bucket/carboy/BB & shake like hell for a while
2) Sprinkle/pour in a packet of US-05
3) Move fermenter to basement
4) RDWHAHB
5) Add dry hops 5-10 days later
6) Package around day 14 or so

Hasn't failed me yet. Working with US-05 is pretty much "set it & forget it" for me.

[beersk]

Working with US-05 is pretty much "set it & forget it" for me.

Yeah, it's pretty awesome. I just ordered a bunch of dry yeast, some of the Mangrove Jack's. Want to try out the Workhorse, the Newcastle dark ale, and the Bohemian Lager strains. I'd like to do only dry yeast if I can get away with it.

[drjones]

Jumping back to this thread for a general US-05 question.  As noted above, 05 has always given me great results.  My most recent batch (a low-gravity, high dextrine session rye IPA) did not drop clear after three weeks.  I bottled and will just sit it out I guess, but I'm curious why this might have happened.  Was it this particular recipe?  Was it this pack of yeast?  Did I manage to infect it with a wild yeast or something else? (tasted fine - but that doesn't say much yet).  Final gravity was 1.015, so it had some viscosity - and the rye no doubt added to that as well.  Is that enough to slow settling that much?

[morticaixavier]

Jumping back to this thread for a general US-05 question.  As noted above, 05 has always given me great results.  My most recent batch (a low-gravity, high dextrine session rye IPA) did not drop clear after three weeks.  I bottled and will just sit it out I guess, but I'm curious why this might have happened.  Was it this particular recipe?  Was it this pack of yeast?  Did I manage to infect it with a wild yeast or something else? (tasted fine - but that doesn't say much yet).  Final gravity was 1.015, so it had some viscosity - and the rye no doubt added to that as well.  Is that enough to slow settling that much?

could just be starch/protein haze instead of yeast. or perhaps the us-05 is just slowly chewing away at those dextrins. Majorvices posted about having issue with us-05 over carbing in the bottles for him regularly. maybe it's more capable of metabolizing more complex sugars/starches then we generally think?

[Herminator]

I do what Denny says.

I have used a lot of 05 without rehydrating and find it to be a beast at fermenting.  Always takes off and will fill a blow off tube.  Love that yeast for what it does with just some sprinkling.