I have an issue that I would really appreciate some opinions and information on. I am at about hour 72 of fermentation and there have been no signs of bubbling or any activity. I have checked extensively for any leaks and cannot find any. I have the bucket in my basement which is consistently around 70 degrees. I made a 5 gallon batch of a pretty simple pale ale, I pitched 11.5 grams of rehydrated yeast, and I have a hydrometer but I forgot to get a reading. Should I just let it be? Should I pitch some more yeast? Any other ideas?
It is not generally recommended but I would advise that you take the lid off and peak inside. Is there any evidence of krausen (foamy stuff) on top or the side of your bucket? If not you might want to consider pitching some more yeast. I have never experienced (or heard of) problems with dry yeast. My guess is that you are fermenting just fine and that you have a leak that can’t be detected. Please report back with your krausen condition. Cheers!
So I peeked in the bucket, lots of foam in the bucket so I quickly closed it. I do not remember the exact temperature when I pitched the yeast, but I had cooled my wort to 72 degrees then added it to fermenter bucket with additional water. The yeast was Safale US-05
I may be in the minority, but I don't see much point in re-hydrating dry yeast. Anyway, sounds like your well on your way there.
The rationale for re-hydrating yeast is that you will have more ‘viable’ yeast cells for the fermentation. If you just sprinkle dry yeast on top of the wort a significant number of yeast cells will die; I have seen that 50% of the yeast cells will die in whitepapers. Below is what Danstar states on this topic on their website: “Why is rehydrating the dry yeast before pitching important? Dry beer yeast needs to be reconstituted in a gentle way. During rehydration the cell membrane undergoes changes which can be lethal to yeast. In order to reconstitute the yeast as gently as possible (and minimize/avoid any damage) yeast producers developed specific rehydration procedures. Although most dry beer yeast will work if pitched directly into wort, it is recommended to follow the rehydration instructions to insure the optimum performance of the yeast.” The reason that you can still obtain a ‘good’ fermentation if you do not re-hydrate is because there are so many yeast cells in an 11.5 gram packet of dry yeast. Even if you damage/kill 50% of the yeast cells there are still a lot of yeast cells to get the job done. My personal perspective is that I bought a dry packet with something like 200 billion yeast cells and my preference is to have all of those 200 billion yeast cells viable for my fermentation. Cheers!
