Dead Yeast, last minute help

I would pitch your dry yeast and wait overnight to see what happens. I'm not sure what your proofing process was, but it is generally unlikely that the dry yeast you got is bad.

Tomorrow, get more yeast from your LHBS. If there is no sign of activity after 24 hours, then pitch the new yeast.

What yeast are you using? How many packets for how much wort? What's your wort's OG? How did you determine that your yeast is dead?

 

Why do you think the yeast is dead? Is there a date on the yeast packaging?

 

“ …then proofed with sugar water (as per the instruction in the book How to Brew by John Palmer).”

I went to the online book of How to Brew and somewhat to my surprise there was a discussion about proofing the yeast. I have been homebrewing since 1995 and I have rehydrated many, many dry yeast packets but I have never conducted a proofing process (I have never really heard of proofing brewer’s yeast before).

What was the best by date on your dry yeast packet? If the dry yeast is still within the best by date I would simple pitch your rehydrated yeast (right away).

I have no idea of the efficacy of the proofing process that John Palmer details about dry brewer’s yeast.

Cheers!

P.S. I suspect that the proofing thing was 'old school' thinking from the olden days when dry yeast was stored under a cap on top of the can of liquid malt extract. Today dry yeast is sold separately and stored at refrigerator temperatures at the LHBS (and you should also store it in you home refrigerator).

 

I would pitch the yeast you have--there is a very very good chance that there are at least some viable cells in there, probably more than enough. It would be extremely unusual for the whole package to be dead. Unless you have reason to believe the yeast was really old or very poorly stored, it'll probably work fine.

If you're really worried about it, you could go to any one of the many online retailers that offer next day delivery on purchases and place an order. It'd be a little expensive, but it might be worth it if you're going to be losing sleep over this. If the order arrives and your yeast is fermenting (which is probably what will happen) you can use the new yeast next time. If the yeast you have now isn't doing anything by then, pitch the new stuff. The delay would be less than ideal, but if you've done a good job on sanitation, you should be OK.

 

Your yeast is probably fine. Activity is not always evident right away; usually that means nothing. It won't hurt to pitch more yeast in a day or 2 if you're nervous.

I don't know anyone who proofs dry yeast. The pros are about evenly divided between rehydrating per yeast manufacturer instructions or just sprinkling it on the wort.

edit: I do remember reading about proofing yeast for baking but I've never done that either and my bread still rises well.

 

What was your rehydrating water temp, and what is the ambient temp where the yeast was proofed? If you are certain that the yeast is not going to perform after a reasonable time period then you can try to keep it slightly warmer to see if that gooses it into coming awake.

 

What they said...
If you started with dry yeast, there really isn't much that will totally kill them, short of storing it in the lit oven for a few weeks.
Unless you rehydrated with HOT water, there is probably something going on.
However, I would probably advise to be super careful with sanitization, seal the wort up (yeah, you can toss in the yeast you have, maybe they'll come alive) and tomorrow pick up some at a LHBS, presuming you have one in the area.
There are schools of thought that do that regularly, called "no-chill" brewing. From what I understand, they just seal the hot wort in after the boil, and when it cools naturally, then they pitch the yeast (someone correct me if I'm wrong in that.)

 

Spilling wort doesn't infect the batch. It just results in spilled wort. Now if some of your ice bath got into the wort, that would risk infection. Is that what happened? Because otherwise I think it will still be okay.

 

when I brewed extract I would actually add ice to the wort to cool it down (how i diluted the concentrated boil) and never had an infection

 

hey zac I think you've got a case of the fist-brew overzealousies. Good on you for being so diligent in you sanitation, and for actually taking the advice that is flippantly given here each day that Palmer's expertise is the be-all-end-all of brewing knowledge. But I think you should relax a bit and carry through with your process to see what happens. Nothing you have mentioned here indicates a drain pour yet. Beer is a very hardy thing. Just take good notes on what went right and what went wrong, and if it all goes your way you may end up with a good first batch.

 

I agree that OP should ride it out and see. But who on here ever said that Palmer's expertise is the be-all-end-all of brewing knowledge, flippantly or otherwise?

 

Every new brewer thread. Every one. Palmer is handed to them as a necessity.

 

Of course people recommend newbies read it. It's arguably the best thing to read to get started. But show me one post where someone says it's the "be-all-end-all of brewing knowledge."

 

One?
Of course those exact words are literary license, but here's one.
You realize this isn't the point right? We have an OP who took everybody's advice and stuck with it, and it led him to almost dump his first batch. I'm not sure what point you're trying to make.

 

The post you linked was a good example of someone recommending Palmer's book as a starting point, not the flippant advice that it's the last word on brewing knowledge, which is what you accused the people on this forum of dispensing.

Hopefully that's clear now.

 

Right. Now back to the OP's topic. Or would you like to derail it because you dislike the word 'flippant'?