Pitching dried yeast into cold wort

Buffers brewery · Nov 10, 2024

The storage instructions indicate keeping the packet of yeast at 4C or below…

Lallemand recommends dry pitching their yeast

I wouldn’t have been concerned pitching a lager yeast into wort at 14C or lower, I was pitching an ale yeast with an operating range of 18C-25C so was not sure what might happen pitching at a wort temperature below the range, hence the post.

Agentgonzo · Nov 10, 2024

Buffers brewery said:
The storage instructions indicate keeping the packet of yeast at 4C or below…

I think we've have enough of experts...

foxy · Nov 11, 2024

YeastFace said:
I've read that it's better to pitch yeast into a colder temperature than you intend to ferment at. Not sure if that's wet or dry, but it's to avoid thermal shock or somesuch.

How cold are we talking? I take yeast out of the fridge for a few hours to get to pitching temperature. Your method just sounds like a more gentle example of that.

Yeast is pretty resilient, so reckon you'll be ok.

It also allows for the extra few degrees which the yeast can supply through the heat of exothermal energy. I tend to pitch my yeast 17-18C. I had one recently which went up by 11C from the set temperature. I will add it was on heating mode and the fermenter was well insulated.

Buffers brewery · Nov 12, 2024

So I asked Lallemand about pitching their Verdant IPA yeast into wort at 14C. This is the response....

Might have been OK :confused.:

malhal · Nov 13, 2024

Delayed pitching is essentially simulating lag time. Probably will give you clearer beer but no good if you are brewing hazy IPA where you need yeast to be active while proteins and whirlpool hop oils are still in suspension. I’ve seen other simulate lag time by disrupting the wort environment, eg raising pH by dry-hopping at yeast pitch.

Buffers brewery · Dec 14, 2024

Update: did a brewday on Thursday and, as previously, allowed the wort to settle overnight in the garage. Wort temperature Friday morning was 14.5C. Transferred to fermenter and pitched dried yeast immediately. Moved the fermenter to the brew fridge set at 20C. This morning (Saturday) brew is bubbling away nicely