Winemaking (rec.crafts.winemaking) Discussion of the process, recipes, tips, techniques and general exchange of lore on the process, methods and history of wine making. Includes traditional grape wines, sparkling wines & champagnes.

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Marty Phee
 
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Default Newbie question

I have the three wines going right now. One was bought as a kit. That
one says to sprinkle the yeast on top and wait 5-7 days (pinot grigio).
The other two I from my friend and we rehydrated the yeast, added and
stirred twice a day for 3 - 4 days.

Is there a proper way? I'm still very new to this so bear with me.

Marty
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pp
 
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According to the yeast people, rehydration is the proper way. However,
they also said there is so many viable yeasts in 1 5g package that it
doesn't usually matter, unless you're planning on fermenting in
difficult conditions, like low temperature or high sugar must.

Pp

Marty Phee wrote:
> I have the three wines going right now. One was bought as a kit. That
> one says to sprinkle the yeast on top and wait 5-7 days (pinot grigio).
> The other two I from my friend and we rehydrated the yeast, added and
> stirred twice a day for 3 - 4 days.
>
> Is there a proper way? I'm still very new to this so bear with me.
>
> Marty


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Paul E. Lehmann
 
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Marty Phee wrote:

> I have the three wines going right now. One was bought as a kit. That
> one says to sprinkle the yeast on top and wait 5-7 days (pinot grigio).
> The other two I from my friend and we rehydrated the yeast, added and
> stirred twice a day for 3 - 4 days.
>
> Is there a proper way? I'm still very new to this so bear with me.
>
> Marty


For kit wines, I sprinkle on top because everything is somewhat sterile and
you don't have to worry about wild yeast.

If using fresh fruit, rehydrate and get an active culture going because you
want to compete with the natural yeast and other spoilage bacteria that
resides on the fresh fruit and rehydrating is going to guarantee you have
more cultured to overwhelm the "natural" yeast and other spoilage
organisms.
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Joe Sallustio
 
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Welcome. As mentioned, you are better off rehydrating the yeast. Here
is a good link from one vendor, there are many. The page has an
article on rehydrating yeast.

http://www.lallemandwine.us/library/tech_articles.php

Joe



pp wrote:
> According to the yeast people, rehydration is the proper way. However,
> they also said there is so many viable yeasts in 1 5g package that it
> doesn't usually matter, unless you're planning on fermenting in
> difficult conditions, like low temperature or high sugar must.
>
> Pp
>
> Marty Phee wrote:
> > I have the three wines going right now. One was bought as a kit. That
> > one says to sprinkle the yeast on top and wait 5-7 days (pinot grigio).
> > The other two I from my friend and we rehydrated the yeast, added and
> > stirred twice a day for 3 - 4 days.
> >
> > Is there a proper way? I'm still very new to this so bear with me.
> >
> > Marty


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Ray Calvert
 
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As everyone above says, you really should dehydrate. It is the best way to
go. That said, I sprinkle on top of any of my wines that I make. I once
read an article on starting wines that was on one of the big name yeast
company sites. It recommended that you sprinkle the yeast on top and not
stir. then when you see it start to form colonies you should stir it in
shallow. then when it starts to bubble you stir it in deep. Since then the
article has disappeared so maybe the company did not approve of the
recommendations and maybe with good reason. But it has worked for me.

Ray

"Paul E. Lehmann" > wrote in message
...
> Marty Phee wrote:
>
>> I have the three wines going right now. One was bought as a kit. That
>> one says to sprinkle the yeast on top and wait 5-7 days (pinot grigio).
>> The other two I from my friend and we rehydrated the yeast, added and
>> stirred twice a day for 3 - 4 days.
>>
>> Is there a proper way? I'm still very new to this so bear with me.
>>
>> Marty

>
> For kit wines, I sprinkle on top because everything is somewhat sterile
> and
> you don't have to worry about wild yeast.
>
> If using fresh fruit, rehydrate and get an active culture going because
> you
> want to compete with the natural yeast and other spoilage bacteria that
> resides on the fresh fruit and rehydrating is going to guarantee you have
> more cultured to overwhelm the "natural" yeast and other spoilage
> organisms.
>





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Doug
 
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This is a question that is raised often. Tim Vandergrift (Tech Svcs
Mgr at WinExpert) has answered this in other forums, as the WinExpert
kits are among those that recommend just sprinkling. Basically, his
response is that, yes, if you follow the rehydration instructions very
carefully, as to temperature and timing, you will get the greatest
amount of active yeast in a short period of time. However, those
instructions must be followed very carefully. If the water is too hot
or too cold, you won't get good results. If you wait too long after
rehydration, or not long enough, you won't get good results. The
experience of the kit makers is that too many customers just don't
follow the directions closely enough to get consistently good results.
On the other hand, sprinkling the yeast on the surface and letting it
rehydrate at its own pace works very nearly as well, with much less
effort. Even using the sprinkle technique, you can stir the wine after
the initial rehydration period (starting, say, a day after sprinkling).
You just don't want to stir in the yeast immediately, as the yeast
takes time to acclimate itself to the new environment.

So if you're willing to measure the water temp. with a thermometer and
follow the rehydration instructions precisely, go ahead and do that.
Personally, I'm lazy; if I'm using one of the mainstream wine yeast
strains (say, Premier Cuvee, or EC-1118), I just sprinkle, cover
loosely and walk away. I've done 30 or 40 kits that way, as well as
fruit wines, and some from fresh grapes. Never had a problem with it.


Doug

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Alan Gould
 
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In article . com>, Doug
> writes
>
>So if you're willing to measure the water temp. with a thermometer and
>follow the rehydration instructions precisely, go ahead and do that.
>Personally, I'm lazy; if I'm using one of the mainstream wine yeast
>strains (say, Premier Cuvee, or EC-1118), I just sprinkle, cover
>loosely and walk away. I've done 30 or 40 kits that way, as well as
>fruit wines, and some from fresh grapes. Never had a problem with it.
>

I am not too certain what is involved in rehydration, but I tend to use
a starter bottle with about 1/4 pint of luke-warm water and half a
teaspoon of sugar to activate wine yeast before adding it to the must.
Some winemakers use liquid from the must for the same job claiming that
it helps to give 'direction' to the yeast, but I would think that it
will get that when added to the must anyway.
--
Alan Gould. North Lincolnshire, UK.
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Paul E. Lehmann
 
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Alan Gould wrote:

> In article . com>, Doug
> > writes
>>
>>So if you're willing to measure the water temp. with a thermometer and
>>follow the rehydration instructions precisely, go ahead and do that.
>>Personally, I'm lazy; if I'm using one of the mainstream wine yeast
>>strains (say, Premier Cuvee, or EC-1118), I just sprinkle, cover
>>loosely and walk away. I've done 30 or 40 kits that way, as well as
>>fruit wines, and some from fresh grapes. Never had a problem with it.
>>

> I am not too certain what is involved in rehydration, but I tend to use
> a starter bottle with about 1/4 pint of luke-warm water and half a
> teaspoon of sugar to activate wine yeast before adding it to the must.
> Some winemakers use liquid from the must for the same job claiming that
> it helps to give 'direction' to the yeast, but I would think that it
> will get that when added to the must anyway.


After you get your starter going as you described, then you can add a little
of the must to the starter to get it acclimated to the conditions.
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