Fermentation Question

Scott - I always sprinkle the yeast no metter what the instructions say. You re probably okay.

Perfect! Thanks alot!

It may take a little longer to start fermentation, but you will be fine. Dissolving the yeast in water (and maybe sugar) simply rehydrates it and gives it a jump start.

Scott:

When I have made a Vineco kit (includes Niagara Mist) anytime in the last 4 years, I have just sprinkled the yeast on top, and everything has been great.

Unfortunately, I don't have any of the instructions at hand, so I looked online. The Niagara Mist instructions there said to sprinkle on top.

Steve

Scott,

That practice will work fine, up until the point that you encounter some issue. At which point it's too late to go back and do it in a different way, and you're left wondering what the issue might be, and hoping that you can recover from it. Rehydrating your yeast and making a vigorous starter are always good practices.

Cheers, Ken

There are starters, and there are sprinklers. I am a sprinkler. ;o)

Sprinkling may slow your wine by 4 or 5 yours out of the 3 months it takes to make it.

Ray

I agree that the yeast will be fine with just sprinkling, and if the instructions really did say to use "hot" water instead of warm (most give an exact temp range somewhere around 100F) then you are probably a lot better off that you sprinkled.

Also, since it came up in several posts, making a yeast starter and rehydrating yeast are not the same thing. From what I've read it is not necessary and may actually be counterproductive to make a starter with dry yeast. I realize some people do it just to make sure the yeast is active, but I don't think any dry yeast manufacturer recommends this practice.

excellent, thanks for all the replies guys. The wine is fermenting fine, the airlock is bubbling away.

Scott.

I'm a belt and suspenders kind of guy. I rehydrate the dry yeast in _warm_ (NOT hot!) water with a spoon of sugar thrown in to give it something to start on. Once that gets going good I pour it into the juice or must. Then I sprinkle dry yeast over the top of same and do not stir it in, because the yeast needs air to propagate.

I probably use ten times as much yeast as I could get away with, but yeast is comparatively cheap and I want to be sure that I overwhelm any potential undesirable strains with Good Stuff.

Tom S

With the Orchard kits I usually bump up the alcohol on them to 10-11%. I do that by adding two to three pounds of corn sugar. The wine turns out fantastic and has a little more of a kick to it. The peach chardonnay that I did is going to be a great summer wine to drink chilled. Hmmmm. Just some info if you want to experiment. I just don't think a wine is a wine unless it is over 10%.