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TOP 10 REASONS
FOR FERMENTATION FAILURE
Reason #3
Improper Yeast Starting Method:
Many packets of yeast instruct the user to re-hydrate the yeast
in warm water for a few minutes before using it. Re-hydration is
just a fancy word for moistening the yeast.
When following these directions perfectly there are no problems,
but quite often we run into situations where the winemaker's
water temperature that was used for re-hydration was just a
little too warm or the yeast was left in the water for too long.
The recommended temperature on the packets of yeast we have seen
is 95 to 105 degrees F. for about 15 minutes. Believe me when I
say these directions give little room for error. For every
minute the yeast stays a 105 degrees a small portion of the yeast
cells are being destroyed. If the water is just a little hotter,
say 115 degrees, then the yeast cells are being destroyed at an
alarming rate.
So what this means to the home winemaker is that if they re-
hydrate their yeast at too warm of a temperature, or if they keep
the yeast in the warm water for a longer period of time then
recommended, the cell count may become too low to support a
proper fermentation.
When preparing the water for re-hydration we recommend always
verifying the water's temperature with a thermometer before
adding the yeast, as well as tracking the amount of time the
yeast is to be in the water.
Secondly, we also recommend that you shoot for a temperature no
higher than 90 degrees And keeping the yeast in this water for no
longer than 10 minutes. The 90 degree temperature for 10 minutes
is plenty to complete the re-hydration process and will result in
the destruction of less yeast cells.
To be more frank, if the re-hydration process was skipped
entirely it would not be of great detriment to the wine. The
yeast would simply take a little longer to start fermenting.
Basically this means instead of seeing the first signs of
activity in 2 to 4 hour, without re-hydration it might take 4 to
8 hours.
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