No. You use 10 times the weight of the dry yeast of water (e.g. 10g = 100mls water) and sprinkle the yeast into that. You wait 10 mins and stir / shake then leave it for another 10 mins or so.
You are making a wet slurry. The dried yeast product has nutrients added in with it that help wake the yeast up. If the pack is super fresh, I wouldn't bother with this... but if it's more than 3 months old, I would definately recommend it.
I get a baby bottle and nuke it in the microwave with the amount of water in there. Then I cool it in the freezer for about 10 mins until its about 25 degrees. Then I put the yeast in it, and rehydrate over the next 30 mins.
By the time it's finished - it's fizzing away nicely in the bottle.
Dont get hung up on cloying, im drinking a Lagunitas IPA at the mo and its as cloying as shit my lips are sticky!! Its an easy fix just a couple of tweaks and it will be right!! Make sure you have enough bittering hops in it make sure your (I know people will probably disagree) but make sure your water is right for style and your yeast healthy and your there!!
Your can brew a beer with like 30% unfermentables providing your water and IBU's are right I reacon.
Hahaha!!! Didnt you get a bottle of it? how was it!! In all seariousness though, dont trust a word I say. But on another note, Stephs beer had 14% Unfermentables in it with a mash of 67, and it was fine?? What did I do to make it right??
Just to clarify, you added the grains at 68C? Your mash temp would have been much lower, probably around the 62C range - so it's likely you got quite bad conversion.
You better bet your boots on it. That stuff is crazy. Just like us-05 and wlp001. Your best bet is upping your specialty malts if you want extra sweetness - but make sure they arent too dark.
Americans use CaraPils and Crystal 15 - 40L 30 - (80EBC) around the 10% mark in total. Some go higher... but you can taste when you've overdone it.
Yeah, I find 1056 to be a maltose mowing monster, particularly on 2nd or 3rd generations. That bit of CaraPils should fill it out, and get you great head too (according to Joking)!
I brewed Yakima Monster again on Sunday with Golden Promise. The #1 original recipe from the start. I'm thinking about dry hopping with half as many hops as the recipe calls for though. Not because I'm a tight arse... but because of the value of seeing what impact this has on the flavour of the beer.