This yeast was awesome and performed beautifully in my hefeweizen... I couldn't be happier with it. I didn't need to make a starter or anything, plenty of cells in here for a 5 gallon batch. I rehydrated it for 15 minutes according to instructions, but that was optional and I'm not sure whether it had any effect. I highly recommend this yeast. And I also highly recommend that you use a blowoff tube with it, because fermentation will be quite vigorous. I'm now using the leftover yeast slurry from my hefeweizen batch to make a more experimental beer, wish me luck!