Brewing big and yeast...

My second all grain had a large grain bill, 14#s 2 row plus other grains. Well I questioned the amout of yeast that would be needed to ferment. I was told to use a yeast starter. I'm not up to starting yeast yet. So I was advised to pitch two packs of Safale-05. I've never used dry yeast, I always use White Labs WLP-001

The beer that has the dry yeast has a yellow/orange color to it. I've never had that with WLP-001. My question is, can I just pitch two vials of WLP-001? I'm brewing tomorrow with the same amount of grain. Would just one vial work? The yellow color looks funky, is that from the dry yeast. It's the only thing different I used. Thanks...

It's going to be hard if not impossible to tell you anything about your 'funky looking' beer without pictures of some kind. Pitching dry yeast is pretty much fool-proof, most brewers start with them and they tend to take care of themselves.

Depending on the size of your batch one vial of the liquid yeast should be more than enough, they tend to be good for batches of 5-10 gal.

I'm not sure what OG you plan on starting with but chances are good you'll be around the 1.045 mark, =/- .005, and with OGs like those using a starter is pretty much optional. You have to really start using them when you want to brew higher grav beers.

And speaking of which, while seemingly intimidating, making a starter is about as easy as it comes, and is a great way to get a jump-start on fermentation. Boil 1/2 quart of water with 1/2 cup of DME (I use Munton's XL) and cool to pitching temp. Throw your pack or vial of liquid yeast in there, aerate, cover with sanitized tinfoil and set at room temp for 1-3 days, aerating whenever you can. I usually brew on day 3.

I have a Hefe that is almost EXPLODING down the blow-off tube after only 24 hours.

Depending on the size of your batch one vial of the liquid yeast should be more than enough, they tend to be good for batches of 5-10 gal.

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For a grain bill like this, I would always always make a starter. At the very least I'd say pitch two vials. When I was just getting started I'd always just pitch a single vial bc I didn't know better. Ever since I found out that pitch rate mattered, my beers have started becoming much better.

My question is, can I just pitch two vials of WLP-001?

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You can but it would still barely be enough. I always just use the US-05 anytime a recipe calls for WLP-001 (I believe it's the same yeast?!?). For that grain bill one pack would probably be enough, but it couldn't hurt to pitch two (and hey it's cheap).

Heck, you can pitch 4 packets of dry yeast for the price of one vial.

Yeast is not going to affect the color of a beer.

Guybrush3pwood said:

I'm not sure what OG you plan on starting with but chances are good you'll be around the 1.045 mark, =/- .005, and with OGs like those using a starter is pretty much optional. You have to really start using them when you want to brew higher grav beers.

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I hope he got a higher gravity than 1.045 with more than 14 pounds of grain. If not he, has bigger problems than worrying about making a starter or pitching 2 packets of dry yeast.

double_e5 said:

I hope he got a higher gravity than 1.045 with more than 14 pounds of grain. If not he, has bigger problems than worrying about making a starter or pitching 2 packets of dry yeast.

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Looks like a 10 gallon batch to me.

It's for a 5.5 gal. batch. I'm getting a gravity of 1.070...

My mistake, I assumed a larger batch as well. With an OG of 1.070 you definitely want a nice big yeast starter.

The best starters are pitched a few days before you start brewing and use a stirbar/plate to continuously aerate the yeast as they are hard at work getting busy, but even the method I described in my first post is leagues better than just pitching it straight from the vial.