jmo88

Recipes 

After reading various threads, I came across the discussion of pitch rate. Many experienced brewers recommend more than what typically comes in a yeast pack. I've also read that many commercial breweries use four times as much yeast than homebrewers do. This is new to me. I've always thought if I hit the final gravity, all is well. But others are saying that you may hit the FG, but your yeasts will be stressed if there isn't enough of them, resulting in beer that could have tasted better.

So, can we discuss yeast techniques? If using Wyeast or White Labs how much do you pitch for various gravities or styles? Are your experiences different for dry packs? Have you ever used too much yeast? Is there a danger in a high pitch rate?

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BigKahuna

Recipes 

I'm going to be testing the theory by brewing a mild...inspired by the 10der and mild thread...and pitching 2 packs of yeast...I will also be re-brewing a few tried and true Kanuna Recipes....and using a TON of yeast...at least 4x what I've done in the past.

I think that it is true that we significantly under-pitch!

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jmo88

Recipes 

I am curious to hear how it turns out for you. Should I be skeptical of a high pitch rate? It seems to me there might be some adverse effects to having a huge amount of unused yeasts swimming around in your beer.

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lapaglia

Recipes 

If you do it with dry yeast its one thing. If you do it with a huge starter than you run the risk of changing the flavor of the beer with too much starter. Yes?

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DrinksWellWithOthers

Recipes 

I use Mr Malty to determine how much I pitch. Since I wash and harvest my yeast I usually make a 1L starter. If I brew something big then I might step it up.

I'd also be interested to see how that experiment goes. I hear its very hard to overpitch on a homebrew level but I'd like to see how a beer changes when more a more than necessary amount of yeast is used. I assume its just going ferment real fast and have a cleaner flavor with less character.

eriktlupus

Recipes 

when you use a starter your dumping off most of the wort/beer from the fermentation and pitching the slurry at the bottom, the same basic effect of pitching onto a yeast cake from a prior batch.


i always just used the tube/pack if my wort starts under 1.040 any higher and i use starters of various sizes

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BigKahuna

Recipes 

Like what?
When they run out of sugars to eat...they fall to the bottom!

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Jaybird

Recipes 

I think your going to be hard pressed to pitch too much yeast. Maybe a 2.5 gallon starter per 12 gallon batch might be a tad too much but other than that. pitch like a mad man, and god willing you can ferment out in 3-4 days! (like the big dogs do) You have to remember some breweries have a 12 day turn around time. 12 freeken days!!! How would you like to turn your beers in 12 days? You can.... w/ a HUGE starter and a DE filter.
JJ

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Coastarine

Recipes 

I brewed a cream ale a few weeks ago, kegged it yesterday, and brewed Ed's IPA yesterday. The cream ale used us-05, and ed's is supposed to also, and since I cold crashed I had REALLY dense, thick, sludgy yeast. I saved a bunch in a measuring cup in the fridge for the afternoon, poured off what I could, then used mr malty's reccomendation for pitching. I forget what it was in mL but it turned out to be 4 tablespoons of dense freshly harvested yeast. A strange thing happened though: the fermentation (while quite healthy) has been much slower to take off than when I just rehydrate a packet of us-05 and pitch into a lower gravity beer. I dunno if it's a good thing, bad thing, neither, or what caused it. Could be that I didn't aerate quite as thoroughly as usual or that I chilled all the way to fermentation temp instead of pitching a little above. Also could be that I pitched yeast that had been at 37F for a week instead of yeast that had been waking up in 85F water.

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jmo88

Recipes 

I don't know. I mean while they are doing there job, before they finish.

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