Wyeast 3068 Pitching Question for 2.5 Gallon Batch

I'm getting ready to brew a honey orange wheat test batch. Since this is the first time making it, I've decided to scale my recipe down to 2.5 gallons. weihenstephaner (Wyeast 3068) is the yeast of choice, but I've read overpitching can cause a loss of banana flavor. I'll be fermenting around 64.

Do you think one smack pack would be overpitching and cause me to get more clove and not enough banana? I'll already be getting a lot of clove from the ferm temp.

TIA

If you are trying to get predictable results, I would recommend thinking more in terms of pitching rate than number of packets. If you are typically planning on pitching exactly one smackpack on a five gallon batch, you should pitch half a smackpack for a 2.5 gallon batch if you want to get similar results.

That said, most people would consider one smackpack to be underpitching many beers. This is ultimately your call based on the kind of fermentation profile you want, of course, but the real question here is how much yeast do you want to pitch into a full batch. Once you figure that out, just cut that amount in half for this test batch.

As for ideal pitching rate for a recipe like this, I like to pitch hefes relatively high. So for me, 1 smackpack to a 2.5gal batch of around 1.040 gravity would be about right. I'd use the equivalent of two smackpacks for a 5gal batch

I would be willing to bet if you plugged the info from your recipe into the mrmalty.com pitching rate calculator that one smack pack would be what you want to pitch. Normally you would want to pitch one smack pack that has been propagated in a starter for a day for a full 5-6 gallon batch. So one smack pack should give you the results you're after.

And I don't have any scientific proof for this, but from what I've heard on the brewing network, rate of pitch has less to do with the ester production, as those esters are more heavily influenced by temperature. So if you want more banana, I would read around for the temp that produces those esters more reliably. I believe its 67-68 F.

thanks for the responses. i definitely want the clove taste to come through, so i'll be keeping the temp low (around 62-64) for fermentation. i am worried about overpitching because it don't want to lose all the banana. typically i'll make a starter when i'm using washed yeast from previous batches, but not when using a smack pack. malty suggests one packet so i guess i'll go with it. to me it doesn't sound like overpitching, which in this case seems subjective, will affect the outcome too much.

Keep in mind, ester production depends not only on pitching rate, but also malt bill (wheat to barley ratio), fermentation temperature, nutrients, and aeration. Experimenting with all of these factors can change what esters and phenols are produced and how much are produced. I'm in the middle of toying with a hefe recipe myself, and it's one of he more difficult styles I've tried to perfect, given it's dependence on the details.

0110x011 said:

Keep in mind, ester production depends not only on pitching rate, but also malt bill (wheat to barley ratio), fermentation temperature, nutrients, and aeration. Experimenting with all of these factors can change what esters and phenols are produced and how much are produced. I'm in the middle of toying with a hefe recipe myself, and it's one of he more difficult styles I've tried to perfect, given it's dependence on the details.

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+1

Temperature is probably your most important factor (if I had to pick one), but all these things will impact your fermentation profile significantly. Plus, deciding what constitutes a good hefe is I think more subjective than is the case with most other styles of beer. I find several of generally well regarded hefeweizens to just reek of bubblegum, to the point of being undrinkable. Other people love them. Experimentation is key with this beer.