ahpsp
Well-Known Member
Im trying to understand something about what we are talking about when we talk about pitch rates for yeast. I understand how to calculate a proper pitch rate (both in theory and how to do it), and I understand some of the factors that affect fermentation.
Here is my question: when we pitch ~180 billion yeast cells into a 1.50 wort, e.g., are we pitching the entire population of cells that will be responsible for producing appropriate fermentation (in terms of producing the flavors we want and not producing the flavors we dont)? Or, are we pitching a starter population that is large enough to reproduce at an appropriate rate so that ferment appropriately? In other words, is the sweet spot in pitching calculations meant to hit the final number of cells our wort needs, or the number of cells needed to produce that final number? A third, hypothetical, way to say it: if there were no reproduction of yeast past what was pitched (and if none died), would we have a beer with the yeast-driven characteristics (in both a positive and negative sense) that we wanted?
I had thought that our pitching number was the number needed for successful reproduction in the wort, which leads to successful fermentation, rather than the number needed for successful fermentation per se, but I may be misunderstanding.
Here is my question: when we pitch ~180 billion yeast cells into a 1.50 wort, e.g., are we pitching the entire population of cells that will be responsible for producing appropriate fermentation (in terms of producing the flavors we want and not producing the flavors we dont)? Or, are we pitching a starter population that is large enough to reproduce at an appropriate rate so that ferment appropriately? In other words, is the sweet spot in pitching calculations meant to hit the final number of cells our wort needs, or the number of cells needed to produce that final number? A third, hypothetical, way to say it: if there were no reproduction of yeast past what was pitched (and if none died), would we have a beer with the yeast-driven characteristics (in both a positive and negative sense) that we wanted?
I had thought that our pitching number was the number needed for successful reproduction in the wort, which leads to successful fermentation, rather than the number needed for successful fermentation per se, but I may be misunderstanding.