Free Yeast Pitch Rate Calculator?

Everyone always says to go to mrmalty.com and use the pitch rate calculator. It costs $5 to buy their app for the iPhone. Isn't there a website that offers free info?

I usually end up using the site from my computer instead of a phone, where it's free. But I can use the site on my phone.

Yeah, it's free on the laptop. Don't be so cheap and support the site if you want it on your iphone.

I paid $10 for I brewmaster, which does just about everything- why would I pay someone $5 just to calculate how much yeast to pitch? All of these companies are making a killing on home brewers. Anyhow, I'll just pitch twice the yeast for this lager that I would pitch into an ale of the same gravity. Problem solved. $5 ahead

Mrmalty is not some big company dipping into te pockets of homebrewers. It's Jamil Z, and he is massive resource of knowledge to our community and generally will give advice/info out for free to anyone who asks.

If anyone deserves a few bucks from us brewers its Jamil.

guitarist_713 said:

I paid $10 for I brewmaster, which does just about everything- why would I pay someone $5 just to calculate how much yeast to pitch? All of these companies are making a killing on home brewers. Anyhow, I'll just pitch twice the yeast for this lager that I would pitch into an ale of the same gravity. Problem solved. $5 ahead

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Seriously? Why should someone put the time and effort into making a calculator for you to use for free? If you're so cheap do the leg work yourself. I see you're not a premium member here. Go figure.

guitarist_713 said:

I paid $10 for I brewmaster, which does just about everything- why would I pay someone $5 just to calculate how much yeast to pitch? All of these companies are making a killing on home brewers. Anyhow, I'll just pitch twice the yeast for this lager that I would pitch into an ale of the same gravity. Problem solved. $5 ahead

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I would check out mrmalty.com or yeastcalc.com (on a computer if you don't want to but the app.) and be sure you are pitching enough yeast. I have not brewed a lager yet but I have looked at some of the calculations and some require 4-5 times as much yeast as a lager.

And I doubt the software makers are making a "killing". The software I have seen costs somewhere between $0 and $25. There is also a limited market. For an example of comparison an average brewing app might cost $5 and have, guessing, a potential 500,000 sales. A game app might cost $2.99 and have a potential 10 -20 million sales. If I am not mistaken Beersmith is the most widely purchased brewing software and their claim is 3 million served.

guitarist_713 said:

why would I pay someone $5 just to calculate how much yeast to pitch? All of these companies are making a killing on home brewers.

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that is a rather ignorant thing to say.

Man I hate all those fat cats in their millionaire mansions getting rich off the lucrative homebrew business.

guitarist_713 said:

Everyone always says to go to mrmalty.com and use the pitch rate calculator. It costs $5 to buy their app for the iPhone. Isn't there a website that offers free info?

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Just access the web site using your phones browser.

You don't have to buy the app, although it's nice to have on the go and $5 isn't exactly the type of money that needs a lot of thought before spending. In fact, I bet you've frivolously spent five dollars before.
Personally, I use the Mr Malty app at least as much as I go to the site. And I figure Jamil has given every home brewer more than their $5 back with things like "The Jamil Show" (free podcast), countless magazine articles and books (although, you may have to purchase those), and contributions to internet forums like this one.
The irony here is (and don't feel bad, I bought iBrewmaster too) that you paid $10 for brewing software. Now, you may have to spend ~$5 more to get a pitch rate calc that's smartphone friendly. BrewPal, which was $2.99 when I bought it a couple years ago, includes a pitch rate calc (that mirrors MrMalty in numbers), a bottle or keg priming calc, temp. correction for SG readings, as well as many other features not included on the Northern Brewer app. I used the BP app exclusively until I bought BeerSmith (only $20).

I'm not cheap. I have $500 worth of brewing equipment that I've bought in the last two years since I started home brewing, I buy on average about $75-$100 worth of grain hops and yeast a month from Northern Brewer, and I pay for a yearly subscription to Brew Your Own. I enjoy reading Jamil's column every month, including his American Barleywine article this month. I also enjoy watching his podcast and I understand and respect the contributions he's made to the home brewing community. My comment about companies making a "killing" off of homebrewers was probably ignorant and unfounded. I was frustrated that I couldn't figure out how much yeast to pitch from my phone. So I went ahead and paid $5 for the mobile app. After doing so I learned that the 2000ml starter that I pitched wasn't nearly enough, and my lager didn't start fermenting for nearly three days. Serves me right I guess.

I am also unsure why the app is $5 if it was $1-$2 I would of already purchased a copy.

Are we really arguing over spending $5 or trying to get it for free? The man spent years worth of experiments to populate the pitching rates we all take for granted now. $5 is a steal for the amount of information given to you.

That being said, I bought the app, but I rarely use it. Just wanted to support all the hard work he did.

I don't really understand why it's so impossible to use the in-browser version if you're so cheap...

Brewzor calculator its free.

I'm using the yeastcalc tool these days. IMO, it's better than Mr. Malty due to giving me the ability to do up to three steps for a starter. So, I can get the cell count needed with two, or three, smaller starters compared to a single starter. I've done a pair of starters (1.5L and 2.5L in size) that would have required a single starter step over 20L. I'd rather take a bit more time to make the two starters than use a ton of DME.

haha. Your phone can't run flash. Now it's either MrMalty's fault or Steve Job's fault. DisQQ!

http://www.wyeastlab.com/hb_pitchrate.cfm

Works great.

Tiffhoward said:

http://www.wyeastlab.com/hb_pitchrate.cfm

Works great.

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Also Flash-based.

Tiffhoward said:

http://www.wyeastlab.com/hb_pitchrate.cfm

Works great.

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Meh, the yeastcalc tool [IMO/IME] is superior. For one thing, I want to know starter steps, NOT one starter and then a beer as a 'step 2'... Also, I'm using 2L and 3L flasks, so the Wyeast tool fails me there.

BTW, as far as the OP using an iphoney... Sucks to be tied to apple hardware/software... Doesn't it? I can use the yeastcalc tool on my Android tablets, phone as well as systems running Windows (7 or 8) without issue. Sure, it's not as easy on the phone screen (smallest of my devices at 4.x") but it's still usable.

Golddiggie said:

I'm using the yeastcalc tool these days. IMO, it's better than Mr. Malty due to giving me the ability to do up to three steps for a starter. So, I can get the cell count needed with two, or three, smaller starters compared to a single starter. I've done a pair of starters (1.5L and 2.5L in size) that would have required a single starter step over 20L. I'd rather take a bit more time to make the two starters than use a ton of DME.

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If you wanted to use Yeastcalc with slurry, how would you go about doing that? I guess my question is, how do I know how many cells are in my slurry after it ferments a 9g batch, thus how far to split it up and how many cells are in each jar to determine starter size/need?

tre9er said:

If you wanted to use Yeastcalc with slurry, how would you go about doing that? I guess my question is, how do I know how many cells are in my slurry after it ferments a 9g batch, thus how far to split it up and how many cells are in each jar to determine starter size/need?

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With a slurry, at best, you're guessing no matter which tool you use. Unless you have the lab equipment to actually get a cell count. Mr. Malty's site/tool does the guessing for you, based on an abstract parameter (thickness of the slurry). IF you really wanted to, you could use that to get a concentration level and plug that into the yeastcalc site/tool.

BTW, the yeastcalc site/tool gives you the growth rate of the starter. Unlike Mr. Malty which allows you to mess with it. IME, the yeastcalc site gives me better options and lets me make correct sized starters for my batches. While Mr. Malty is ok for single starter steps, it falls flat when you don't want to make a 20-30L starter for a batch.

Also, sure yeastcalc is flash based. But, it's only an issue for those trying to use iphone/ipad/ipods to get to it. Besides, I normally figure out my starters on my actual computer, not my phone, or tablet. Then again, since I'm not tied to apple there, I have the option of using it anywhere.

guitarist_713 said:

I'm not cheap. I have $500 worth of brewing equipment that I've bought in the last two years since I started home brewing, I buy on average about $75-$100 worth of grain hops and yeast a month from Northern Brewer, and I pay for a yearly subscription to Brew Your Own. I enjoy reading Jamil's column every month, including his American Barleywine article this month. I also enjoy watching his podcast and I understand and respect the contributions he's made to the home brewing community. My comment about companies making a "killing" off of homebrewers was probably ignorant and unfounded. I was frustrated that I couldn't figure out how much yeast to pitch from my phone. So I went ahead and paid $5 for the mobile app. After doing so I learned that the 2000ml starter that I pitched wasn't nearly enough, and my lager didn't start fermenting for nearly three days. Serves me right I guess.

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Good for you. Sorry if you seem to be getting bashed. Lesson learned. LOL

Golddiggie said:

With a slurry, at best, you're guessing no matter which tool you use. Unless you have the lab equipment to actually get a cell count. Mr. Malty's site/tool does the guessing for you, based on an abstract parameter (thickness of the slurry). IF you really wanted to, you could use that to get a concentration level and plug that into the yeastcalc site/tool.

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That's what I've been doing. I check my jars and estimate how much is trub and how much is yeast, then figure I'll need that many ML of yeast according to MM. I'd rather use some of the slurry jar and make a starter than direct-pitch it all if it only has 100ML of yeast in it.

Damn though, looking at MM, I've been selling myself short and overpitching I think. My slurries are I guess what you'd call "thick" as I'm only counting the settled part on the bottom of the jar, not the clear liquid on top, and I usually have 300-400 ML of yeast, with closer to the 25% non-yeast solids as I don't wash.

I've been warming and pitching entire jars of this slurry into 9g batches, which seems like overkill as MM is telling me I only need 100ml of such yeast. Does that make sense?!?

The thing is I made a 2 liter yeast starter an pitched a packet of saflager w-34/70 into it. On the mr malty yeast calculator it only calculates starters made with smack packs. So for this 1.053 lager it said to pitch 2 smack packs into a 2 liter starter. Or four dry packages of dry yeast. I needed 315 billion yeast cells. No idea how many yeast cells were generated by the starter that I made but it wasn't enough...

guitarist_713 said:

The thing is I made a 2 liter yeast starter an pitched a packet of saflager w-34/70 into it. On the mr malty yeast calculator it only calculates starters made with smack packs. So for this 1.053 lager it said to pitch 2 smack packs into a 2 liter starter. Or four dry packages of dry yeast. I needed 315 billion yeast cells. No idea how many yeast cells were generated by the starter that I made but it wasn't enough...

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Even when pitching proper rates I've had lagers take that long to start, especially if you're fermenting in the cooler end of their range. 5g of 1.053OG lager should have been fine with a 2L starter made with dry yeast. If it was on a stir-plate, even better.

Golddiggie said:

I'm using the yeastcalc tool these days. IMO, it's better than Mr. Malty due to giving me the ability to do up to three steps for a starter. So, I can get the cell count needed with two, or three, smaller starters compared to a single starter. I've done a pair of starters (1.5L and 2.5L in size) that would have required a single starter step over 20L. I'd rather take a bit more time to make the two starters than use a ton of DME.

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^^^^ This. I switched to yeastcalc awhile back and find it easier and more intuitive, plus I usually do steps and it's great for that. I don't re-pitch slurries so I find nothing lacking and in fact, I find the pitch rate info very helpful.

I'm fermenting it at 52 degrees. And the airlock is bubbling so maybe ill just not worry, relax, and have a homebrew haha

If you are still looking for a free pitching rate calculator, which also works great on mobile devices, i have implemented this one here:
http://www.yeastcalc.co/yeast-pitch-rate-and-starter-calculator