Wyeast

so i was down at my local homebrew supplies store today and got two kits of beer. One was a strawberry blond and the other was a High Gravity WeizenBock wheat ale. I got Wyeast with both of them; however two differant styles of yeast. one was a blue package that claimed to have 25 billion yeast cells. The other was a green package (a little bigger) claiming to have 100 billion yeast cells. Now my brother being the type to not think just do took both packages out of their respective boxes and put the in the fridge but did not notice which belonged to which. I was thinking that the green bag would be for the HG wheat beer, but from what i remeber at the store that one was placed in the Strawberry blond box. Any help...? Also the Blue bag says that yeast should not be put directly into the 5 gallons in the fermentor but into someting else then (dont remeber what it exactly was) added to the fermentor.

I went ahead and went with what i thought happened at the store and used the green package (100 billion) on the strawberry blond i brewed tonight. T.I.A.

Believe it or not, I would say the Strawberry Blond would need the higher pitching rate (the green pack, 100 Billion cells in this case). This is because a blond should be fairly clean so you don't want a lot of yeast reproduction to take place since this causes esters and flavors to be produced. The Weizenbock, however, thrives on additional esters and flavors produced by the yeast reproduction, so even though it's higher gravity, it should use the smaller pack. If you "over-pitch" a beer, it winds up much cleaner. If you "under-pitch" a beer, it winds up getting a lot of flavor and aroma from the yeast. Obviously, it's "best" to pitch a beer at the exact rate that is required, but that's not always possible.

The pouches that the yeast came in should have a number printed on them telling you what type of yeast it is and the recipes should say which yeast goes with which beer

Check the recipe, the type of yeast should be stated. The one "slap pack" that says "propagator" is designed to be used with a starter. The other, is designed to be pitched as is. I've gotten into the habit of making a starter for either one, things go better with a starter.

gruntingfrog said:

Believe it or not, I would say the Strawberry Blond would need the higher pitching rate (the green pack, 100 Billion cells in this case). This is because a blond should be fairly clean so you don't want a lot of yeast reproduction to take place since this causes esters and flavors to be produced. The Weizenbock, however, thrives on additional esters and flavors produced by the yeast reproduction, so even though it's higher gravity, it should use the smaller pack. If you "over-pitch" a beer, it winds up much cleaner. If you "under-pitch" a beer, it winds up getting a lot of flavor and aroma from the yeast. Obviously, it's "best" to pitch a beer at the exact rate that is required, but that's not always possible.

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extremely informative, thanks. Looks like i did it right then. As far as labels on the bags, perhaps, i read them and didnt see anything. The recipes did not have anything on them.

rcbrew said:

Check the recipe, the type of yeast should be stated. The one "slap pack" that says "propagator" is designed to be used with a starter. The other, is designed to be pitched as is. I've gotten into the habit of making a starter for either one, things go better with a starter.

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yeah the directions show this...

how long do these typically take to start fermentation (see some action in my airlock) i was reading up to 72 hours is not unheard of...

note: i did not make a starter for the one i used which was the one made to be directly pitched, maybe this is what RC is talking about

The color of the package does not tell you anything about the type of yeast in the package. Blonds and wheats take very different yeasts.

Post the numbers or the advice you get will be useless.

The smaller Propagator pack should be used to make a starter before pitching the yeast. The larger Activator pack should be fine to just prime (pop the bubble like the directions state) wait for it to swell then pitch. Go to Wyeast's website http://wyeastlab.com/ to see the directions and descriptions of the different yeasts including recommended styles and the appropriate yeasts. This should answer all your questions.
Craig

david_42 said:

The color of the package does not tell you anything about the type of yeast in the package. Blonds and wheats take very different yeasts.

Post the numbers or the advice you get will be useless.

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I read the original post to mean that they were the same yeast strain, but a different pack size. After reading this post then reading the original post again, I agree. They were probably different strains. You'll wind up with beer, probably good beer, but without knowing which strain you threw in which beer I can't say if they'll be "right."

Oh, well. I guess you'll need to brew again!

gruntingfrog said:

I read the original post to mean that they were the same yeast strain, but a different pack size. After reading this post then reading the original post again, I agree. They were probably different strains. You'll wind up with beer, probably good beer, but without knowing which strain you threw in which beer I can't say if they'll be "right."

Oh, well. I guess you'll need to brew again!

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that would be unfortunate. Thanks for all the responses, and yes they were two differant "strains" and i did end up going to the website and checking and i did use the two in their correct style brews. Once again thanks for the help fellas.:rockin:

So what were the numbers?

I hope to HE double hockey sticks one of them was a hefe yeast.

Dude said:

So what were the numbers?

I hope to HE double hockey sticks one of them was a hefe yeast.

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Yes "1056 American Ale Yeast" is what i used in my Strawberry Blond and i believe it was "1028" i used for the WiezenBock High Gravity. I could be wrong on the second...i really cont remeber with 10 or so summer ales down. :cross:

tHE "1028" wAS THE ONE USED TO MAKE THE STARTER THOUGH