Fermentis dry yeast users
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I've never heard that before, and I don't think that figure is correct.
There are something like 230 billion yeast cells in an 11 gram package, which is more than a sufficient number for an OG of 1.060 ish at least.
There are something like 230 billion yeast cells in an 11 gram package, which is more than a sufficient number for an OG of 1.060 ish at least.
I'm positive that number is way off. I pitched that yeast (rehydrated in 400mL water) twice last week,one packet each time. The first one was OG1.061,the second OG1.074. The 1st one pegged the airlock centerpiece against the cap in 15 minutes flat & bubbled once. The 2nd started visible fermentation in 12 hours,nearly to the minute! So even rehydration can speed things up conciderably with one packet for the average gravity ale by being rehydrated.
this seems to be a common issue/debate. how many packets, hydrate or not, etc etc. i would say there are a 1000 people who pitch 1 packet of dry with great success and there are another 1000 who pitch hydrated yeast with the same success.
i use US-05 in almost all my beers and never rehydrate.
i use US-05 in almost all my beers and never rehydrate.
Calichusetts
Well-Known Member
http://www.brewersfriend.com/yeast-pitch-rate-and-starter-calculator/
They do break down the numbers really well after the calculator itself. They also make claims like this. I don't use their calculator but I don't really trust Mr malty's as well. Usually overpitch by 20% unless I'm looking for esters.
They do break down the numbers really well after the calculator itself. They also make claims like this. I don't use their calculator but I don't really trust Mr malty's as well. Usually overpitch by 20% unless I'm looking for esters.
I rehydrate just to cut lag time. That's about all it's intended to do,since dry yeast packets contain more cells than liquid to start with.
It says >6. Now, it'd have to be MUCH greater to equal what I've understood to be in there, but I"m confident from my own experiences that it's far more than 69 billion cells per package.
I am like you JDGator.
I have had nothing but success with SF04 & 05, and have never rehydrated. I have used liquid yeast twice. One was Wyeasy Kolsch and the beer is cloudy as mud even after bottled over a month. The other was White Labs Irish Ale which exploded all over my sink and just started bubbling after 72 hours. I hope it can get near expected FG.
I also seem to get very clear ales with SF05.
I have had nothing but success with SF04 & 05, and have never rehydrated. I have used liquid yeast twice. One was Wyeasy Kolsch and the beer is cloudy as mud even after bottled over a month. The other was White Labs Irish Ale which exploded all over my sink and just started bubbling after 72 hours. I hope it can get near expected FG.
I also seem to get very clear ales with SF05.
i use s05 A LOT and s04 sometimes too.
anything under 1060 i just toss in one pack dry. anything over 1060 i toss in two.
it always starts bubbling FAST. ive read a lot about uner and over pitching yeast, but for the purposes of most homebrewers it just seems like a pain in the butt for very little gain. i have never done a starter ever and have never ended up with off flavors from "stressed out yeast" or anything.
did a 1085 stout with 2 packs of s05 dry. no problems.
i find it annoying that people call them "smack packs"
anything under 1060 i just toss in one pack dry. anything over 1060 i toss in two.
it always starts bubbling FAST. ive read a lot about uner and over pitching yeast, but for the purposes of most homebrewers it just seems like a pain in the butt for very little gain. i have never done a starter ever and have never ended up with off flavors from "stressed out yeast" or anything.
did a 1085 stout with 2 packs of s05 dry. no problems.
i find it annoying that people call them "smack packs"
dgr
Well-Known Member
My last brew log
5 gallons 1.066 into fermenter. Fermentation chamber at 65 degrees with 1 degree swing. Pitched 1 pack us-05 rehydrated with fermaid
9/7 pitched yeast
9/9 36 hours and bubbling in blow off jar.
9/12 Raised temp to 67
9/13 SG 1.016. Lots of CO2 bubbles on hydrometer
9/15 SG 1.014
9/18 SG 1.014. Keg, dry hop.
I think I'm going to stick with one sachet for the time being.
5 gallons 1.066 into fermenter. Fermentation chamber at 65 degrees with 1 degree swing. Pitched 1 pack us-05 rehydrated with fermaid
9/7 pitched yeast
9/9 36 hours and bubbling in blow off jar.
9/12 Raised temp to 67
9/13 SG 1.016. Lots of CO2 bubbles on hydrometer
9/15 SG 1.014
9/18 SG 1.014. Keg, dry hop.
I think I'm going to stick with one sachet for the time being.
Smack packs are what Wyeast sells, and that's what Wyeast calls them. They're a packet of liquid yeast with with another small pack of starter and nutrient inside that you can "smack" and break open to get the yeast going and the packet will swell up with CO2.
http://www.wyeastlab.com/hb_productdetail.cfm?ProductID=16
boydster
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I've always been under the impression the packets had 200+ billion cells, which would be fine to pitch into a ~1.060 batch. I've had a lot of luck with one rehydrated packet of US-05 in lots of different brews, but I guess I'll have to dig around and see if there is something to this 69 billion cell count thing?
According to this; http://www.midwestsupplies.com/media/downloads/213/safale%20us-05.pdf A packet of US-05 is something like 60 billion cells per gram.
kombat
Well-Known Member
The number comes directly from the US-05 datasheet on Fermentis's website.
Are you seriously claiming that you had active fermentation from rehydrated dry yeast in 15 minutes flat? Moreover, even if that were true, are you claiming that such behaviour is desireable in beer?
Yeast need 4-6 hours of lag time to ramp up and properly prepare for the main event. It is not physically possible that your yeast completed the lag phase and began active fermentation in 15 minutes. It's just not possible.
More likely, what you saw was simple off-gassing from a thorough aeration.
kombat
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You're misreading the document.
6x10^9 is 6 billion, not 60 billion.
6 billion cells per gram in an 11.5 gram packet is 69 billion cells.
kombat
Well-Known Member
I'm surprised, Yooper. I've cited the source, direct from the manufacturer. It appears irrefutable.
The manufacturer themselves report a wildly lower count. Where did you hear there were 230 billion cells in a packet?
Clearly, you can pitch 1 packet of US-05 and it will produce beer. Heck, you can even pitch it dry and it will work. But it appears undeniable, given the manufacturer's own datasheet and modern understanding of optimal pitching rates and the drastic reduction in yeast viability by pitching dry, that doing so is grossly underpitching and will not produce the best possible beer.
Don't even call me a liar on this one. And no,I'm not exagerating either. It took a long time to get the wort down to my usual 75F for whatever reason. The yeast was rehydrating all that time. If I understand the PDF correctly,it should rehydrate for 30 minutes,then be gently stirred for 30 more. It wasn't stirred,but likely sat that long. And the packet contains 6 X 10 to the 9th power per gramm of viable yeast cells. So that's not 69 billion. that's 60B times 6 per gram times 11.5g.
It is possible if I did it. Or rather it did. It's sitting on the fermenter stand litterally right next to me. I saw it. I timed it. I didn't say it started fermenting...you did. I said it pegged the the airlock center piece against the cap & bubbled once. And in a Cooper's Microbrew FV & 19L,that's a lot of head space. The batch next to it didn't do as quickly.
And yes,getting through the reproductive phase is supposed to be a good thing,or they wouldn't recommend rehydrating or starters. Geez. Why am I the liar because one or more of you haven't experienced something I have??
If it does it right in front of me,it's possible. End of story. Books & brewers be damned. And it's ten to the ninth power,so add 9 zeros to ten gives 60B.,..
kombat
Well-Known Member
We all know airlock activity is not a reliable indicator of fermentation progress. If you backed up your assertion with hydrometer readings that demonstrated a clear drop in S.G. after 15 minutes, then that would be proof enough for me. But knowing what I know about yeast, it's just not possible that the yeast blew through the lag phase and were actively fermenting in just 15 minutes. That's simply not how it works.
Again, please double-check your math. You are incorrect. 6 x 10 to the 9th power is 6 billion. 6 billion cells per gram. In an 11.5 gram pack. That's 69 billion cells.
My apologies then, I misunderstood what you were attempting to claim. Perhaps you could clarify?
What did you mean to say when you related your experience? What are you saying was happening?
Again, I'm not calling you a liar. I believe your airlock bubbled after 15 minutes. I'm simply saying I believe - based on all the research I've read - that you're misinterpreting that action as the yeast already producing CO2 when I believe it was in fact simple off-gassing from vigorous aeration, or temperature change, or a falling barometer from an approaching warm front.
kombat
Well-Known Member
Follow me with this.
10^0 = 1.
6 x 10^0 = 6.
A 6 with 0 zero's after it.
6 x 10^1 = 60.
A 6 with 1 zero after it.
So 6 x 10^9 would be a 6 with 9 zeros after it.
That's 6 billion.
I don't know how to make this any clearer.
Do you really believe a single packet contains 690 billion cells? Don't you see how that would be wildly overpitching, all the time?
boydster
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This is part of the confusion right now. 6 x 10 to the ninth power is 6 billion.
10^1 = 10
10^2 = 100
10^9 = 1,000,000,000
You can't vent build up that wasn't there already. that is to say,it's not like it was fermenting away like the next morning or something. There was no dissolved co2 to vent at that point. It filled the head space in that time why I don't know or care. I watched it do it. that's it. Saying I didn't see this happen 7 it's impossible is the same as calling me a liar or a doddering old fool that is out of touch with science,math,whatever. Why asl why? It happens sometimes. This is the fastest one I've ever seen,true. But that's right out of my notes from my own observations. I pitched at 4:06PM,& by 4:21PM,it pegged the airlock center piece against the cap. Airlock activity on a well sealed fermenter (the cooper's Microbrew with the sealed screw down lid) is a bit more accurate than the ail pail with no seal on a snap down lid.
And it was & still is a cold front stalled in our area for several days now. Actually had one warm day after it got past initial fermentation. then got colder yet again. So airlock activity would normally be the opposite. IE,starting to suck back. It pumped up,so to say. The foam from the aeration was dissipated already,except for maybe an inch of loose foam. In other words,some larger bubbles that broke down quickly. Not much left by the time I tested it & pitched. It stayed pegged till it actually started fermenting the next morning at 7 something. So it was just enough to fill the head space that one time. Hey,there's a first time for everything. This is why I say "never say never". Sooner or later,you'll witness something like this that all the books in the world can't account for. I'm saying I literally saw this myself & was sober atm. But just this once did I see one react that fast. I've had some with several inches of thick foam on top from aerating that took a few hours at least to do the same thing...about 3-3.5 hours to be more exact. This was different...idk what else to say but that it happened.
And it was & still is a cold front stalled in our area for several days now. Actually had one warm day after it got past initial fermentation. then got colder yet again. So airlock activity would normally be the opposite. IE,starting to suck back. It pumped up,so to say. The foam from the aeration was dissipated already,except for maybe an inch of loose foam. In other words,some larger bubbles that broke down quickly. Not much left by the time I tested it & pitched. It stayed pegged till it actually started fermenting the next morning at 7 something. So it was just enough to fill the head space that one time. Hey,there's a first time for everything. This is why I say "never say never". Sooner or later,you'll witness something like this that all the books in the world can't account for. I'm saying I literally saw this myself & was sober atm. But just this once did I see one react that fast. I've had some with several inches of thick foam on top from aerating that took a few hours at least to do the same thing...about 3-3.5 hours to be more exact. This was different...idk what else to say but that it happened.
Hopper5000
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There seems to be some debate on how much these dry packets actually have in them. From reading the info on brewersfriend and on the fermentis website I gather that they guarantee that there at lease 6 billion viable cells per gram in a 11.5g packet.
Mr malty claims that there are 20 billion cells per gram but that is based on a pretty weak study (if you actually go and look it up). It is possible that there is a better study on that number but I can't find anything.
From what I have heard and seen from a lot of people is one pack is usually a good enough pitch for lower gravity beers and 2 is good enough for higher gravity beers.
Doesn't seem like there is any real data on how many cells there actually are. Maybe someone could do a study or correct me?
The other part is whether to rehydrate or not. From what I have read if you rehydrate you should get the yeast into the wort within 30ish min or else it will run out of it's reserves and start to die.
I have also been seeing that if you just throw the yeast onto the wort without rehydrating then something like 30% of them will immediately die due to osmotic shock. Anyone have any info on this?
I believe there was an article within the last few years in BYO about rehydrating vs not rehydrating dry yeast and it didn't turn out to have much of a difference as far as fermentation and final gravity but I am a not sure they actually did cell counts. However, I have not read the article and it isn't available online. Anyone know what I am referring to?
If you use the 6 billion per gram number per pack then most people are probably drastically underpitching. However, seems like people are making consistent beers using one or two packets that fully attenuate and turn out well.
Thus, personally I am kind of confused about how much dry yeast to actually use, and whether to rehydrate it or not (I do if I am going to use some at bottling time b/c the alcohol presence).
I would like to add that I have had good success using one or two dry yeast packets but whether or not it was the "right and proper" pitching rate I really dunno now...
Mr malty claims that there are 20 billion cells per gram but that is based on a pretty weak study (if you actually go and look it up). It is possible that there is a better study on that number but I can't find anything.
From what I have heard and seen from a lot of people is one pack is usually a good enough pitch for lower gravity beers and 2 is good enough for higher gravity beers.
Doesn't seem like there is any real data on how many cells there actually are. Maybe someone could do a study or correct me?
The other part is whether to rehydrate or not. From what I have read if you rehydrate you should get the yeast into the wort within 30ish min or else it will run out of it's reserves and start to die.
I have also been seeing that if you just throw the yeast onto the wort without rehydrating then something like 30% of them will immediately die due to osmotic shock. Anyone have any info on this?
I believe there was an article within the last few years in BYO about rehydrating vs not rehydrating dry yeast and it didn't turn out to have much of a difference as far as fermentation and final gravity but I am a not sure they actually did cell counts. However, I have not read the article and it isn't available online. Anyone know what I am referring to?
If you use the 6 billion per gram number per pack then most people are probably drastically underpitching. However, seems like people are making consistent beers using one or two packets that fully attenuate and turn out well.
Thus, personally I am kind of confused about how much dry yeast to actually use, and whether to rehydrate it or not (I do if I am going to use some at bottling time b/c the alcohol presence).
I would like to add that I have had good success using one or two dry yeast packets but whether or not it was the "right and proper" pitching rate I really dunno now...
You're earlier post either: a) implies that the yeast had started fermenting with that OR b) it is a completely non-relevant waste of a post because it has nothing to do with the yeast.
Also, if it was actually fermenting then (15 mins after), it would likely be going good the next morning too, right?
stpug
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I've read from a couple sources who have invested significantly more time than myself that the actual number of cells contained within a gram of dry yeast is SIGNIFICANTLY higher than what's printed on the specification sheets. Read for yourself and draw your own conclusions:
http://seanterrill.com/2011/04/01/dry-yeast-viability/
http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/dry.html
Summary, with well handled, reasonably fresh dry yeast that is properly rehydrated you are looking close to 20 billion cells per dry gram (~230 billion cells per dry sachet). You can even decide to apply a 25% margin of error (for the benefit of the doubt) and you're still looking at about 173 billion cells (good enough for more moderate gravity 5 gallon batches).
http://seanterrill.com/2011/04/01/dry-yeast-viability/
http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/dry.html
Summary, with well handled, reasonably fresh dry yeast that is properly rehydrated you are looking close to 20 billion cells per dry gram (~230 billion cells per dry sachet). You can even decide to apply a 25% margin of error (for the benefit of the doubt) and you're still looking at about 173 billion cells (good enough for more moderate gravity 5 gallon batches).
kombat
Well-Known Member
No offense unionrdr, but I think we've already established your math skills might be a little weak, at least as it pertains to exponents.
Look, I didn't mean to get you worked up, it's just that you were implying something that in my experience was both a) impossible, and b) undesireable.
Take an empty pop bottle and fill it halfway with water. Add a couple drops of dish soap. Screw the cap on and shake it up as hard as you can. Now immediately unscrew the top.
Guess what? Pressure will vent. Where did that pressure come from?
No, but gas can be coaxed into solution by vigorous agitation, and when that agitation is removed, it will come back out of solution.
Again, I'm not saying your airlock didn't bubble. I'm certain it did. I'm not calling you a liar. I'm simply saying that it is extremely unlikely that that bubbling was due to the yeast generating CO2 a mere 45 minutes after being dust. All the research indicates that it doesn't work that way. And we all know the many different reasons an airlock can burp. Active fermentation is just one cause, and 15 minutes after pitching, it is pretty far down the list of likely candidates.
And as I said, even if it WAS indicative of a rocket-fast fermentation, that would be evidence of extremely overactive yeast, and the corresponding off-flavours would render the resulting beer undrinkable.
You want your yeast neither furiously active, nor comatose. You want your yeast to be right in that sweet spot, where they're comfortably working along at a casual pace, not throwing off too many esters, not producing fusels, but not falling asleep and dropping to the bottom prematurely, either.
kombat
Well-Known Member
The book "Yeast," by Chris White and Jamil Zainasheff reports that pitching dry yeast directly into wort reduces viability by around 50%. That's all I need to know to convince me to rehydrate my dry yeast.
dgr
Well-Known Member
I don't think I said 36 hour lag time but I can see how you would draw that conclusion. When I checked it at 36 hours, active bubbling was noted. I just pitched a cup of 3 week old us-05 slurry into a 1.040 ale at 65 degrees. 36 hours later, I see the airlock is going to just start bubbling. Mr Malty suggests pitch rate was close to double what was needed. You have no way of knowing but my fermentations are in morebeer pales which don't have much of a seal so fermentation has to be really active to see bubbling.
My point was more along 7 days to fully attenuate seems perfectly reasonable to me. When a slurry pitched high based on mr malty shows nearly the same progression as a sachet, I don't think I am under pitching with a sachet. However, I'm here to learn so if you see a hole here, please show me the flaw in my logic.
No offense unionrdr, but I think we've already established your math skills might be a little weak, at least as it pertains to exponents.
Look, I didn't mean to get you worked up, it's just that you were implying something that in my experience was both a) impossible, and b) undesireable.
Take an empty pop bottle and fill it halfway with water. Add a couple drops of dish soap. Screw the cap on and shake it up as hard as you can. Now immediately unscrew the top.
Guess what? Pressure will vent. Where did that pressure come from?
No, but gas can be coaxed into solution by vigorous agitation, and when that agitation is removed, it will come back out of solution.
Again, I'm not saying your airlock didn't bubble. I'm certain it did. I'm not calling you a liar. I'm simply saying that it is extremely unlikely that that bubbling was due to the yeast generating CO2 a mere 45 minutes after being dust. All the research indicates that it doesn't work that way. And we all know the many different reasons an airlock can burp. Active fermentation is just one cause, and 15 minutes after pitching, it is pretty far down the list of likely candidates.
And as I said, even if it WAS indicative of a rocket-fast fermentation, that would be evidence of extremely overactive yeast, and the corresponding off-flavours would render the resulting beer undrinkable.
You want your yeast neither furiously active, nor comatose. You want your yeast to be right in that sweet spot, where they're comfortably working along at a casual pace, not throwing off too many esters, not producing fusels, but not falling asleep and dropping to the bottom prematurely, either.
You do not want the yeast to take a long time going slowly to build up the numbers need to ferment x amount of wort. Nasties could take over before the yeast can. don't you guys read on here? It's been taught for quite some time that you want to cut lag time so the yeast gets a foothold before something else in the minority takes over. It wasn't dissolved air,I don't shake like mad,I stir. the loose foam was about gone by the time I sealed it up. And if you were paying attention to all my words,you'd have noticed this. Al these things "airlocks can do" dosen't apply in this instance.If off gassing the o2 we dissolve into it were true,I'd see this same thing all the time,every single time. I haven't & I don't. It just doesn't work that way,as the o2 has been driven off by boiling. so we replace it by various means. As I said this is the first time I've ever seen this. So if what you're saying is true,it wouldn't have been the first time. It def is not impossible if I did it/observed it. It is also desireable to help the yeast get a solid foothold before something else does.
Also,you guys talk about these pitch rate calculators,& having a beer get done in a week flat...& that's ok,good,& desireable? IDK...sounds a little the same to me. So why is it good then,but not when I get it started a lil sooner? it can't be good in one instance & bad in another.
But I'll tell you what. Talkin yeast around here is like discussing relgion &/or politics. I give up. why is it when I do right,no one remembers & when I do wrong,no one forgets?! Something I saw as good & unusual happens to ME,& I'm crazy or something. someone else does it,& it's time to gush all over them. whatever. I was there,y'all weren't. period.
Based on that, then just double the dry yeast pitched. What harm in that?
I was told by my former LBHS, whom I tremendously respect, that 90% of his customers always start out underpitching yeast with dry yeast....and he was a big advocate of Fermentis for the "average" to "experienced" homebrewer. rehydrating was only desired if you wanted to shorten the lag time.
The next step beyond dry to him was slanting your own
He was not a fan of Wyeast and thought all White Labs required starters in his opinion probably because shipping to the deep South ain't real friendly to those vials...I use Fermentis 95% of the time...I have rehydrated only a couple times. I always get good results. I'm experimenting now with a US-05 (2 packets) versus a starter San Diego Super Yeast (2 vials-2L) in the same batches under the same conditions....after 24 hours the SD showed activity, US-05 none...but 48 hours later they "look" the same.....I'm not taking any gravity readings for at least a week though.
So....based upon the convenience and track record, I'll continue with pitching dry US-05....two packs is still less money than one vial of White labs and I THINK i'm getting more cells.........
It doesn't have to fill the headspace with CO2 in order for the airlock to bubble. The headspace is already full of air, so there just has to be enough added gas of any kind to displace one bubbles worth of the air that is already filling the headspace.
The foam on top doesn't have anything to do with it. None of that is dissolved in the wort anyway. It doesn't matter if you shake or stir, the point of aerating is to dissolve oxygen from the air into your wort. And you said that you did this, so your wort has dissolved air in it.
You keep swearing up and down that this event happened and you're not lying about it, but kombat has said multiple times that he believes you. The fact that it happened is not the issue here, it's why it happened. And I really can't figure out the reason you're suggesting. In the original post it seemed like you were implying that it started fermenting, but then in another post you said that's not what you were saying. So what do you think was happening?
It's true that you don't want yeast to have an excessively long lag time because this could allow other organisms to gain a foothold before the yeast can. But the lag time is when the yeast produce a lot of the esters and other flavors that you need in your beer. So if the lag time is way too short then the yeast don't produce the proper flavors.
Wheatmeister
Well-Known Member
Ppl have been pitching 05 and 04, non-rehydrated, for years with awesome results. I've used several packets for bigger gravity beers, but don't 90% of the time. Noone likes know-it-alls, Kombat.
Yes, those are the studies I know of, and where my 230 billion cells per sachet came from.
If you read the fermentis site, they say "at least 6^9" or something like that- meaning an unrefrigerated old package (but not expired) has "at least" that many. A fresh pack probably has much much more, as shown by the studies above.
I think the key words "at least" are being ignored in claiming the 69 billion cells per 11.5 gram package.
It's true that I haven't done a cell count, but if it was true that we were looking at a real figure of 69 billion cells per package, we'd all be responsible for grossly underpitching all of our beers and let's face it- we have not seen those results. Even if only anecdotal, I think we're onto something by claiming that our beers are not grossly underpitched, due to the results.
Sorry, misunderstood your 1st post...
I agree on the 7 days...
I will have to share that the last time I used (rehydrated) s05, it took 3 times as long to start as when I pitched active liquid (both around 1.050, same O2, similar pitching rates). But that might just be how they work for me...still made good beer.
Hopper5000
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Yeah if you pitch without rehydrating aren't you just killing off the weaker cells
But rehydrating is SOOOOO easy. The day before I brew, I boil water in a large pot and drop a mason jar in. I let the jar sit in the boiling water for about 10 minutes then put the top on it and screw it on. I let it cool on the counter overnight. Then you have sterilized water ready to rehydrate a pack of yeast on brew day.
stpug
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I agree that it's easy to rehydrate yeast and my process is different.
Put 150 ml water in small saucepan, bring to boil (takes about 3 minutes), boil for 2-3 minutes with lid on, remove from heat, and place pot in cold water bath. I'll swap out the water in the water batch once or twice for fresh cold water. It only take about 5 minutes or less to be at ~85F, and remove from water bath. Sprinkle the dry yeast over the chilled water and cover for 10 minutes. Stir it up for a couple minutes, and cover for another 10 more minutes. At this point it's ready for pitching. Like most new processes, it sounds MUCH harder and more complicated than it really is.
It really is incredibly easy. All I do is put a half cup of water in a mason jar and microwave it until it boils. Usually takes about a minute. Then just let it cool (I'll put it in an ice bath if I'm in a hurry) to around 90F and sprinkle the yeast on top. After 15 minutes, mix it up, wait another 5-15 minutes, and pitch.
Also, I think Yooper has a point about the "at least" on the data sheets. The yeast companies would probably rather underestimate their product than overestimate.
And I also agree with the anecdotal evidence point. I would say most people who use dry yeast only pitch 1 pack for normal gravity beers and I never hear about off flavors from under pitching. I've even read head to head threads between something like US-05 and WLP001 with no mention of underpitching flavors from the US-05.
What causes then the foaming when rehydrating yeast? (This is an actual question.)
I've started with boiled water (little or no gas in solution, presumably at least) at around 100F and dumped the whole packet in without stirring, and within 30 minutes I had tons of foaming and bubbles in the resulting yeast cream.
Additionally, if making pizza or bread dough and massively overpitching (say, a full packet of dry baking yeast in a single ball of dough or loaf) it starts rising within minutes. If you cut the dough, you see little pockets very, very quickly. This doesn't happen if you use less yeast.
Many quick bread doughs do this ("ready in an hour!") with active dry or instant yeast. They also taste terrible, but that's another matter.
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