Would you use 2 Activator Packs on a 1.065 beer?

I am brewing NB Dubbel. Its OG is 1.065 and I bought 2 of the Wyeast Abbey Activator Packs, the ones you dont need to make a starter for. They are good for beers up to 1.060 so should i pitch both packs since they beer is 1.065?

I personally wouldn't. I'd probably make a starter though.

check out http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/calc.html

It is going to suggest either 2 packs or making a starter with that gravity. I always make a starter, it lets me know that the yeast is good and I always want to pitch the proper amount or even a little more yeast cells

Activator Packs have 100 billon cells and you need 236 billion for a beer of this gravity (ala Mr. Malty).

You'll be a bit shy...

Rather than spending 16 bucks on two packets of yeast I would spend 8 on one and grow a huge starter incrementally.

Starters are popular here, and I am a recent convert...

BUT, since you already bought two packs, pitch both and that should be about right, IMO.

Bonneville said:

Starters are popular here, and I am a recent convert...

BUT, since you already bought two packs, pitch both and that should be about right, IMO.

Click to expand...

I've done it in a pinch, like if I hadn't had time to make a starter, like if I'm picking up ingredients on brew day, or decided to go with a different yeast at the last minute. My Lhbs sells outdated tubes and packs dirt cheap, and once I was going to brew at a friend's and stopped for stuff on the way, and I bought one "fresh" tube of the yeast I was doing and two outdated tubes of the same yeast, and pitched it all into a moderate grav wort, and it took off and worked fine.

The activator packs do need a starter even though they say they don't .If your ok with spending the extra money on two you will be fine.



I am a cheap bastid so I wash and save yeast and then each patch I do I save some wort to make starters. I always end up with a little more than I need but I do it on purpose. Most of my wort comes in at a 1.040 or higher pre boil so its good to go.

I just pitched a single smack pack on my 5 gallon batch. The next day it was fermenting along quite nicely. With fewer yeast cells, it will just take longer for fermentation to take off, but I didn't really notice much of a delay.

I've never made a starter, even up to 1.070 wort and haven't had a problem as long as I aerated well. Though, I'll admit that it would have been safer to have made a starter.

+1 on making a starter for sure.

Last Saturday I made a Northern Brewer Belgian Tripel extract kit. I didn't boil it down too much as I thought I was losing too much to evaporation so I ended up with an OG of 1.062/64 and about 5 1/2 gal. of wort. I had made a starter for the White Labs Belgian Yeast Blend (WLP575) I bought, using 1 cup of light DME and 1 quart of water. I pitched the yeast at about 3pm last Sat. and by Sunday at 9am the thing took off like it was possessed. Thank god I had a blow off rig on that one! On Thursday, I replaced the blow off tube with an air lock and it's still bubbling this afternoon.

That was the first starter I've made and it worked really well. So from now on, whenever I plan on using liquid yeast, I'm going to make a starter no two ways about it!