Pitching 2 Smack Packs?

I was at Moylan's brewery this weekend in CA and was talking to one of the guys working there about my new home brewing adventure. We started talking yeast and when I asked him about starters he said he didn't bother and just pitched two vile's of liquid yeast instead of one to get his cell counts up. Besides being an expensive way to do things, would twice as much yeast change the final flavor of your beer compared to pitching one vile?

yes...but making a starter is much, much, much cheaper and it's sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo easy

Also, if you're like me you can sample the starter hooch to feel a bit closer to your pets.

(Seriously, I've had some Belgian yeast strains make relatively drinkable hooch!)

Depends if that was a lager 2 pac's might not even be enough, But I guess you were talking ales. For me I would rather build up one vial in a starter on a stir plate versus pitching 2 vials.

HoppyDaze said:

yes...but making a starter is much, much, much cheaper and it's sooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo easy

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+1 to this. For God sakes, two smack packs are so damn expensive, I would think you are better off making a starter and stepping it up. Sounds to me like the guy is working commission.

It's all up to you, man.. how much money you want to spend, and if you have the time to make a starter.

Starters are pretty easy, and you don't really need to go the whole 9 yards of making a stir plate, and all that....

2 smack packs can get a bit pricey.

+1 starter... $20 worth of yeast for one batch??

That was my thought. Just wanted to see if he maybe knew something I didn't. Starter will be the route I go.

BVilleggiante said:

That was my thought. Just wanted to see if he maybe knew something I didn't. Starter will be the route I go.

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By pitching 2 packs of yeast he is assured of a specific and set pitch rate (assuming his packs are fresh and in good condition), he knows he is pitching pretty much exactly 200billion yeast cells.

If you make a starter - depending on the volume, level of sugars and nutrients, how (and how well) it is aerated - you might end up pitching less yeast than in 1 packet or more yeast than in 2 packets, however, home-brew-type-starters are not an exact science, so your exact pitching rate will vary.

Well made starters are great, however that does not mean that in every case they are better than several packs of fresh well maintained yeast.

BVilleggiante said:

I was at Moylan's brewery this weekend in CA and was talking to one of the guys working there about my new home brewing adventure. We started talking yeast and when I asked him about starters he said he didn't bother and just pitched two vile's of liquid yeast instead of one to get his cell counts up. Besides being an expensive way to do things, would twice as much yeast change the final flavor of your beer compared to pitching one vile?

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Two packs (or more depending on your OG) is the lazy but expensive way to get closer to proper pitching rate, but it also depends on how old the packages are. At 4 months they are already half dead, so 50 billion cells. Besides cost, a starter really helps get the yeast active and ready to roll.

And to answer your second question, yes the flavor will be different, because it will taste goooooooooooooooooooooood!