Mr. Malty confusion

I mainly use dry yeast because my LHBS doesn't carry much liquid yeast and the ones he does have are usually very old. For most all of my beers I rehydrate the yeast and then pitch. I am planning an imperial stout that should have an OG of 1.100. According to Mr. Malty I will need to pitch 3.7 packs of yeast. If I rehydrate the yeast do I still need to pitch almost 4 of the 5g packs?

That sounds like alot. I do believe Mr Malty assumes your rehydrating the yeast.

i punched in the numbers assuming your making a 5.25gal batch. Make a 1.7L starter with intermittent shaking and 2 packs of dry yeast should do the trick.

2 packs sounds right, if you are using the 11.5 gram size. 1.100 is a big beer. Typical wisdom is that you don't make a starter with dry yeast, just rehydrate it.

I wouldn't do a starter. 4 packs (5 grams) or 2 packs (11.5 grams) - its a big beer.

brewdiver87 said:

If I rehydrate the yeast do I still need to pitch almost 4 of the 5g packs?

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Yes. Rehydrating doesn't increase the cell count.

That is using 5gram packs

As a side note. That is for a production date of today. An older production date may require more.

BelgianKing said:

iMake a 1.7L starter with intermittent shaking and 2 packs of dry yeast should do the trick.

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You wouldn't make a starter with dry yeast.

My mistake, I don't know why I was looking at the 5g yeast pack numbers when I use the good ol' 11.5g packs. In that case just rehydrate the 2 packs and pitch. Thanks!!

brewdiver87 said:

My mistake, I don't know why I was looking at the 5g yeast pack numbers when I use the good ol' 11.5g packs. In that case just rehydrate the 2 packs and pitch. Thanks!!

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Like someone else said above, the production date matters but you might be okay. Good luck!

I'll be sure to check the production dates on the packs I have. Thanks everyone for the responses!!!

Out of curiosity, why don't you make a starter with dry yeast?

Zeppman said:

Out of curiosity, why don't you make a starter with dry yeast?

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Mostly because there are already sufficient cells in the 11g packages for pitching into normal gravity, 5 gallon batches. Another reason is that dry yeast is packaged with nutrient reserves that are used by the cells when pitched into the wort. If you pitch them into a wort-based starter, they are depleted. The conventional thinking is that it is more beneficial to have the nutrients present during initial reproduction and fermentation stages in the actual wort/beer rather than a starter.