Re: Blending Yeast vs. Underpitching

Here's one. Say some guy I know is brewing a beer tomorrow with an (unexpected) estimated o.g. of 1.073 (but he rarely hits it). He only ordered one pack of Safale 05, but he happens to have a pack of 04 as well. He thinks these yeasts may be similar enough to pitch together and produce a tasty beer. Is it possible these strains will compete with each other and go to war? Is it wiser to just use the one pack of 05, aerate the @#$% out of it and use a BrewVint capsule and hope for the best?

* A side note: the beer in question is a root beer stout with lots of complex flavors, so mutant yeast flavor will most likely be lost somewhere in the jumble.....

Pitch the US-05, it'll take a while but the yeast will build their numbers up and ferment that beer.

make a starter with the 05.

...but the common consensus is that making a starter with dry yeast is bad...

Because it is bad, for a variety of reasons. Dry yeast have everything built into those little granules they need to reproduce to saturation levels. In most cases you don't even need to aerate the wort, because the manufacturers have already put those nutrients into the granules.

Anyway, practical matters. He's fine with one packet. If he actually hits 1.073, he's a little short in terms of cell count according to the Mr Malty calculator. But if he misses it by as little as 5 points, he's right on the money. Either way he's not going to be significantly under- or over-pitching with one packet. With two packets he will be over-pitching.

Cheers!

Bob