Pitching two different yeasts

I'm brewing an Ale and using WLP080 cream ale yeast. What would be the outcome if I rehydrated about 1/4 of a pack of US 05 and pitched it along with the WLP080?

How much of an effect will the US 05 have only using 1/4 of a 11.5g pack. There may be no need to do this but I want to make sure I have enough cell count.

When I pitch two different yeasts simultaneously, one of them tends to dominate. Sometimes you can do a one-two, so one takes over when the other one stalls.

Of course that’s why we try, to find out what happens. Some of the best beers were accidents.

Best of luck.

My thinking, may or may not be correct but using so little of the US05 will not have that much of an effect on it or dominate the entire cell count.

Correct me if I'm wrong though.

i bet it won't make much difference since both those yeasts are pretty neutral. the WL yeast is a blend of lager and ale yeast.

On the general question of whether pitching a small amount of one yeast into another will impact the overall batch I can tell you it is a qualified yes. It will depend on your temperature and wort conditions. I don't know these two specific yeasts very well, and I am too lazy to look up the info, so I will speak in generalities regarding two yeasts.

One of two things can happen. If the US-05 is the dominant yeast (meaning it is in an environment that favors it over the cream ale), it will eventually begin to grow and dominate the cream ale. It may take awhile because you are pitching so little, but it will happen. This could also happen towards the end of fermentation if the cream ale has a lower alcohol tolerance.

The other thing that could happen is that the US-05 has zero impact because the conditions favor the cream ale. In this instance, the US-05 may grow, but it would likely have little to no impact on the final beer because the cream ale will continue to out compete the US-05 for nutrients.

Because you are pitching the US-05 in such a small amount and it is unlikely that you find the set of narrow conditions that favor US-05 over cream ale (you will probably ferment in range that does not favor one over the other), I don't think it will have much of an impact. That said, if you are at the edge of the recommended temperature ranges, OG, and/or one yeast does not attenuate as much as the other, you will see a small impact when it comes to finished gravity or flavor.

With any yeast, you can look up the temp recommendations, attenuation, and overall information in order to asses whether one yeast will dominate another.

Thanks for all of the good info. That makes a lot of sense. I think I'll just pitch the cream ale yeast.