Major fork up....please assist!

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BeerAddikt

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So I'll cut to the chase...I re-hydrated US-05 yeast, was cooling in freezer and due to butterfingers and Star San making my hands slicker than snot, I dropped and spilled about 1/2 to 2/3 of my one cup of re-hydrated yeast. Pitched anyways, like f*ck it, but I didn't have any other yeast on hand so that's all that's in the fermenter with 5 gallons of 1.044 OG wort.

Should I wait and see what the under-pitched yeast does? What are the flavor effects of under-pitched yeast?

Should I go buy a US-05 packet tomorrow morning, re-hydrate and pitch 1/2 or more of it? If so, pitch how much? What are the flavor effects of over-pitching?

Please assist, and many thanks as always. I definitely won't forget this screw up. In the future I will always keep extra yeast on hand and make sure to handle with more care...I'm such an idiot!!! :(
 
If it's not too much of a hassle, I'd get another pack and pitch more. Under leads to more problems usually than over pitching. Since you don't know exactly how much you lost, your guess is as good as mine. Would probably be safe w 1/2-1 new pack.
 
If you are brewing a wheat beer and want more esters then underpitching is one way to enhance that flavor component so leaving it as is would be an option.

Otherwise I am with DocScott in recommending that you go get another US-05 package today if it isn't too much trouble and pitch that too after rehydrating it.
 
http://brulosophy.com/2015/04/20/yeast-pitch-rate-single-vial-vs-yeast-starter-exbeeriment-results/

I might just not worry much about this batch of beer. If you did any kind of aeration of the wort before pitching you probably have the conditions for plenty of yeast growth in the wort.

I've read that pitching the dry yeast directly into the wort will kill up to 50% of the cells. With that in mind I was careful to rehydrate my dry yeast..until I forgot and pitched the dry yeast directly into the foam of the wort. When the beers had been bottled for a month I didn't notice any difference in the quality of the beers. YMMV
 
Thanks to all.

I'm heading out to the LHBS to pick up a few packs of yeast (never making the mistake of not having extras on hand again).

Does anybody object to me just pitching an entire pack dry? I figure if some of the yeasties are going to die when pitched dry, then this is probably not a bad idea. Plus I don't want to go through the re-hydration process since I have already have some yeast in there chugging away.
 
frankly us05 just pitch it straight in i wouldnt even bother rehydrating. such a damn easy to use yeast.
 
I ended up re-hydrating and pitching an additional packet at 17 hours into fermentation. Wort temp was at 64, which is below what Fermentis recommends for dry pitching (68F or above), so I didn't want to risk it. You live and learn.
 
So I'll cut to the chase...I re-hydrated US-05 yeast, was cooling in freezer and due to butterfingers and Star San making my hands slicker than snot, I dropped and spilled about 1/2 to 2/3 of my one cup of re-hydrated yeast. Pitched anyways, like f*ck it, but I didn't have any other yeast on hand so that's all that's in the fermenter with 5 gallons of 1.044 OG wort.

Should I wait and see what the under-pitched yeast does? What are the flavor effects of under-pitched yeast?

Should I go buy a US-05 packet tomorrow morning, re-hydrate and pitch 1/2 or more of it? If so, pitch how much? What are the flavor effects of over-pitching?

Please assist, and many thanks as always. I definitely won't forget this screw up. In the future I will always keep extra yeast on hand and make sure to handle with more care...I'm such an idiot!!! :(

Start harvesting yeast in standard mason jars. Its simple. I would never not have a backup of yeast when i'm making a brew lol I even used a 6 or 7 year old yeast pack once. Lalvin EC1118 for cider before. Worked fine.

Never read the other posts but yeah just watch it if its doesn't get cloudy, start smelling different you name it, start bubbling, foam up.... Get another pack of yeast in there.
 
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