Did I under Pitch liquid Yeast ?

[Bayou Fatma Brewer]

Added 1 pack of WLP 830 to a 5.5 gallon well oxygenated Märzen/Lager at 54 degrees 38 hours ago. (Pack said good for 5 gallons). I have slow activity happening in air lock/bubbler now. After looking at the WLP calculator it says 2 packs. Was wonder if I should just wait and let it go now that Fermentation started or pitch the other package I have. Any advice while it’s just underway?

 

[VikeMan]

Personally, at only 38 hours in, I'd go ahead and picth the second pack. One pack (with no starter) is definitely an underpitch. Even 2 packs is arguably an underpitch for a lager.

 

[Bayou Fatma Brewer]

Personally, at only 38 hours in, I'd go ahead and picth the second pack. One pack (with no starter) is definitely an underpitch. Even 2 packs is arguably an underpitch for a lager.

Yea my Bad…that (good for 5 gallons on package threw me off). I know Lagers usually say double. Just wanted to know if it was too late Now that fermentation started. Just pitched it. Thanks.

 

[VikeMan]

Yea my Bad…that (good for 5 gallons on package threw me off). I know Lagers usually say double. Just wanted to know if it was to late.

Just to add... in general, I'd recommend ignoring any standard blurbs on yeast packages. They ignore fermentation temperatures (lager vs ales), wort gravities, exact batch sizes, and age of yeast. My advice is to use a trusted calculator, at least until you get a feel for what works to get you the beer you're aiming for.

 

[Bayou Fatma Brewer]

Just to add... in general, I'd recommend ignoring any standard blurbs on yeast packages. They ignore fermentation temperatures (lager vs ales), wort gravities, exact batch sizes, and age of yeast. My advice is to use a trusted calculator, at least until you get a feel for what works to get you the beer you're aiming for.

Well I just pitched the 2nd one. I feel better about doing it now. At least it was early on. Thanx 4 the advice
Cheers.

 

[Bayou Fatma Brewer]

Feel a little better about the 2nd pitch after reading this:

Can I pitch yeast twice?

 

[KiwiSander]

Even for my (not very strong - 1.048 OG) Blonde Ale, Brewfather says 2 packets of US-05, whereas the packet says one packet should be enough.

 

[rmr9]

I always err on the side of caution and pitch high - especially for a lager. Maybe it’s not necessary all the time but I always figure for the cost of the rest of the ingredients (and my time) going into each batch is enough to justify building a starter or an extra sachet of yeast.

If the yeast package says 1 but one calculator says 2 I’m going with 2 every time.

 

[VikeMan]

If the yeast package says 1 but one calculator says 2 I’m going with 2 every time.

Calculator trumps package instructions every time IMO.

If one believes that each wort/style/strain/recipe has an ideal pitch rate, that renders the generic recommendations on yeast packages almost worthless. And calculators (good ones, anyway) can be used to (approximately) hit whatever pitch rate the brewer desires. By good calculator, I mean one that allows the user to specify the rate they want and also their preferred assumptions about how fast yeast cells die off in the package.

(By pitch rate, I'm talking about cells per milliliter per degree plato. In other words, cells per volume per gravity. Not one-size-fits-all "packages per batch." The latter isn't really a pitch rate at all.)

 

[KiwiSander]

Ah, Brewfather has a selectable pitchrate in a fairly coarse 5 steps, ranging from 0.35 to 2.0, but I never knew what units that was in.

 

[Bobby_M]

One of the most important parts about the calculator is the "calculate viability" part which uses the package date as the input. You didn't say, but if you used the skinny pouch of white labs rather than the screw top "next gen" pack, I know that it's at least 3 months old because the skinny packs haven't been available in that strain for a while. With that in the calculator on Brewfather, it's calling for 5 packs. My general advice is that liquid yeast + lager brewing = learn to make starters. If that's not appealing, stick to dry yeast.