Is there such thing as TOO much Yeast?

[cbaron0185]

Hey Everyone,
First off I want to say thank you to everyone who replied to my last post. Now i have a new question; I was making some cider the other day and I needed to add 3 Grams of Yeast. Now that wouldn't had been a problem if the scale I was using wasn't complete garbage. I might have been off by a Gram or 2 will that have a major impact on the final product? Also what kind of scales do you guys use?

Thanks again guys!
Charlie!

 

[Drunkensatyr]

That shouldn't make a diffrence. You CAN use too much yeast, but it takes a good deal more than that to be too much. This is the scale I use. Real simple but it works.

 

[elkdog]

I'm a newbie, but I'll venture an answer. It's no big deal. From my understanding, you can get more "yeastiness" in the flavor than you may want if you overpitch, but if you were even trying to get the right amount, I'd assume you're fine- I'd think you'd have to really overdo it to mess anything up.

edit: just read drunkensatyr's post

 

[Evan!]

For the most part, the "recommended" amounts that most yeast producers list are woefully inadequate, so you really have to try just to get up to the baseline. This site really helps. It's overkill, to be sure, but it's a good guide anyway.

Normally, overpitching is only a concern when you're looking for a whole lot of ester production from the yeast. For example, I'm brewing a couple Belgian Tripels tomorrow, and normally, I'd make a huge yeast starter for a big (1.082) beer like this. But after researching and listening to the Jamil Show, I've found that if you really want those esters from the Belgian yeasts, you need to intentionally stress them. In other words, during their reproductive phase at the beginning of the process, they produce the majority of the esters you're looking for...so you want them to really work hard at the start of fermentation. As such, if you pitched too much yeast, you'd lessen this process, because they wouldn't need to reproduce as much.

But unless that's what you're doing, I'd say that you'd have to try REEEEEALLLLLLY hard to overpitch.

 

[david_42]

People routinely pitch a new batch of ale on the yeast cake from the previous batch without problems. As Evan! notes, there are styles where you don't want to pitch large amounts of yeast, but for most ales, ciders, etc. a homebrewer cannot over-pitch.

Also, the first phase of the yeast cycle is growth, so high pitch rates just shorten this phase.

 

[cbaron0185]

Thanks again guys looks like i will have to wait 3 more week to see how it comes out, yeah i just wanted to make sure that it wouldn't kill the final product.