I never done this one before. I was brewing an English Bitter. Everything went as planned. Hit 80% efficiency, I was thrilled. I pitched 2 jars of washed yeast from my stock in the brew fridge. What I did not realize until I cleaned my jars was one was an American Ale 1056 and the other was a London Ale III (meant to do 2 of these). Any thoughts as to what will happen?
Pitched 2 yeasts?
- Thread starter tpahnke
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Stauffbier
Well-Known Member
I've had to pitch as much as 4 jars before as per Mrmalty's calculations.. And the yeast was only a month old.
Seven
Well-Known Member
Pitching more than one type of yeast isn't that uncommon with a lot of brewers. I have a feeling that deliciousness will ensue. :fro:
NWMOBrewer
Well-Known Member
I've thought about doing that intentionally to see what it would taste like. Any ideas?
djconnor
New Member
I was listening to the Shea Comfort interview on the Brewing Network today. He discussed blending yeasts and made a compelling case for doing it.
Hey Calder, I make a 2000ml starter from 1 yeast packet then usually split them into 3 jars. In a lower SG beer (<1.065) I pitch 2 then save the third to propagete for future use. In larger beer I will take 2 and build them up a little more. Doing this I usually have several strain in in the fridge minimal investment. As far as this batch goes I won't worry and have a new homebrew in a month.
I don't believe Mr Malty numbers for re-pitching, and I think the calculator is useless for a slurry.
First off, I think the yeast viability percentage is way wrong. If the yeast/slurry is stored correctly, I think the viability is much better. The calculator pretty much says the yeast is dead after 2 months, and many of us know that is not the case. From my experience, I don't think there is much difference in the viability of the yeast between 1 day and 30 days.
- While in the fermenter it loses 6% (it takes no account if the yeast was in the beer for a week or a couple of months).
- Over the first month of storage it loses over 51% viability (of the remaining yeast). It's in a fridge under beer; it should do better than when it was subjected to a couple of feet of pressure when in the fermenter.
- Over the second month of storage it looses 78% viability (of the remaining yeast).
- Over months 3 to 11 it looses nothing (no change between 2 months old and a year old; 10% viability).
- Over month 12 it looses 90% of the remaining yeast.
Secondly, I think guessing yeast concentration and non-yeast percentage is just that; a guess, and in either case you could easily be 2X or more out. If you guess 2X out on both scales, your final number will be 4X out.
In general a beer will end up with about 6X the amount of yeast that would have been the correct amount to pitch. If you over-pitch or under-pitch, the yeast will correct for that in the final population, and the end result will be about the same. I figure there will be some loss of yeast while in the beer or in storage, so I figure on about a quarter of the cake to be about right, and I assume that is the case if I re-use the yeast any time up to a month after harvesting. After a month I always make a starter to confirm viability and ensure an adequate pitching rate.
Stauffbier
Well-Known Member
I don't suppose I can argue with you on most of what you said as I don't know the facts of yeast age and viability that you listed. Although, I can agree that the only real way to ensure viability is to make a starter. I almost always make a starter when using liquid yeast even if it's not really necessary..
So im pitching 2 oz of slurry i put in preboiled cool water. for a < 2 gallong batch does this sound good? I was going to wash but it looked like that was unnessesary and it didnt even look practicle after it settles so quickly,im pitching it all. I dont see the point in a starter,if i have enough yeast.
