Should I add more yeast?

[VolDoc]

Hello all! Today I brewed my second batch of beer and after going over my notes I am starting to worry a bit about not pitching enough yeast.

The recipe I did was a porter and my OG was 1.062 in 6 gallons. I pitched one pack of WLP 002 English Ale yeast and I'm thinking it won't be enough for the 6 gallons and the OG.

Will my beer be OK? Should I run out first thing tomorrow and grab another pack of yeast and pitch? I pitched the yeast about 2 o'clock this afternoon and its about 68 degrees in my house right now. Thanks!

 

[BigFloyd]

You're correct in thinking that you underpitched. Should have made a 1.75L swirled starter for this one. If you can grab a fresh vial of 002 and pitch it in the morning, that would get you much closer to a healthy initial cell count.

You may be a little warm at 68* ambient when it's at high activity. Beer temp would likely peak in the low-mid 70's. You could end up with more of an estery flavor than is desirable. If you can keep the beer temp about 65*F until it starts to slow down, that would be a good idea. 68*F is a great temp for it after activity begins to slow. 002 can drop out too soon if you keep it cool for too long.

 

[VolDoc]

You're correct in thinking that you underpitched. Should have made a 1.75L swirled starter for this one. If you can grab a fresh vial of 002 and pitch it in the morning, that would get you much closer to a healthy initial cell count.

You may be a little warm at 68* ambient when it's at high activity. Beer temp would likely peak in the low-mid 70's. You could end up with more of an estery flavor than is desirable. If you can keep the beer temp about 65*F until it starts to slow down, that would be a good idea. 68*F is a great temp for it after activity begins to slow. 002 can drop out too soon if you keep it cool for too long.

Thank you for the info. The soonest I can get more yeast is 12 pm tomorrow when the store opens. Will it be ok to pitch the yeast around that time? It will have been in primary for less than 22 hours.

 

[BigFloyd]

It may help. It can't hurt.

In the future, until you get ready to make starters, many styles have a dry yeast option that will serve quite nicely. My most recent coffee porter was fermented with S-04 and was very tasty. Another advantage of dry yeast is that you need not be as concerned about aeration/oxygenation of the wort before pitching.