Smack Pack - Observations

[avi8tor]

Awhile back, I brewed a cream ale with dry yeast. Came out wonderful but I noticed the fermentation was fairly vigorous.

I decided to try liquid in a smack pack for the first time (without making a starter) and brewed the same beer.

I noticed that the liquid yeast took 24 hours to take off vs. the dry that took off within 8. I also noticed that the fermentation is not as strong as the dry yeast.

Am I correct to assume that the slow time and less vigorous fermentation are due to underpitching from not making a starter?

No worries here as it is bubbling away nicely. Just curious for the next batch (I will make a starter next time).

I wanted to experiment to see what the different possible tastes are between liquid and dry. Yeah I'm totally new to this.

R/Avi

 

[danielinva]

Yeah, the lag time and less vigorous fermentation are symptoms of not making a starter. There's roughly about half the amount of viable yeast in a smack pack or vial as compared to a 11.5 g dry packet. I think maybe 100 billion cells of liquid vs 200 in the dry. It will probably still turn out great, but if you want a fair comparison be sure to make a starter next time.

Check out this pitch rate calculator to figure out just how large that starter should be.