Belgian Wit pitching level question

[kleindog]

Bit of a n00b question about how much yeast to pitch for a Belgian Wit recipe.

In (delayed) observance of The Big Brew, I'm planning on doing a Belgian Wit this weekend, but I'm a little confused about the recipe on the AHA website (http://wiki.homebrewersassociation.org/MustBeTheSeasonoftheWitAllGrain), which calls for two packages of Wyeast 3944 (which I have), whereas other recipes I've seen call for only one.

Is more yeast required because this recipe calls for lagering at 32˚ for 10-15 days? If I don't lager it, do I need all that yeast? More generally, could someone explain (or point me to an explanation) of what the consequences of over-pitching would be?

Thanks!

 

[Kaz]

Its not really more yeast, its the right amount of yeast. Wyeast and White Labs claim that their packages contain enough cells to pitch into a 5 gallon wort. This may be the case if you are opening very fresh packages but more often that not, there are not enough yeast cells in there. Check out the yeast pitching calculator on Mrmalty.com . You can punch in your original gravity, beer style and the production date of your yeast and it will tell you how many cells you need to pitch, the size of the yeast starter or how many packages you need. For that wit, one pack would work and 2 packages would work even better.

 

[kleindog]

Great, thanks a lot. The pitching calculator is quite useful.

 

[EricCSU]

I would recommend either an appropriate starter or 2 packages.

Eric