Can't get enough lager dry yeast.

[mschrock]

Stopped by my LHBS and they only had two packs of s-23 lager dry yeast. I'm planning on brewing an Eisbock tomorrow afternoon, 10 gallon batch. Was basing it on the recipe in Brewing Classic Styles with an estimated og of 1.090 (erroneosly first said 1.077). I recommends 27 grams of dry yeast for a 5 gallon batch. That would translate to 4.6 packages of s-23 for the 10 gallon batch. Ugh. I don't want to underpitch, yet i have read that starters are not a good idea with dry yeast, not to mention that I don't exactly have a lot of time left anyway. What's the recommendation?

Thinking about scaling it back to a 5 gallon batch, but want to make the long involved process to be worth my time by getting a decent yield, yet don't want to have a larger volume of poor quality beer.

 

[fpweeks]

I think you'll be fine with 2 packs in 10 gals.

 

[mschrock]

crap, misread recipe. the og is 1.090

 

[osagedr]

The recommendation is either (a) brew a different beer tomorrow; one that you have enough yeast for (IMO you don't have enough yeast for 10 gallons of any lager over 1.032 if it's fermented at proper temperatures), or (b) scale your recipe down to 5 gallons.

An eisbock is a very special beer. You don't want to make a crappy one, and vastly underpitching is the surest way to make a crappy lager, especially with a giant OG.

As you note, your eisbock is going to be very time consuming, especially if you do a traditional decoction mash (trust me--it's worth it!). So be patient and do it right.

As an aside Mr. Malty recommends 1.22 trillion cells for a 1.090 lager. There are something like 20 billion viable cells per gram of dry yeast. You do the math.