Did I pitch too much yeast?

[rcd]

Sunday I brewed my second batch of beer so far. I pitched the yeast (a Wyeast Activator), waited about 36-40 hours, but had no fermentation, so I went and found what I could, a White Labs tube (both the Weast and White Labs were London ale, so not anything drastically different).

So I pitched that and then had fermentation about 8 hours later.

So I was wondering whether the first pitch was bad after all, or what. And if not, what will happen having double the yeast in there? Will it matter?

And while I'm on that topic, I might as well ask, how do you determine how much yeast you need, anyway? Seems like recipes just call for one tube, one activator, 100 billion cells... whatever... is there some formula or just "put a bunch"?

Thanks a ton.

 

[edost]

When you activated the Wyeast pack, did it swell first?

 

[Blender]

And while I'm on that topic, I might as well ask, how do you determine how much yeast you need, anyway? Seems like recipes just call for one tube, one activator, 100 billion cells... whatever... is there some formula or just "put a bunch"?

Thanks a ton.

I think you will be fine. Here is a nice article on yeast and how much you might need for a brew. http://www.mrmalty.com/pitching.php

 

[rcd]

When you activated the Wyeast pack, did it swell first?

yes, it did. i'm not sure how much it's supposed to swell, though... was it supposed to be big like a balloon? or just enough air to still be malleable or what? because it was the latter of the two.

 

[david_42]

To reach the pitch rates the pros use would take three packets of dried yeast, 30 tubes of liquid yeast or about 300 billion cells in 5 gallons. Making a starter from a tube of liquid yeast about 24 hours before pitching would also do the trick.

A good smack pack will be tight when ready, but they don't swell up. Sounds like your pack was a little weak.

 

[rcd]

I think you will be fine. Here is a nice article on yeast and how much you might need for a brew. http://www.mrmalty.com/pitching.php

okay that one really confuses me. namely because it says generally you'll need around 2.5 tubes of liquid yeast to have the proper amount of cells.

A White Labs tube has between 70 and 120 billion cells of 100% viable yeast, depending on the yeast strain. Some cells are much larger than others and there are more or less per ml based on size. (The information on the White Labs web site stating 30 to 50 billion cells is out of date.) We can just assume there are around 100 billion very healthy yeast. You would need about 2.5 tubes if you were pitching directly into 5.5 gallons of 1.048 wort to get the proper cell counts.

A Wyeast Activator pack (the really big ones) and the pitchable tubes have an average of 100 billion cells of 100% viable yeast. The smaller packs are around 15-18 billion cells. You would need 2.5 of the large packs if you were pitching directly into 5.5 gallons of 1.048 wort to get the proper cell counts. For the small packs, you'd need a dozen of them!



is that right???

because all the recipe kits i see online always come with a single tube/smackpack. so do i need to start ordering 1 or 2 extra tubes/packs from now on??? I dont understand.

I brewed my first beer with only one WL tube and it came out okay, but would it have been better with 2-2.5 tubes?

 

[Exo]

That site is basically telling you that your going to have enough yeast, but you'd be better off making a starter...which is bloody easy to do.

 

[rcd]

That site is basically telling you that your going to have enough yeast, but you'd be better off making a starter...which is bloody easy to do.

hmm. i see. so is pitching a single tube a bad thing (assuming it completes fermentation)? Or is it all the same as long as fermentation kicks in?

because with my 1st beer and now this 2nd one, I just directly pitched the pack/tube (as each says to do on the label).

 

[edost]

No, you'll be fine. That's what most people do. Just keep in mind that if you start brewing bigger beers you definitely want to make a starter.

 

[david_42]

In the first stage of the ferment, the yeast are multiplying and adapting to the wort. They need oxygen to grow. Once all of the oxygen is gone, they switch over to making alcohol.

Pitching a single tube is not a bad thing, even the old 10B cell tubes did the job. The difference is how long it takes for the ferment to start. If you start with 10B cells and the yeast double every 2-3 hours, it takes most of a day for the yeast to get up to the 300B level. If you made a starter a day ahead, you would cut a day off of the ferment.

A faster start on the ferment means you are less likely to have contamination.

I think the liquid yeast manufacturers realized that people were not making starters, so they bumped up the number of cells.

 

[rcd]

In the first stage of the ferment, the yeast are multiplying and adapting to the wort. They need oxygen to grow. Once all of the oxygen is gone, they switch over to making alcohol.

Pitching a single tube is not a bad thing, even the old 10B cell tubes did the job. The difference is how long it takes for the ferment to start. If you start with 10B cells and the yeast double every 2-3 hours, it takes most of a day for the yeast to get up to the 300B level. If you made a starter a day ahead, you would cut a day off of the ferment.

A faster start on the ferment means you are less likely to have contamination.

I think the liquid yeast manufacturers realized that people were not making starters, so they bumped up the number of cells.

oh, right on. crystal clear now. thanks man.