Dry Yeast Experiment Question

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Ewalk02

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I have collected 5 1 gallon jugs and plan to do a yeast experiment.

I'm going to make a simple pale ale and split it up equally between these 5 1 gallon jugs. I'll then add 1 package of different types of dry yeasts. Once fermentation/aging has taken place I will carb in seperate containers then do a blind taste test to see which yeast I like.

My question:

If I use a whole package of yeast for each 1 gallon jug will that be too much yeast, remember that only about 3/4 of the jug will be filled so that there is a decent headspace.
 
I'd probably use 1/4 of a packet. I'd be really afraid of over-pitching if you used the amount of dry yeast for 5 gallons in a one gallon batch.
 
Its OK to pitch one packet per gallon (just think about how much yeast cake you would harvest per gallon) - it will still need one to two divisions to hit max population of cells and your fermentation will proceed well. I would just make sure to limit trub in your wort since you dont wan't all this yeast to be sitting under trub and isolated from the wort and oxygen.
 
Go ahead and pitch the whole packet. Dry yeast tries to pull water from the air once opened and it dies.
 
I am a firm believer that you should always pitch the appropriate amount of yeast. I have seen the negative effects of both underpitching and overpitching. They are among the least recognized and most neglected problems in home brewing, IMO. I'll acknowledge that it is hard to over-pitch, but it certainly can be done.

Use Jamil's pitching rate calculator on MrMalty.com and try to get a reasonably appropriate amount. It might also be important to measure your yeast out because not all packages will have the same amount, and you don't want that variable to interfere with your experiment.

:mug:
 
Thanks for all the input, I think I'm just going to go to the LHBS and pick up 5 random different kinds (ale yeasts). Sounds like I'll just pitch one packet per gallon but if they all come in different sized packs then I'll be forced to use the smallest packet as my limiting factor.

Hopefully I'll be brewing everything up this weekend so I can kick this experiment off soon!
 
as others suggested, i would use "appropriate" amount. for a packet, 1/4 packet should be plenty for 1 gallon. if i remember correctly, dry has roughly 2x more yeast cells that a smack pack, so puts it around 200-250 billion cells. you don;t need that much for 1 gallon. make your $1.50 go farther and use 1/4 sachet!!

post back on your results. a month ago i brewed a cream ale (f.g. at 1.041) and did half with nottingham and half with wlp001. the wlp001 is much more cleaner and more enjoyable and the notty tastes more like miller lite. :):)
 
Mr. Malty says:

for a 1 gallon batch at 1.048 OG

Cells needed: 34 billion
Grams (of dry yeast): 2g
# of 5g yeast packs: 0.4
# of 11g yeast packs: 0.2
 
Don't mean to thread crap, but I also did this just a few days ago with a brown mild: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/ex...o-5-different-dry-yeast-fermentations-109307/

It will be interesting to see how each one goes. Mine are currently at 60 hours and seem to be mostly finished, but I will let them go another week or so, crash cool, and bottle.

I used about 5g of each pack. Too much according to mr. malty, but we'll see how it goes!
 
Don't mean to thread crap, but I also did this just a few days ago with a brown mild: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/ex...o-5-different-dry-yeast-fermentations-109307/

It will be interesting to see how each one goes. Mine are currently at 60 hours and seem to be mostly finished, but I will let them go another week or so, crash cool, and bottle.

I used about 5g of each pack. Too much according to mr. malty, but we'll see how it goes!

Sorry I didn't see your thread earlier but I guess now we'll just have two versions of the same experiment so we can compare our results.
 
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