I started recently using dry yeast, and I know there is a ton of info on dry yeast in this and other forums, and I have been poking around what I could find readily in an effort to simplify my use of dry yeast, and pin down some expectations regarding pitch rates, attenuation, temperatures, esters and other flavor components, etc. Also new to me is the notion I can buy dry yeast in bulk which should give me the ability to better control my pitch rates while minimizing waste and lowering cost.
Right now I’m really not that worried about spending another $4 on a second packet of US-05 to ensure my fermentation is healthy, but I feel as though, since I’ve moved to using dry yeast, I’ve gotten away from more accurately controlling pitch rates and have to wonder; is my beer as good as it could be if I am not being that particular about pitch rates? I control just about every other variable to the Nth degree in my process, but this one variable has sort of gone by the wayside.
That said, this begs a couple of questions: 1) Assuming one is using a reliable yeast calculator, how much of a tolerance is acceptable for a calculated pitch as expressed in cell count? 2) Does dry yeast respond differently than liquid yeast with regard to growth rate? In other words; would 306B cells of dry yeast pitched directly into the wort result in the same fermentation (same growth rate, same final cell count, etc.) as 306B cells of slurry propagated from a package of liquid yeast?
Example: I calculate 306B cells required for 6.5 gallons of 1.068 SG wort. Now, I take a certain amount of a dry yeast and, assuming, say, 6B cells/gram I calculate how many grams needed to get to my 306B cells (51g), weigh it out from my bulk container and pitch accordingly.
If pitching 306B cells of slurry from a starter made with liquid yeast I feel pretty confident I’m getting a good healthy pitch. But for some reason I feel like pitching 4.6 packets of dry yeast for a 1.068 wort is overkill. The Lallemand site tells me I need 5 packets – they also say I need 521.63B cells! Something seems fishy here.
My goal is to buy dry yeast in bulk and store it cold like I do for my bread yeast and weigh it out as needed based on cell count required for a given SG and volume. But I want to be sure I’m using the correct amount of dry yeast and not going overkill.
Right now I’m really not that worried about spending another $4 on a second packet of US-05 to ensure my fermentation is healthy, but I feel as though, since I’ve moved to using dry yeast, I’ve gotten away from more accurately controlling pitch rates and have to wonder; is my beer as good as it could be if I am not being that particular about pitch rates? I control just about every other variable to the Nth degree in my process, but this one variable has sort of gone by the wayside.
That said, this begs a couple of questions: 1) Assuming one is using a reliable yeast calculator, how much of a tolerance is acceptable for a calculated pitch as expressed in cell count? 2) Does dry yeast respond differently than liquid yeast with regard to growth rate? In other words; would 306B cells of dry yeast pitched directly into the wort result in the same fermentation (same growth rate, same final cell count, etc.) as 306B cells of slurry propagated from a package of liquid yeast?
Example: I calculate 306B cells required for 6.5 gallons of 1.068 SG wort. Now, I take a certain amount of a dry yeast and, assuming, say, 6B cells/gram I calculate how many grams needed to get to my 306B cells (51g), weigh it out from my bulk container and pitch accordingly.
If pitching 306B cells of slurry from a starter made with liquid yeast I feel pretty confident I’m getting a good healthy pitch. But for some reason I feel like pitching 4.6 packets of dry yeast for a 1.068 wort is overkill. The Lallemand site tells me I need 5 packets – they also say I need 521.63B cells! Something seems fishy here.
My goal is to buy dry yeast in bulk and store it cold like I do for my bread yeast and weigh it out as needed based on cell count required for a given SG and volume. But I want to be sure I’m using the correct amount of dry yeast and not going overkill.