I messed up and had to under pitch

[DrummoRC]

I set up for a double batch brew day had all my grains - all my hops - I always have some around if at all possible. When I go to the brew shop (buy local) I pick up two of these - 1 of them and couple of those as far as hops and brew based on that selection. At the same time I pick up a several packs of yeast – I use dry or repitched yeast from the last batch most times. Mainly because it works and I don’t need to refrigerate ….

So this time never checked to see if I had my yeast! I brew two batches:
Dopplebock
IPA
Thought I had a S-33 for the dopple and US-05 for the IPA – what I did have was a single patch of US-05! NowI have only been brewing since December of this year and this is batch 26 and 27 so far! So I have done a bunch of brewing but learned via the internet basically. I brewed Sunday and the brewer supply is closed Sunday and Monday. Don’t have any buddies who brew that would have yeast on hand… so I took the US-05 and split it between the two batch evenly. The batches are bubbling but it been a really slow start.
My questions are:
• Did I need to worry about pitching yeast right away or could I have waited on to get the proper yeast – two days later?
• Should I still go get more yeast to add to these batches?
• What are the thought on purchasing s-33 and adding it to the dopplebock - it a BIG beer (OG 1.088)?
Curious what you all think!!! This not the way I like to brew but I screwed up and want to minimize any further harm to the brews.

Thanks and I will take my answers off the air 

 

[FRS]

When did you pitch? I assume these are 5gal batches?

You have severely under-pitched these beers. You can probably expect significantly more yeast derived flavors, and poor attenuation due to the stress on the yeast. It will be beer, just not as good as it could have been. You can pitch more yeast but I fear the damage is mostly done in the first day or two.

Next time I would wait to pitch one batch until I could get out for more yeast.

 

[DrummoRC]

Yes 5 5gl\20l batches

Okay so if I mess up again I should just wait and pitch later - just keep it sealed up!

Yeah they are bubbling away after two days - usually they are bubbling away in less then 12 hours. hope it does not get too stressed!

Thanks for the feed back!

 

[DrummoRC]

forgot this part -
Brewed Sunday afternoon and pitched Sunday evening. so this evening will be 48 hours

 

[nm_johnson]

Yes 5 5gl\20l batches

Okay so if I mess up again I should just wait and pitch later - just keep it sealed up!

Yeah they are bubbling away after two days - usually they are bubbling away in less then 12 hours. hope it does not get too stressed!

Thanks for the feed back!

Don't go pouring it out now though! Yes, it was underpitched, and you probably will have more undesired flavors from the yeast due to stressing them, but it still has potential!

As for the future, you're best bet is to make sure you have the yeast you need before you even start, letting the wort sit unpitched is not good, as there WILL be bacteria in it regardless of how careful you were, the reason we pitch as soon as we can is so the yeast is what takes hold and grows and prevents the growth of any bacteria

 

[progmac]

well, it sounds like it is too late to do anything.

if for some reason you just have to underpitch a beer, the best think you can do is aerate VERY thoroughly (better yet, use oxygen) and keep your fermentation temps in the mid to upper 60s