Is two packets of Safale too much?

[JonK331]

I've been using safale 04 and 05 almost exclusively for about a year now with excellent results. Every time I pitch two 11.5g packets into 5.5 gallons of wort. Is this necessary? Could it be overpitching? If so what would be the negative effects?

 

[cvstrat]

Yeah I wouldn't ever use 2 packs, unless maybe it was 1.08 or higher OG. The packets have way more yeast cells than the liquid vials. 05 ferments like mad, just sprinkle one packet into the carboy and let it go. If you really wanna get it right try using the mr malty pitching calculator.

http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/calc.html

 

[tom777]

Yeah, 1 should be a great plenty, normally. I did however pitch 2 packs of US-05 in my recently brewed barleywine. This is the only time I've ever done that.

 

[meddin]

I pitch two sometimes. Probably not necessary at all. Dried yeast has a LOT of viable yeast cells, but it so cheap, I sometimes pitch two...

 

[ToddO]

I have been pitching two the last few batches out of laziness, really. I would rather pitch two instead of rehydrating one. In my mind I am reducing the chance of infecting a hydrated batch. I have done large starters and rehydrated one pack. For the price of an extra pack of dry yeast (which is minimal) I dont have to worry about it. I would rather over pitch than under and yes, I understand the ramifications of overpitching. I like IPA's and APA's so its not a big deal to me. As said above, probably not necessary but why not. When pitching two packs my ferments have always started faster and finished lower than not. Note that I also partial mash and use extract and since double-pitching have not had any dreaded 1.020 finishes (which I had before)...

 

[JonK331]

That's what I'm saying Todd. What you are saying is closer to my experience. I hate getting higher than desirable FGs. The cost of the extra pack for piece of mind is worth it to me. I asked the same question in two homebrew shops today (had to go to a different place than usual to get some NZ hops). They didn't seem to think it would be a problem, both places thought that it was more of a good idea than a bad one. There have been some posts on here lately about over pitching, that's what got me questioning. The other thing is plenty of folks (Morebeer, Seven Bridges Brewing) around here are making 2.5L starters from White Labs. Wouldn't that be the same, if not higher, cell count than 2 packs of Fermentis? What I'm wondering is what would be the negative aspects of pitching this much yeast from a risk management perspective? Off flavors? If so what kind?

 

[SamuraiSquirrel]

From everything I have read it is EXTREMELY difficult to overpitch in home brewing. Using two packs won't hurt a thing ....... using 2.5L starters won't hurt a thing. For a ~1.05 beer it may be overkill and slightly wasteful but I don't think you will see any negative effects at this level.

As for where I am pulling this info from ........ a years worth of reading from various homebrew magazines, threads, books. I can't remember all the sources exactly. Just what I have gathered.

 

[cvstrat]

Like I said earlier, if your OG is below 1.08 there is absolutely no need to pitch 2 11.5g dry packs. You're wasting money, period.

Two 11.5g dry packs have way more yeast than the average 2-2.5L starter.

Adding extra packs of yeast won't make your FG lower, it doesn't work that way. If you brewed properly 1 pack is going to get you to your target gravity. If you aren't hitting your marks it's not because of your yeast.

People make starters for a couple of reasons. The idea is to pitch enough yeast. Vials have less yeast. You make a starter to get the yeasties ramped up and multiplied out before you drop them into sugar orgy in the carboy. Liquid yeast is considered historically to be better quality than dry yeast. (IMO 05 is pretty damn good and I use it all the time), but it's expensive. Instead of pitching 2.5 vials you can buy a vial and make a starter for a fraction of the price.

I wouldn't say that 2 packs is gross overpitching. You're not gonna notice much if anything from it as far as off flavors. If you skipped the extra pack for 4 batches you could afford to buy a pound of Magnum hops for example, or some star san.

 

[JonK331]

White labs vials are 75-150 billion cells (according to white labs, but probably more like 60-100 billion by the time you buy it). Regardless, add that to a properly made 2-2.5L starter and it seems that it would be very close to 400 billion cells (each Fermentis 11.5g pack is ~200 billion).

 

[Myke_J]

I pitched two packets of US-05 into a 5.5gal batch of 1.085 IIPA and even for that Mr. Malty only called for 1.5 packets. I pitched two because I didn't have anything else to use half a packet of yeast on and didn't want to toss it. That beer went from 1.085 to 1.014.