MTHarrington
Well-Known Member
Making my first Lager... (1.048 OG)
I have a 2 liter Erlenmeyer flask. I am going to pitch this cold so I know I'll know I need high yeast numbers.
I have one yeast tube from Wyeast, stir plate and yeast nutrients.
I need around 350 billion yeast cells.
I have been looking at Mr. Malty's yeast calculator... and basically for a 5.25 gallon batch with an OG of 1.048 it says I need 2.76L of starter if I only want to use one yeast vial at 97% viability with a stirplate.
Obviously, I need to step propagate since I only have a 2L flask.
SO
I read here:
http://billybrew.com/stepping-up-a-yeast-starter
with a chart that basically says if I want to step with a 2 liters, the best I can do is 300 billion for 2 steps.
Then I go to Wyeast's calculator and it says something completely different...
http://www.wyeastlab.com/hb_pitchrate.cfm
It says I don't even need to step up... that I can take .475L, make a starter and pitch and I'll have 16.1 million cells/ml
and according to their pitch rates in million cells/ ml
http://www.wyeastlab.com/hb_pitchrates.cfm
I need 12 million cells/ml so that is plenty.
OK. so that's quite a difference, unless I'm using Wyeasts calculator wrong.
and now for even more fun stuff...
on Northern Brewers info page here:
http://www.northernbrewer.com/documentation/YeastPitchingRates.pdf
it says that if I my first step volume is 1 liter and my second step is .25 liters I should propagate 397 billion cells (with a stir plate)
And that is plenty for what I need.
I am confused. Who is right? I really don't need this to be overly complicated, but I do want to make the cleanest lager I can... without going totally overboard.
Is this a RDWHB moment?
I'm leaning towards doing a 2 step propagation of 1.5 liters each and living with results. Mr. Malty's calc seems to say I can't make nearly as much yeast as I can on Wyeast's site or Norther Brewer.
Thoughts? I've poured over the internet looking for a good answer to this discrepancy.. and most people default to Jamil's site, but I can't understand why the manufacture and a distributor of yeast would say otherwise (they have more skin in the game - of course they would want to sell you more yeast/equipment/make good beer and buy more stuff from them)
I have a 2 liter Erlenmeyer flask. I am going to pitch this cold so I know I'll know I need high yeast numbers.
I have one yeast tube from Wyeast, stir plate and yeast nutrients.
I need around 350 billion yeast cells.
I have been looking at Mr. Malty's yeast calculator... and basically for a 5.25 gallon batch with an OG of 1.048 it says I need 2.76L of starter if I only want to use one yeast vial at 97% viability with a stirplate.
Obviously, I need to step propagate since I only have a 2L flask.
SO
I read here:
http://billybrew.com/stepping-up-a-yeast-starter
with a chart that basically says if I want to step with a 2 liters, the best I can do is 300 billion for 2 steps.
Then I go to Wyeast's calculator and it says something completely different...
http://www.wyeastlab.com/hb_pitchrate.cfm
It says I don't even need to step up... that I can take .475L, make a starter and pitch and I'll have 16.1 million cells/ml
and according to their pitch rates in million cells/ ml
http://www.wyeastlab.com/hb_pitchrates.cfm
I need 12 million cells/ml so that is plenty.
OK. so that's quite a difference, unless I'm using Wyeasts calculator wrong.
and now for even more fun stuff...
on Northern Brewers info page here:
http://www.northernbrewer.com/documentation/YeastPitchingRates.pdf
it says that if I my first step volume is 1 liter and my second step is .25 liters I should propagate 397 billion cells (with a stir plate)
And that is plenty for what I need.
I am confused. Who is right? I really don't need this to be overly complicated, but I do want to make the cleanest lager I can... without going totally overboard.
Is this a RDWHB moment?
I'm leaning towards doing a 2 step propagation of 1.5 liters each and living with results. Mr. Malty's calc seems to say I can't make nearly as much yeast as I can on Wyeast's site or Norther Brewer.
Thoughts? I've poured over the internet looking for a good answer to this discrepancy.. and most people default to Jamil's site, but I can't understand why the manufacture and a distributor of yeast would say otherwise (they have more skin in the game - of course they would want to sell you more yeast/equipment/make good beer and buy more stuff from them)