Pitch 5 add 5 later

[Douglefish]

I brew 10 gallon batches and sometimes I don't want to build up a big starter. I thought of this idea and was curious if anyone did something like this. Great divide told me about a similar pitching technique on a tour. What if you pitched enough yeast for 5 gallons and then added the additional 5 gallons of wort at 24 or 48 hours?

 

[Love_of_good_ale]

There is no advantage to this. The 5 gallons with yeast in it will do well, but the 5 gallons will be sitting there waiting for any bad critters to get going. Active yeast is the best thing your wert has going for it.

 

[Douglefish]

Not if you no-chill? I've got wort sitting there ready to be pitched that is good to go?

 

[Love_of_good_ale]

I have never tried holding hot wort before, though I am not aware of any disadvantages. Never even crossed my mind.

 

[bja]

So, you're OK with making a starter for 5 gal. but don't want to make one for 10 gal.?

 

[AmandaK]

While you run into the potential problems with leaving wort without yeast, I don't really see an issue with doing this.

In fact, a local brewery does this with their RIS and I believe (don't quote me) that Avery does it with one of their brews. Either that or they continuously add more sugars/fermentables to an already fermenting wort.

 

[Douglefish]

It seems to me like maybe the question is how much yeast to pitch initially, and when you add the other wort, would you add more O2? Nutrients should be there from the wort, but I guess the question is how much growth you get on that second phase and will it produce the right tasting beer.

 

[BBL_Brewer]

I think that would work fine. I would wait just long enough for the yeast to use up the available oxygen and exhaust thier reproduction capabilities then add the next 5 gallons. I would also add more oxygen at this point. You're going to need more O2 so that the yeast can reproduce to numbers large enough to properly ferment w/o off flavors. However, I don't think it would be a good idea to add more O2 after fermentation has begun so you wold have a narrow widow of opportunity here.

 

[rockfish42]

It's a traditional technique, usually you would brew separate 5 gallon batches and add the second to the first.
http://www.braukaiser.com/wiki/index.php?title=Drauflassen

 

[Douglefish]

Thanks a ton, thats exactly what I was I was looking for.

 

[AmandaK]

It's a traditional technique, usually you would brew separate 5 gallon batches and add the second to the first.
http://www.braukaiser.com/wiki/index.php?title=Drauflassen

Gotta love Kai.

 

[Golddiggie]

If you have a stir plate, just do a stepped starter to get to your pitching cell count. It will require a bit more time for the starters to finish, but you'll probably end up using far less DME this way. See what yeastcalc.com gives you for starter sizes for the batch and yeast age. I normally see going with at least half the total starter volume when doing a two step. Sometimes getting more yeast with either a two, or three, step starter schedule, in a 3L flask than I could get with a starter over 20L in size.