Purepitch pitching rates

[KimJohansen]

Hi,

Just made a 5L starter using 4 packages of WLP 838 Purepitch. Did so because I'm brewing 15 gallons with OG of 1050.

Brewers friend and Beersmith said that was what it took. But White Labs claim on the pakage that one purepitch in a 6L starter would be enough. What are your thoughts on that? Would that have been enough?

 

[beermanpete]

I would trust White Labs instructions over the calculators.

 

[KimJohansen]

Anyone that has done a 15 Gallon lager batch using one PurePitch and a 6L starter?

 

[brewmeister13]

I've never done it, but the Intial Cells Per Extract (B/g) in a 1.040 sg starter that is 6L is .14. The lower boundary of B/g as advised by Braukaiser is .1, so it seems that it would be fine. The biggest worry about too few cells into too large of a starter is that it gives contaminants a higher chance of gaining a foot hold on the propagation. That shouldn't be too much of a problem considering many people dump a PurePitch into 5 gallons of beer and don't end up with an infection.