Question on yeast

[stdywell]

Am reading John Palmers book. In the early section on yeast, he mentions that it is common to use 1 or 2 packets of dried yeast in a 5 gallon batch.

What is the benefit of the second packet ? Am a noob, so if the answer is obvious, please forgive me...

Doug

 

[helibrewer]

Am reading John Palmers book. In the early section on yeast, he mentions that it is common to use 1 or 2 packets of dried yeast in a 5 gallon batch.

What is the benefit of the second packet ? Am a noob, so if the answer is obvious, please forgive me...

Doug

Cell count. See www.mrmalty.com for a calculator to figure out the pitching rate for your wort.

 

[atom]

for most beers, 1 pack of dry yeast per 5 gallons is enough. liquid is a different story.

 

[tre9er]

Average beers do fine with one pack or vial. Larger gravity beers that are intended to ferment out low might need more than one pack/vial...or a starter.

 

[Pie_Man]

As others mentioned, it's all about cell count. The dry yeast packets have about 20 billion cells per gram. So that's about 230 billion cells in a 11.5g dry yeast packet. The liquid yeasts are about 100 billion cells per vial or pack. A yeast pitching rate calculator, like the one at mrmalty.com, will tell you the amount of yeast needed based on your recipe's OG, and some other factors.