Safale S-04 & Mr Malty Calculator

[dmcmillen]

I have an anomaly that I would like to resolve. The mrmalty pitch rate calculator calculates 208 billion cells for a 5 gallon 1.060 ale. That would be correct based on a rate of .75 million/ml/degree plato. But it only recommends one (1) 11.5 gram pack of dry yeast.

Here's the anomaly: the Safale S-04 spec sheet lists viable cells as 6x10e9 or 6 billions cells/gram which would calculate out to 69 billion cells per pack. Based on that we would need at least 3 packs to get the 208 billion cells needed (without a starter of course). What am I missing.

 

[KISS Brew]

The 6 billion cells/gram is a guaranteed amount of viable yeast by the "Best By" date. In reality, most packs provide closer to 20 billion cells/gram, per this article from Mr. Malty.

 

[dmcmillen]

Thanks KISS Brew. That explains it. Interesting that the spec sheet lists it as "Viable cells at packaging"