should I repitch?

[sublimenal]

So I have been reading lately and looks like I have been doing it all wrong, I am currently brewing 10 gallon batches in a blichman conical fermenter. I have been buying 2 vials of yeast per batch and dumping. I never read into doing a starter and after reading I think this is my issue with not hitting the right FG.

Yesterday I brewed an ESB and I pitched 2 vials of White labs #002 English ale. My OG was 1.062 I have a strong fermentation today but I have a feeling I will never hit the correct FG because of the amount of yeast I used.

My question is, should I wait for fermentation to stop and then check the gravity? Or should I hit the local brew store, buy another #002, make a starter then pitch the starter tomorrow?

Another question, for future batches. Should I be buying 2 vials and make the starter with both vials or would one vial be enough for 10 gallons assuming I make a starter?

Thanks for any help, this will be my last brew without making a starter beforehand.

 

[TyTanium]

Check out www.yeastcalc.com for proper pitching rates. It's all about cell count. With 1 vial, you'll have to step up the starter most likely.

As for repitching this one, that ESB yeast works really fast, so it may be too late to pitch more. But underpitching and attenuation aren't as highly correlated as one might think, you may still get full attenuation. You can bump up the temp to 70ish as activity slows to help it finish.

If you're going to pitch more, I'd definitely do it ASAP and pitch it at high krausen in the starter (~12hours).

 

[sublimenal]

wow I see, so i underpitched my batch by about 200 billion cells? When you say I may still get full attenuation, what other factors are at play there?

 

[TyTanium]

The yeast will usually still multiply enough to fully ferment the beer, it's that process of multiplying where most of the flavors are created. Too much / too stressful multiplication can cause the usual off-flavors associated with an underpitch. So adding more yeast 36-48 hours in may not do much for you, especially with that crazy fast ESB yeast. But I could be wrong. Pitching more certainly wouldn't hurt the beer.

 

[sublimenal]

Ah Ok I understand now, I'm just going to let it ferment out and see what happens. Thanks for your help Ty. Looking forward to doing a starter for my next brew with the help of that website.

 

[chumpsteak]

Are doing all grain or extract? If all grain you may be mashing too warm due to a faulty thermometer. If extract you can expect your gravity to finish a little higher than expected anyway. 1.018 or 1.020 isnt abnormal for extract beers. Underpitching probably isnt your attenuation issue unless you are making high starting gravity beers. Underpitching will probaby just result in off flavors or even fusels if the yeast get too stressed.

 

[TyTanium]

Welcome! Hope the beer turns out great. Happy brewing.