The effect of yeast on beer flavors

[Trail]

If there's confusion, it surely isn't an accident - Wyeast themselves claim their (100 billion cell) smack pack is both the correct rate, and to professional standards. Are they lying?

 

[duboman]

A great resource for yeast strains is both the wyeast and white labs websites. They give each strain and good descriptions of what they do, what flavors they bring, ideal temps and typical styles they are used for-generally a good place to start research on what to use for a batch of beer.

Welcome to the obsession, sounds like you're off to a great start! The book "yeast" is also something to get in your library! Yeast make beer and yes, they can have a huge effect on how you flavor profiles turn out! Even the same strain fermented at slightly different temps can yield completely different beers.

For example: WY3068 at higher temps will yield a hefeweizen strong with banana and the same strain at low temps will give off a lot of clove and almost no banana.

 

[kaconga]

If there's confusion, it surely isn't an accident - Wyeast themselves claim their (100 billion cell) smack pack is both the correct rate, and to professional standards. Are they lying?

According to every other piece of literature I have read, yes they are lying. The accepted rate is something like .75m cells per ml per degree Plato for ales and 1.25m cells for lagers. Some beers are the exception. German hefeweizen benefits from underpitching IMO.

 

[Trail]

According to every other piece of literature I have read, yes they are lying. The accepted rate is something like .75m cells per ml per degree Plato for ales and 1.25m cells for lagers. Some beers are the exception. German hefeweizen benefits from underpitching IMO.

Then I'll happily stand corrected. Now I'm ticked off... thanks, Wyeast.

 

[insanim8er]

Then I'll happily stand corrected. Now I'm ticked off... thanks, Wyeast.

At least now you have someone to blame for your beer tasting like crap :fro:

Just kidding

 

[kaconga]

Then I'll happily stand corrected. Now I'm ticked off... thanks, Wyeast.

Sorry to be the one who breaks it to you. It made me mad when I first found out as well. Just remember that just because a beer isn't perfect doesn't mean it is bad. Plenty of good beers are made by underpitching yeast and I will happily drink them.

 

[Trail]

Hey, man, I'm not mad at you... I'm mad at Wyeast for making things up, and at myself for spreading their marketing claims like gospel. Officially part of the problem, here!

 

[allynlyon]

You can estimate it to a "good enough" level by starting small and taking controlled "steps" in volume. There are some neat calculators available:

http://www.brewersfriend.com/yeast-pitch-rate-and-starter-calculator/

Or, if you're into science, you could get a microscope and plate some yeast.

Love science- I wonder if I can pass a microscope off as a gift for the kids for uhh school?

 

[allynlyon]

I think there is some confusion about pitch rate on here. A normal 1.050 og ale needs 190 billion cells. This is nearly double what is in a vial/pack of yeast, and that would be at 100% viability. Over pitching is much harder to do than under pitching simply because it takes some serious work to build up that much yeast. Pitching onto an entire cake would certainly be overpitching.

Can you make good beer by over/under pitching? Absolutely! Can it be the best beer it could have been? Probably not. There are always exceptions and each yeast and brewer is unique so these are just generalizations.

If you want to get serious about yeast then I recommend the info on Mr maltys website as well as the work done on yeastcalc.com. Another great resource is the book yeast although it deals with brewery yeast propagation as well as homebrew levels.

Lastly, if you do decide to run some experiments be sure to take notes and share the results on hbt. Most of what I have learned started with people on here sharing their experiences and experiments

More great info and I'll be sure to do that thanks!

 

[Black Island Brewer]

Sorry to be the one who breaks it to you. It made me mad when I first found out as well. Just remember that just because a beer isn't perfect doesn't mean it is bad. Plenty of good beers are made by underpitching yeast and I will happily drink them.

+1 to this. You can easily get away with just pitching a vial or a smackpack, and get drinkable, even good beer. You can shake or stir your wort and not use oxygen bottles, you can dump the trub into the fermentor, skip the irish moss or gelatin or fish guts, etc, etc, etc. I'll drink them all if they taste good. But any of us could make the BEST beer we can make by standing on the shoulders of the giants, and applying some of what they KNOW makes beer better to our own!

 

[Yooper]

When I was at my lhbs the guy mentioned that he thought new homebrewers chronically underpitched. I asked if you could over pitch and he said yes but it's hard. Thoughts?

It's very difficult to overpitch! Not impossible, but difficult for sure.

Check out yeastcalc.com or mrmalty.com and look at recommended pitching rates for yeast.

One vial or smackpack is underpitching in almost all cases, and starters are recommended for any 5 gallon batch over about 1.040.