Underpitching a huge Pumpkin Ale

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jakegreen58

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I brewed a Huge pumpkin ale over the weekend and I made a 1L starter for it, using a 1.040 starter SG. The pumpkin ale came in at a whopping 1.104. I am now afraid that my starter was not big enough. Should I begin to consider adding a yeast packet or another starter to the wort? Fermentation has already begun and it is churning away pretty vigorously, but I am afraid that it will have a low attenuation from being underpitched. If I should add more yeast, should it be at the beginning of the cycle (48 hrs post pitching) or wait until this round of yeast is done and come in later with more yeast to ferment down what is left?
 
What does Mr. Malty say the pitch should have been? What was your yeast strain? I suspect the yeast will peter out as the alcohol rises, which means adding more of the same will do little good. If you choose to repitch I'd wait until SG is stable 3-5 days, take a SG reading and then if you need to repitch, do it with a alcohol tolerant strain.
 
If it's already fermenting, then the population has increased beyond the cell count of a "proper" starter. Your beer will probably ferment out just fine and will end up at almost exactly the same gravity you would have had with a bigger starter. It will have more of the flavors you'd get from yeast reproduction and from stressed yeast. You may or may not like these flavors. In a 1.104 pumpkin beer, you may or may not even notice these flavors.
 
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