Yeast amount low? can or should i add more

[Frothy3001]

Hi Brewers, I made a 14 gallon batch of ale yesterday, i got fresh yeast that morning from a local brewery. never used it before. Im thinking i was under on what i should have used for the batch. It was 12 hours ago. Is it too late to add some more, or is it too late. or should i just wait and see if it will work out.

thanks

 

[wegz15]

Do you have any idea how much you pitched? I would personally hold off and see how it turns out. under pitching and over pitching can cause different flavors. The recommended rate for ales is .75 million cells/ml of wort/ ° plato.

 

[Frothy3001]

i split the 14 gallons into two 6 gallon carboys and one 2 gallon carboy. the 6 gallon carboys have about 80ml each, the 2 gallon has about 40ml. Im new at this so im unsure of the cell count. the fermenters are in a 17 degree room temp.

 

[Frothy3001]

reading up, i dont know if my math is right or not, but , 1 ml of fresh yeast should be 1 billion cells. if that is true, i have 80 billion cells in a 6 gallon batch.. .. if im reading this right, im only half way there. Does this sound right? if it is, its been 15 hours since the pitch. should and can i add another 100 ml yeast?

 

[wegz15]

Sounds like you under pitched (depending on slurry thickness). For a standard 5 gallon batch I will throw in a 1L-2L starter. Most of that being wort. did you pitch a thick slurry or was it on the thinner side?

You can add more yeast.

Edit: also it varies by slurry thickness. If it if mostly yeast you will probably be close to the 100b.

 

[Frothy3001]

The slurry was thick like wet sand. I asked the brewer how much and he told me around 100 to 200 ml for 12 gallon. So i added 200, but then as i went to sleep last night i was thinking, wait a second, he told me they used 50L of yeast for a 6000L batch. I made a 14 gallon batch which is around 60L, thats 500ml that i should have used. Not sure why he told me 200ml and i havent been able to get a hold of him yet. So being new at this i didnt want to mess up my batch by adding more 15 hours later. If its safe to do im going to sanitize my funnel and spoon and add some more. It sounds like i under pitched. So if the slurry is thick like it is, do you think i under pitched by about half? I appreciate all the help and answers so far. thank you. Learning from my mistakes for sure.

 

[wegz15]

Sounds about right. I would go ahead and add more

 

[Frothy3001]

cheers, thanks for the help, i added more.