How much yeast?

First of I’d like to say thank you for reading this, and also as you may have guessed, I’m new to brewing. I’m having trouble understanding just how much healthy yeast I really need to pitch. And how to make an educated guess as to how efficient the yeast is going to be. Also, what is the difference between dry and wet pitching, is one more effective than the other? How can you tell how much yeast you actually have? If you need more clarification please feel free to question my inquiry. Sorry, I’ve gone on an a tangent,Ultimately what I really want to know is. How to to calculate how much yeast to put in. Thank you in advance for responding to my amateur, and extremely loaded, questions.

Take a look at Yeast Calc. http://yeastcalc.com/. This may answer most of your questions. If not come back. Dry pitching or wet pitching? In my opinion wet is better if you are pitching into a carboy. How much healthy yeast you have depends on the source of your yeast; new purchase or harvest from previous brew.

http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/calc.html

There is also the Mr Malty calculator.

In a nut shell: one smack pack, one vile or one dry pack will make a very drinkable beer.

An 11g dry pack is acceptable for a 5 gallon beer up to a gravity of ~1.070. Above that use 2 packs.

A smack pack or vile is considered on a “pro” basis acceptable for a 5g batch up to ~1.045. Above that some will say that you must make a starter.

If you have made some beer with no starters and you enjoyed them, don’t be paranoid about making starters. It’s very likely that you will not notice a difference in a beer made with or one made with out a starter.

IMO, yeast count is a lot like leaving the beer on the yeast. Some thing may not scale from “commercial” brewing to the “home brewing” world.

Rehydrating dry yeast, some time I do. Most time I don’t.

It is best to do a starter with White Labs yeast. Because the Wyeast have the pouch that expands, you know they are alive. WL don’t have a way to tell this unless you make a starter.

Both the Mr Malty and the YeastCalc calculators are great tools. Either should help you out on pitching rates.

I’m right there with you.

I’ve heard Jamil say that just sprinkling on top of wort will kill roughly half of the cells immediately. For an average strength beer, not a big deal as there should be enough cells even if half die. I always rehydrate according to the manufacturers instructions. It takes very little time and I like to do everything I can to make sure my yeast are happy and fermentation healthy. For liquid strains, I always make a starter unless my OG is less than 1.035 or so (which isn’t very often).

Thank you for the help everyone. It was extremely helpful, these are exactly the kind of answers I was looking for. Also thank you Northern Brewer!

I’ve heard Jamil say that just sprinkling on top of wort will kill roughly half of the cells immediately. For an average strength beer, not a big deal as there should be enough cells even if half die. I always rehydrate according to the manufacturers instructions. It takes very little time and I like to do everything I can to make sure my yeast are happy and fermentation healthy. For liquid strains, I always make a starter unless my OG is less than 1.035 or so (which isn’t very often).[/quote]
IME doing side by side tests of rehydrated and nonrehydrated there is little to no difference in the 1.055 range.

I’ve heard Jamil say that just sprinkling on top of wort will kill roughly half of the cells immediately. For an average strength beer, not a big deal as there should be enough cells even if half die. I always rehydrate according to the manufacturers instructions. It takes very little time and I like to do everything I can to make sure my yeast are happy and fermentation healthy. For liquid strains, I always make a starter unless my OG is less than 1.035 or so (which isn’t very often).[/quote]

http://www.fermentis.com/wp-content/upl ... FA_S04.pdf

[quote]rehydration instructions
Sprinkle the yeast in minimum 10 times its weight of sterile water or wort at 27°C ± 3°C (80°F ± 6°F). Leave to rest 15 to 30 minutes. Gently stir for 30 minutes, and pitch the resultant cream into the fermentation vessel.
Alternatively, pitch the yeast directly in the fermentation vessel providing the temperature of the wort is above 20°C (68°F). Progressively sprinkle the dry yeast into the wort ensuring the yeast covers all the surface of wort available in order to avoid clumps. Leave for 30 minutes, then mix the wort using aeration or by wort addition.[/quote]

I usually follow the manufacturers instructions on sprinkling the yeast into the wort.

I’ve never met Jamil. I’ve maybe listened to a pod cast of his for 5 minutes. I’m sure he is an accomplished and knowledgeable brewer. But he is just one other person with an opinion.

[quote=“Nighthawk”]
I’ve never met Jamil. I’ve maybe listened to a pod cast of his for 5 minutes. I’m sure he is an accomplished and knowledgeable brewer. But he is just one other person with an opinion.[/quote]
Me neither but I would dare to say that what he says isn’t just an opinion. Highly awarded homebrewer (and now professional) and written some damn good books with JP and Chris White ( you know, of White Labs). If he says sprinkling dry yeast in the wort is bad for yeast health, I believe him.

[quote=“airlocksniffer”]
Me neither but I would dare to say that what he says isn’t just an opinion. Highly awarded homebrewer (and now professional) and written some damn good books with JP and Chris White ( you know, of White Labs). If he says sprinkling dry yeast in the wort is bad for yeast health, I believe him.[/quote]

Very true. The manufacture also recommends sprinking of the yeast. :wink:

I’ll also add that I know of a fella with no formal training that has won awards his 1st year commercially brewing at GABF.

I restate I comment I made the other day. There are items that commercial brewers do that have little to no application in the homebrewers world.

Well, I only know one way to settle this. 10 gallon batch, sprinkle in wort for 5 gallons and rehydrate for the other 5. :wink:

Really though, whatever works for anybody is just fine with me. It’s all about making good beer and having fun doing it…

[quote=“airlocksniffer”]Well, I only know one way to settle this. 10 gallon batch, sprinkle in wort for 5 gallons and rehydrate for the other 5. :wink:

Really though, whatever works for anybody is just fine with me. It’s all about making good beer and having fun doing it…[/quote]

It is a personal decision. Much like secondary/no secondary, batch/fly sparge, SS braid/false bottom/copper manifold, red/blue cooler.

Baratone Brewer says he has done the side by side test. In his opinion there is no difference. Your results may very.

Woodlandbrewery
http://woodlandbrew.blogspot.com/p/normal-0-false-false-false-en-us-x-none.html
claims the yeast viability calculation on Mr Malty are off. Is he right? I don’t have a microscope or the inclination to worry about it.

With the methods I use, I made a product that I and friends enjoy drinking. That is what matters.

:cheers:

Stumbled upon this thread while doing prep research for my first 5 gallon batch.

A brewshop owner told me that the re-hydrating instructions on the packet were for when you want to propagate yeast in petri dishes, not for brewing. I don’t buy that though, seems to me you would do it that way no matter what you were using the yeast for, even bread baking! He said to pitch it dry in a (SANITIZED)pint glass of wort you saved when racking from your brewpot, give it a good stir, then pitch it in the carboy. I guess that’s one way to skin a cat.

[quote=“Gonzo”]Stumbled upon this thread while doing prep research for my first 5 gallon batch.

A brewshop owner told me that the re-hydrating instructions on the packet were for when you want to propagate yeast in petri dishes, not for brewing. I don’t buy that though, seems to me you would do it that way no matter what you were using the yeast for, even bread baking! He said to pitch it dry in a (SANITIZED)pint glass of wort you saved when racking from your brewpot, give it a good stir, then pitch it in the carboy. I guess that’s one way to skin a cat.[/quote]

The other day I was thinking how strange of a saying" there’s more than one way to skin a cat " is.