Hey all,
I’m brewing my first batch tomorrow, and American Pale Ale bought at my LHBS, and am wondering if one packet of dry yeast is enough to pitch. I have Safale US-05. Should I pitch 2 packs? Thanks.
One is sufficient - rehydrate for best results.
+1
1 pack is sufficient for 5 gallon batch of beer going up to 1.070 starting gravity.
You can just sprinkle the yeast into the wort. But there seems to be mounting evidence that rehydrating is better to the yeast.
First, welcome to the board - lots of friendly experience on here. Congrats on the first brew - welcome to our problem.
The answer is that it depends on the original gravity of the recipe kit. If it’s a relatively low gravity beer 1.040 to say high 50s, one pack should suffice. If it’s high 50s to 1.060 or over, go for two.
You can search on here about yeast starters, which is a good idea and you’ll appreciate as your skills grow.
But for now, you can hydrate your yeast. Simply, boil a cup or so of water, cover the cup and let it cool, and gently pour the dry yeast into the cooled water. Give it a few hours or so. It will help reduce the lag time by getting the yeast out of the dry state and into a working state before you pitch it into the wort.
I made my first several batches with the same US-05. Then I switched to liquid yeast and never looked back. Even with different ingredients and despite it being a good all around American ale yeast, the US-05 can make beers taste surprisingly similar. Liquid yeast and all the choices will make all the difference - worth the extra few bucks.
Good luck!
FWIW, I get great results with a single packet of 05 up to a mid 70s OG. I don’t rehydrate.
this ^^^ there are articles on rehydrating producing higher viability of cell count, but I also just sprinkle on top and never had any issues. maybe I’m just lazy but I just do what works for me.
Wow, thanks for all the great replies. The wort is in the fermenter as I post. Everything seemed to go as planned. The OG for this APA was 1048 so I took everyone’s advice and pitched one pack.
I pitched it directly on to the top of the wort. I think the next brew I do will be the same one, only that time I’ll rehydrate the yeast and see if there is a discernible difference between the two.
Thanks again for the advice, and I’m sure I’ll have tons of questions later on. :cheers:
[quote=“lauregas”]Wow, thanks for all the great replies. The wort is in the fermenter as I post. Everything seemed to go as planned. The OG for this APA was 1048 so I took everyone’s advice and pitched one pack.
I pitched it directly on to the top of the wort. I think the next brew I do will be the same one, only that time I’ll rehydrate the yeast and see if there is a discernible difference between the two.
Thaks again for the advice, and I’m sure I’ll have tons of questions later on. :cheers: [/quote]
Good plan! Experiments like that are the best way to find out what works for YOU!
Driving home last night I realized I didn’t boil the 2 gallons of water that I added to my wort! Such a dumb mistake but, live and learn. Is my beer ruined?
I made the same mistake on my first batch. My beer turned out just fine without boiling my water. Now I just use distilled water for my extract batches to top off my carboy with.
Was it bottled water? If so you’re probably fine. If it was tap water, you might have chlorine issues, but an infection is unlikely.
Cobia, I just noticed we live in the same state. I’m in the B’ham area.
Nate, it was tap water…
[quote=“lauregas”]Wow, thanks for all the great replies. The wort is in the fermenter as I post. Everything seemed to go as planned. The OG for this APA was 1048 so I took everyone’s advice and pitched one pack.
I pitched it directly on to the top of the wort. I think the next brew I do will be the same one, only that time I’ll rehydrate the yeast and see if there is a discernible difference between the two.
Thanks again for the advice, and I’m sure I’ll have tons of questions later on. :cheers: [/quote]
I personally have tried both ways with US-05, and cannot tell a difference in the results. They both turned out great.
[quote=“lauregas”]Cobia, I just noticed we live in the same state. I’m in the B’ham area.
Nate, it was tap water…[/quote]
Whoops. Well, you may find out the hard way if you have high chlorine or chloramine levels, as it can leave a nasty flavor often described as band-aid like.
Even if you get away with it this time, in the future, treat ALL your brewing water with either a filter or a campden tablet to remove that stuff, even if you’re going to boil it.
You may well be fine, and even if you’re not I bet ya its a mistake you’ll never make again. Chalk it up to a learning experience, we’ve all had them. Stick with it, and good luck.
I always use tap water for my top-offs. Of course, I’m on a well so don’t have to worry about chlorine/chloramine. Never experienced any problems with contamination. After 15 months, I just sent in a water sample to Ward’s. Another step in my brewing experience.
All right… I bottled the beer and let it sit for 2 weeks to carbonate. That seems to have gone well.
I tried one beer last week (with one week conditioning) and another last night with two weeks conditioning. The bottles are stored under my stairs in a wine closet and the temperature is a consistent 60 degrees. The beer tastes fine but feels thin when I’m drinking it. Will this improve with more time? Since this is my first batch I have no idea what to expect.
When I was brewing extract, I always thought the beers tasted thin…or watered down. The flavor was there, but the mouth feel was more watery then beery.
Perhaps doing full boils instead of top-off might help…but I never did that. Went right to All Grain and never looked back!
