Question for anyone who has a solid grasp on the pitching rates. I am going to be brewing a 5gal extract IPA with an original gravity of about 1.070. On the mr. malty calculator looks like i need about 2.5 billion yeast cells for this og, or pitch about 2 1/2 packets of liquid yeast (using wyeast 1056). Question is, if i make a starter with about 1 cup of dme in 1400 or 1500 ml for the starter, will that be enough. (I use a stir plate) It seems like the calculator says that it will however i did another calculation from another website and it looks like that will only about double my yeast cells which would be only 2 billion. i don’t want to under pitch. I guess i could do a starter and then throw in another smack pack as well but i don’t know if over pitching has any negative effects either?
Thanks
I just used mrmlty to calculate a starter for a 1.076 beer. The date on the smack pack was 10/17/12. The calculator said I needed a 1.78 L starter on a stir plate. I used 2 qt. of water and 6 oz. of DME for. starter gravity of about 1.035. It’s more accurate to weigh your DME than measure it. Based on my experience, that should be a good siE for a starter for that OG.
Thanks Denny, that helps. I didn’t really understand the calculator viability with date until now. I put the date of my smack pack in and it says that I should use two packs in one liter. I have never heard of putting 2 smack packs in a starter. I guess I would use about 3-4 ounces of DME in 1 Quart and then just throw the packs in and do it like a normal starter. What do you think?
Thanks
Theres a little sliding triangle near the bottom of the calculator, slide it to the left and it calculates small starters with more yeast packs, to the right is vice versa, larger starters with fewer yeast packs.
So if your pack is roughly a month old, you’ll need 1.75 liters on a stirplate with one pack.
So we don’t take stabs in the dark at an answer, what is the date on your pack?
Nov 12
[quote=“Trapae”]Thanks Denny, that helps. I didn’t really understand the calculator viability with date until now. I put the date of my smack pack in and it says that I should use two packs in one liter. I have never heard of putting 2 smack packs in a starter. I guess I would use about 3-4 ounces of DME in 1 Quart and then just throw the packs in and do it like a normal starter. What do you think?
Thanks[/quote]
Why not make a bigger starter? Then you won’t have to use 2 packs. But if a qt. is all you can do, then yeah, you’re either gonna have to use 2 packs or make a 2 stage starter.
With the date being 11-12 and the gravity being 1.070, you should be able to build a 1.67L starter with one pack on your stir plate and have the 253B cells needed.
Okay thanks, I think I’m understanding better now. I found a yeast calculator on Brewers friend that seems a little more user-friendly than the Mr. malty app. By the way I really like this forum, it seems like everyone is really interested in helping everyone else out.
