Brew

[Summerhil]

Hi Guys,

I've recently brewed a pale ale 1048 OG, target FG was 1010 according to beersmith.

I used a single packet of Bry 97 west coast ale yeast.

http://www.lallemandbrewing.com/product-details/bry-97-west-coast-ale-yeast/

I hit the OG and FG pretty much bang on. Fermentation with this yeast is odd. It doesn't do anything for about a day and a half then takes off like a rocket.

Anyway... The beer has come out of fv, been bottled and is around 3 weeks old ish and it's ok but not great. I've made the same recipe before and it turned out better. I then remembered that the first time I made it I used 2x 11g packs of the dry yeast. This time I used one..

I always thought that a single pack of dry yeast should have sufficient cells to hit my target pitch rate, hence why I just threw in one. But I've just done the calcs here...

https://www.brewersfriend.com/yeast-pitch-rate-and-starter-calculator/

And looking on the yeast site this yeast is >= 5 billion cells / g. Which gives me 55 billion cells per pack.
The calculator tells me I need 223 billion to acheive 0.75 million cells / ml / degree plato in my 25L batch. So I'm way off with one and in fact need 4 packs!



That seems like a lot to me. So my question is... does this seem right to you? Do you guys pitch multiple packs?


Cheers in advance

 

[BarnBrian]

What's your batch size?

 

[Summerhil]

Batch was 25L

 

[MyQul]

1x11g pack should be enough to ferment out a 25L batch unless its extremely old. Dried yeast has a good shelf life and even if it's gone past it's use by date it's usually fine.

I've only used BRY-97 once. GeB sent me some as they had ran out of US-05. So I did a bit of research before using it. It's got a reputation as a slow starter but when I used it, it took off fine. In under 24 hours iirc.

BRY-97 is part of the chico strains of yeast (US-05/WLP001/WY1056) although they are similar there are suble differences reported between them

 

[Gunge]

I've always used just one pack, except for the time when I caved into all the guff and used 2 packs of CML yeast ( can't remember which one ) . I can tell you right now, the only difference was twice as much bloody sediment. If one pack ferments out in 2 days and causes volcanic outpourings from the vent tube, what am I expected to gain by using 2?

 

[Summerhil]

Cheers for the replies guys.

I’m still intrigued that the pitch calculator suggests I need more. I’ve seen first hand how much difference making a starter makes with liquid yeast.

So why do we think one is enough? Is it because the recommended pitch rates aren’t important or is it rather the yeast website cell count is conservative?

Either way I’m tempted to re brew this beer and chuck in 2 or 3 just to see what happens.

Thanks again chaps.

 

[dad_of_jon]

Cheers for the replies guys.

I’m still intrigued that the pitch calculator suggests I need more. I’ve seen first hand how much difference making a starter makes with liquid yeast.

So why do we think one is enough? Is it because the recommended pitch rates aren’t important or is it rather the yeast website cell count is conservative?

Either way I’m tempted to re brew this beer and chuck in 2 or 3 just to see what happens.

Thanks again chaps.

did you rehydrate the single pack that makes a difference?

 

[Gunge]

Either way I’m tempted to re brew this beer and chuck in 2 or 3 just to see what happens.

What'll happen is you'll waste money on the extra packs, but get 2 or 3 times as much yeast at the bottom of your FV to do with as you see fit.

 

[steveshep8676]

Hi Summerhil
you never mentioned aerating or oxygenating the wort as that would have helped the yeast in the lag & growth phase which is around 12/24 hours. I always rehydrate my yeast before pitching and get it as close to the wort fermentation temperature as possible as the yeast cells don’t like a large change in temperature, the shock can cause the cells to mutate. Also not rehydrating and pitching straight into the wort kills up to 50% of the yeast cells. It’s ok to do it so long as you know that half could possibly die so pitch twice as many. Having said that I’m sure your beer will be very palatable, I do love a hoppy beer myself. Good luck with it and enjoy your spoils [emoji106]

 

[Summerhil]

Cheers guys.

Appreciate the comments.

Well guessed. Not much with aeration going on and didn’t rehydrate. I’ll be sure to do that next time and see what happens. By the sounds of it it’s going to beat pitching more.