Really sorry guys, another yeast quantity question.

[The Goatreich]

Sorry to post yet another yeast question on here. I promise I've asked for the Yeast book for Christmas and I'll memorise it from cover to cover so I can stop pestering you all!

I've been growing a culture of ale yeast from a swab taken from a petri dish for around a fortnight now, starting with about 25ml starter, then up to 300ml, then up to a litre, planning for my brew day tomorrow. I've decanted all the starter into a sterilised 2l PET bottle and put it into the fridge so that I can pour off the spent wort and add just the yeast to my fresh wort, however I'm a little disappointed with the amount I've managed to make. Will the amount shown in the pictures be ok for a 5 gallon brew at around 1045 OG?

 

[The Goatreich]

Beer smith is telling me I need 188 billion yeast cells. How do I know how many I have?

 

[graysalchemy]

I usually make a starter upto a gallon for 55L so you will probably have enough I would say. :thumb:

 

[The Goatreich]

OK great thanks. So generally you don't judge by the amount of white stuff at the bottom, more the amount of starter you've made up?

 

[graysalchemy]

As a rule of thumb that gives me an amount which is OK. You could also ask for a microscope for Christmas and count cells to determin if youhave enough :whistle:

 

[The Goatreich]

Ha, I can see it now....."was that 13 billion or 14 billion....oh damn it...1,2,3,4..."

 

[Good Ed]

If you've ever used a White Labs yeast there are about 100 billion cells in the vial, ie the solid amount in the vial. I think if you had the Yeast book now you wouldn't need to ask all these questions.