So last night I decided I was going to try out my new homemade mash tun, I made one out of a 5 gallon bucket with the mesh hose at the the bottom. I realized soon after that I'm going to invest in the false bottom..I didn't get as much out of the mash as I had thought, anyway I ended up yielding about 4.5 gallons after boil. When I went to add yeast to fermenter I missed a little of it and some spilled over the side. I checked on it this morning and it looked pretty active. What do you guys think? Add more yeast? Also the gravity came out a little higher than I expected, but I'm guessing that's due to the fact that I got less wort out of my mash than I thought I would.
Basically, you're asking if you pitched enough yeast. To offer an opinion, we'd need to know the gravity of the wort, is this a lager or an ale, what kind of yeast (Liquid? Dry? If the latter, what size pack?), the age of the yeast, and how much spilled. All that said, you probably pitched enough yeast to make beer. Higher than anticipated gravity could be due to more boil-off than expected or due to a higher mash efficiency than expected. But it wouldn't be due to leaving some extra wort behind in the mash tun, unless the extra wort was left behind because you added sparge water but didn't drain it completely (but did drain the original mash completely), thus changing the proportion of your wort that was from first runnings vs. second runnings.
Pitching enough yeast is one of the more important things that needs to be done to make great beer. You can make perfectly enjoyable beer if you do not care to work on this. Just as long as you don't get too lazy. The thing here is that the majority of under pitching problems will occur fairly early into fermentation. Adding yeast to a wort that is already a third of the way to completion doesn't really reverse undesirable characteristics that underpitching will cause. And once you have krausen your wort is very rapidly becoming beer. So, as said, let it ride. Look into getting a stir plate. You'll want it sooner or later anyway. Cheers.
^ So you can make a starter. I don't want to sound condescending or like a know it all, but I don't know what you know. In order to pitch the correct amount of yeast for the amount and gravity of your wort, many people make starters. And use calculators to figure out how many, or how big of a starter is needed. Google the topic, lots of good info out there.
Well he said his OG was 1068. IMO that gravity should get more than a standard vial/pack of yeast. Or at least a fresh cake. A stir plate is essential. Just an opinion. Cheers.
Yes, I completely agree with you. I was just worried OP might not have known what a starter is, or why they might need a stir plate.
You got that right! (the second part) Imho, stir plates are not essential...there are plenty of other ways to ensure sufficient amounts without resorting to decanting starters (which IS essential if using stir plates) Cheers
