Mr Malty

2 liters should be plenty for 5 gallons of average strength beer. If you are making a lager or a beer with an original gravity of higher than say 1.070 then 3-4 liters would still be a good idea for 5 gallons. If you are making 6 or 8 or 10 gallons, then obviously you need more yeast.

 

Yes, but be prepared for consequences of underpitching.

Mr Malty uses pitch rate guidelines that are mostly accepted as standard. As with any subjective measure you can have dissenting views, but White/Zainasheff, authors of Yeast and creator of Mr Malty's calculator are on record as saying that optimizing yeast pitch rate makes the best beer. Potential shortcoming of underpitching are longer lag times, slower fermentation, and reduced flavors.

Mr Malty's calc isn't easy to use for multi step starters, but that's what you need in your case. Check out http://yeastcalculator.com/ for an easier way to accomplish this. Also, huge starters for older packets of yeast are inherently inefficient. A two-stepper should accomplish the same thing using sizes around 1.0 - 1.5 L for each step. That's because yeast grow non-linearly, i.e. 1L + 1L ≠ 2L.

 

When I plug these numbers in Mr Malty it tells me 2.19L with intermittent shaking.

 

Yep, 2.19L.
OP: You might want to plug your numbers in again to see if you're misunderstanding how the calculator works.

 

I second the recommendation for yeastcalculator.com and use a 2 step starter. If you do your first step today or tomorrow, you'll have time. I would let the first step go for 24hrs, cold crash for 24hrs, second step of the starter for 24hrs, and then cold crash for at least another day. I give myself at least 4 days for a multi-step starter.

 

I'm sorry, but this is all just crazy to me. The yeast is only 2 months old and he's only making a standard gravity beer. Just wake the yeast up for a few hours in a couple liters of wort, then roll. We always seem to want to make things way more difficult or expensive than they need to be. Apply some grains of salt.

 

I think that's with two vials

. . . good catch, I didn't see that tidbit in the notes. Which is another good reason not to use Mr Malty. I recommend actually letting a calculator determine how much you need and how many steps to accomplish this. For multi steps you'll get good results from yeastcalculator, Brewers Friend, or Brewcipher (all free). I would make time to do the steps properly . . . we're talking beer here.

From the Mr Malty website, here's two links that explain it pretty well:
http://www.mrmalty.com/pitching.php
http://www.mrmalty.com/starter_faq.php

 

There are a number of inaccuracies/conservative assumptions that are part of the Mr. Malty yeast calculator which I have detailed many times in numerous posts.

Firstly, the Mr. Malty yeast calculator states that a brand new package of yeast contains less than 100 billion yeast cells. This is not the case with Wyeast smack-packs:

“Wyeast’s 125 mL Activator packs are advertised to contain 100 billion cells, but actually average around 120–130 billion cells, according to Les Perkins, microbiologist and quality control manager for Wyeast.”

The difference between 120 -130 billion yeast cells and less than 100 billion yeast cells is a significant disparity.

Secondly, the Mr. Malty yeast calculator assumes that 21 billion yeast cells die every 30 days (for the first 4 months). This value of die off is conservative. When you add in the fact that over the first 30 days that the Mr. Malty yeast calculator assumes that there are only something like 76 viable yeast cells (since it started off with an inaccurately low yeast cell count to begin with) then you have a ‘double whammy’.

Thirdly the Mr. Malty yeast calculator assumes that a pitch rate of 0.75 million cells/ml/P (which is appropriate for the case of reusing yeast; it is not an appropriate pitch rate if you utilize new packages of liquid yeast cells) there is one additional inaccuracy/conservative assumption.

If you add inaccuracy to conservative assumption upon inaccuracy/conservative assumption then the net result is a result which is very inaccurate.

Cheers!

 

And yet they just can't quite bring themselves to say 125B cells on the actual packaging. Wonder why that is? Is it that there is sometimes (rarely?) only 100B cells, but usually 120B-130B? Well hell, then why not print 100B-130B on the package?

In my opinion, that quote is marketing hype. BTW, even if true, OP is using a White Labs vial, not a Wyeast Smack Pack so there's one less "inaccurate assumption" to fret over.

Many people think it's perfectly appropriate, and they have piles of medals to back up their opinions. But since you say that a pitch rate of 0.75 million cells/ml/P is not appropriate, please fill in the blank...
"In my opinion, the appropriate pitch rate if you are utilizing new packages of liquid yeast is ______ million cells/ml/P." If you can't do that, please stop wanking about 0.75 being wrong.

 

It is all a swag unless you count cells.

 

Below is from the Mr. Malty FAQ concerning pitching a new yeast package (Wyeast Smack Pack & White Labs vials):

“This is a pitching rate of 5.3 million cells per milliliter, which is close to the pitching rate many professional breweries begin with when starting a new pitch of ale yeast. This rate works well because the health and vitality of fresh laboratory cultured yeast are superior to yeast harvested from normal fermentation”.

Cheers!

 

For the curious (like me), their example from the FAQ was 12°P, which translates to a pitch rate = 5.3/12 = 0.44.

 

So what's your recommended pitch rate in cells per milliliter per degree plato? A "pitch rate" without taking gravity into consideration is nonsense IMO. So help me out here. What's the rate taking gravity into account that you use?

 

I agree with your arithmetic for this specific example case.

Cheers!

P.S. Some individuals will state that unless you provide a differing value from 0.75 million cells/ml/P you are not permitted to question the value of 0.75 but that is nonsense. I personally pitch my yeast at the amounts as recommended by the various yeast vendors. I have been homebrewing for over 20 years and today I brewed batch number 381. By pitching these amounts I have had excellent results. If you prefer to use an online tool to determine your yeast pitch amount, that is your personal choice.

Cheers!

 

If that is all you are going on (i.e. the packaging and/or faqs) -- and especially if you are making that generally prescriptive for every brewer -- you are doing yourself and those you are advising a big disservice.