So I was playing with BeerSmith and I happen to notice that my 5 Gal Dunkelweizen recipe is calling for three packages of yeast if Im not using a yeast starter. My understanding on pitching yeast has always been that any beer past 1.060 OG will more than likely require no minimum than two packs or vials of yeast. My Dunkelweizen recipe has an estimated OG of 1.055. I was thinking of pitching two Wyeast packs not doing any starter, just using the smack pack and let it sit overnight swelling up. What you guys opinion on pitching rates?
When you input your yeast, what did you put as the manufacturing date? This greatly changes the amount of yeast BeerSmith tells you to use.
That would be why. That's some pretty old yeast you have there. I believe it's recommended to use liquid yeast within 6 months but obviously even then its viability is going to be decreased. If you can't make a starter then you're going to need more yeast.
You should probably think about doing a stepped starter with yeast that old, if that date is from your actual yeast. If it's just a date that happend to be showing in Beersmith, change it.
I would concentrate more on cell count than number of packets, with a yeast calculator this is pretty easy. For a 1.055 ale, Beersmith recommends 201 billion cells. If you had two packets absolutely fresh you would be slightly underpitching. With the older packets your count will be much less and most likely the health of the yeast will be poor. Remember, smacking a pack doesn't increase the count, only shows if the yeast are active. With older yeast packets I would expect a long time between smacking and swelling. Also, yeast nutrient will be helpful. This is a long read(s), but it will help with a lot of your concerns regarding pitch count: http://www.mrmalty.com/pitching.php http://www.mrmalty.com/starter_faq.php
“Beersmith recommends 201 billion cells. If you had two packets absolutely fresh you would be slightly underpitching.” That is not the case if you are using 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.” If you have two reasonably fresh Wyeast smack packs you will have plenty of yeast cells to get the job done. Cheers!
I can't imagine a single fresh smack pack not getting the job done. I've never had an issue, and I never use starters.
"Getting the job done" means "making great beer" in my mind, so I guess I didn't realize there was a distinction between the two.
Nope. I have used 2 smack packs for bigger beers, but anything below 1.060 OG has turned out great, with no off flavors, from pitching a single smack pack. I tend to trust manufacturer recommendations when that manufacturer might stand to gain from me not following them. They also know a lot more about yeast than I ever will.
