Hi all, I was hoping to brew a 1 gallon batch today but having plugged my numbers in to Brewer's Friend pitching rate calculator I'm about one billion yeast cells out - 50 billion yeast cells in the WLP001 PurePitch / 51 billion yeast cells required. Would seem a little OTT to make a small starter for a batch of this size. Do you think I'd be safe to go ahead with this one? Many thanks Graeme
One billion cells is within the noise level and can be ignored. However, I would still recommend making a starter to insure good yeast health. That's still the primary reason for starters . . . pitch count is important but health trumps all. A starter will give you an excess of yeast but it's easily poured off and saved for the next brew day. If you believe White Labs guidelines on Purepitch (I do, somewhat), you'll find the Brewer's Friend calculator will give you a different answer than the manufacturer. Some time ago WL adjusted the quantity/viability when they went to the Purepitch packaging. Here are some of the details: https://www.beeradvocate.com/community/threads/white-labs-purepitch-yeast-some-numbers.573302/
