I am brewing an IPA this week, 1.077 projected gravity (8.28% ABV). The batch size is 3.5 gallon. I will be using S-05, dry yeast packets. I have two, but also have the ability to do a starter with DME, yeast nutrient, etc... Using brewers friend, I am going for a 1.25 pitch rate (pro brewer big ale)... So I require 309 B cells. My question is, do I just need (1) packet of S-05 with a 2L starter or (2) packets with the starter to ensure I have enough yeast to do the job? For the target pitch rate, is 1.25 overkill for what I am doing? Appreciate the help!
Brewers friend should say so. Click "grab from above" and select 2L and I nput your starter gravity. 1.25 is fine.
Normally a starter is not made for dry yeast. For the expense of DME (and time) it makes sense to just pitch another packet. Since you asked, IMO the 1.25 pitch rate is overkill. I use the 0.75 figure which does take into account the gravity of the wort. To make it more interesting, Brewer's Friends estimates 10 billion cells per gram of dry yeast . . . Mr Malty estimates 20 billion for the same yeast (click on cell count estimates in the calculator for a good discussion). So how do you decide? You'll know what really works after a couple of batches. If it were me, if the US-05 is relatively fresh I'd rehydrate a single packet and pitch into the 3.5 gallons. Here's some more discussion on the subject.
Awesome thanks! Yeah, my question was more the pitch-rate which I am still learning about and what works. I was not sure when doing 8%+ ABV if one packet of the US05 would be enough. Noted about the starter and such... In the future, I will be using some liquid yeasts so I did buy the stuff required to do the starter, so it won't go to waste.
