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Author Topic: Dry yeast pitching rate for IPA  (Read 3183 times)

Offline Joe T

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Dry yeast pitching rate for IPA
« on: July 05, 2014, 07:25:42 am »
Hi all! First post here. I need some expert advice.
I recently upgraded my system to give me the capability to brew 10 gallon batches. For my second batch on this system I brewed an APA with a target OG of 1.055. Well I overshot my gravity and ended up with an OG of 1.067! No big deal. I just threw a bunch more hops in the whirlpool and I'll have an IPA, right? Now I'm an experienced brewer and I normally make a starter or repitch my yeast but I used dry yeast for this one for the sake of convenience. I figured 2 packs of us05 should be fine for 10 gallons of 1.055 but what about 1.067? I brewed it yesterday, July 4th and my lhbs was closed so I had to use what I had. I oxygenated and pitched the 2 packs. After about 6 hours I oxygenated again thinking I could keep the yeast in the growth phase and grow more yeast. Was this a good idea? I'm starting to see some fermentation activity now at about 20 hours from pitch. The lhbs will be open soon. Should I get more yeast or is it too late? What would you do?
Thanks in advance for your time.
Joe T

Offline dmtaylor

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Re: Dry yeast pitching rate for IPA
« Reply #1 on: July 05, 2014, 07:30:52 am »
Two packs is perfect.  You're just fine.  No worries until gravity is more in the 1.075-1.080 range.
Dave

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Offline brewinhard

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Re: Dry yeast pitching rate for IPA
« Reply #2 on: July 05, 2014, 07:39:18 am »
Agreed.  1 rehydrated pack is fine into the low 1.070's with proper aeration for a five gallon batch.  You also did not need to aerate a second time.

Offline Joe T

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Re: Dry yeast pitching rate for IPA
« Reply #3 on: July 05, 2014, 05:43:09 pm »
Thanks for the vote of confidence! I decided to let it go and it had a nice krausen at 24 hours.
It still leaves me with the question of oxygenating the second time a few hours after pitching. Assuming I underpitched slightly, would the extra oxygen help grow some extra yeast cells and make up for underpitching? Or could it be detrimental?  Could I pitch more dry yeast in the first 24 hours or is it too late?

Offline klickitat jim

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Re: Dry yeast pitching rate for IPA
« Reply #4 on: July 05, 2014, 05:53:34 pm »
Two packs is perfect.  You're just fine.  No worries until gravity is more in the 1.075-1.080 range.

This

Offline dmtaylor

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Re: Dry yeast pitching rate for IPA
« Reply #5 on: July 05, 2014, 07:55:37 pm »
I'm not sure if the extra oxygenation would help or hurt the beer after 6-24 hours.  Probably didn't matter much at that point.  Adding extra yeast wouldn't have hurt anything and might have helped, except that you didn't underpitch, you were fine.  If the gravity had been higher and you delayed pitching some of the yeast by 24 hours, it would have helped.

All that being said, I really think you're overthinking this.  No worries.  Relax.  Have a homebrew.  :)
Dave

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Offline Joe T

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Re: Dry yeast pitching rate for IPA
« Reply #6 on: July 06, 2014, 04:37:40 am »
Thanks Dave. I brewed many underpitched and/or un-temperature-controlled beers back in the day. I don't want to go back there, man! The pitching rate calculator I use said I needed 28.5 grams and I pitched 23. Part of my initial panic was caused by unknowingly having the pitch rate calculator set to 'lager' for which I needed 58 grams! Oops!

Offline dmtaylor

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Re: Dry yeast pitching rate for IPA
« Reply #7 on: July 06, 2014, 07:01:13 am »
Pitching rate calculators tend to be overconservative.  When in doubt, you can always round down a little bit.  So in effect, 23 grams was perfect for a calculated need for 28.5 grams.  Had this been a lager... yeah, it would have been underpitched!
Dave

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Offline brewsumore

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Re: Dry yeast pitching rate for IPA
« Reply #8 on: July 06, 2014, 12:11:01 pm »
This is why I buy at least one more packet of yeast than I calculate is needed - cheap insurance.  In this case sounds like it could have helped reduce any anxiety.  I too promised myself to never go back to the under-pitched beers I made of yester-years!  Sounds like all is going well.  Now that ferment is underway, good temp control will help too.  Hopefully you added nutrient during the boil, which will also helps ensure a healthy ferment.  I use the Wyeast beer nutrient added last 10 minutes of the boil for every batch of beer I make.

As brewinhard stated, another trick to use if in that situation, is to carefully rehydrate the yeast that you have on hand, which results in a higher percentage of yeast cells that live to grow and reproduce in your wort.

Offline Joe T

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Re: Dry yeast pitching rate for IPA
« Reply #9 on: July 06, 2014, 07:26:47 pm »
Thanks brewsumore. I used Wyeast nutrient and it appears to be doing fine. Hopefully it fully attenuates. Good advice on having a spare packet of yeast but I use liquid yeast and repitch almost exclusively. Last time I had a spare pack of dry yeast it was in my fridge for over 2 years! I'm using dry yeast now because I get a bit off my game in summer. I didn't expect to brew but a brew day popped up on short notice so...

Offline flbrewer

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Re: Dry yeast pitching rate for IPA
« Reply #10 on: July 06, 2014, 07:28:54 pm »
Have you checked this resource out? I learned today that I'll need about 1.75 packs of dry S-05 for a 5 gallon at 1.070.
http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/calc.html

Offline Joe T

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Re: Dry yeast pitching rate for IPA
« Reply #11 on: July 07, 2014, 05:21:28 am »
Have you checked this resource out? I learned today that I'll need about 1.75 packs of dry S-05 for a 5 gallon at 1.070.
http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/calc.html
I use the pitching rate calculator on the Brewzor app. I don't have a computer so I need to buy Mr Malty if I want it. My app says you need 13.5 grams for 5 gallons of 1.070 wort.

Offline flbrewer

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Re: Dry yeast pitching rate for IPA
« Reply #12 on: July 07, 2014, 05:44:48 am »
Hmm, maybe bc I put they are older packs?

Offline Joe T

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Re: Dry yeast pitching rate for IPA
« Reply #13 on: July 07, 2014, 07:17:13 am »
Hmm, maybe bc I put they are older packs?
That'd likely do it. I've used a few different pitching rate calculators and they all will prescribe a different amount of yeast but they're all correct!