Yeast Amount

[zerek]

Hi Quick Question,

I just did a 3 gallon brew and when I bought the yeast, the employee told me that a standard packet of yeast is for a 5 gallon brew. Should I just do a 3/5 packet for a 3 gallon, 2/5 packet for a 2 gallon..? ect..

 

[Ozarks Mountain Brewery]

depends on the gravity, the rule of thumb is anything over 1050 ish use the whole packet, anything less its up to you, it will work either way, if you want to save it for another batch then divide and save the remaining 3 times for another batch

 

[J A]

I've used half-packets on smaller batches and you can do that. Most packets (S-04, US-05, etc) are for 5 to 6 gallons. But using the whole packet on 3 gallons is perfectly fine and will likely give you better beer. And, yes, keep everything super clean and save all the yeast trub in a sanitized mason jar and you can divide it for subsequent batches, as Ozark points out.

 

[Nosybear]

Hi Quick Question,

I just did a 3 gallon brew and when I bought the yeast, the employee told me that a standard packet of yeast is for a 5 gallon brew. Should I just do a 3/5 packet for a 3 gallon, 2/5 packet for a 2 gallon..? ect..

Short answer: Dump it in. It's technically an overpitch but that won't hurt.

 

[Nosybear]

Aaannnnd.... As I closed I remembered another article of the True Faith of Brewing: Sprinkle or rehydrate. Since it sounds like you will be sprinkling the yeast directly into your wort, dump it in becomes an even better answer. Less of an underpitch (50 billion cells - approximately the number of survivors in your sachet - in 3 gallons of wort is adequate even for quite strong beers).

 

[Mark D Pirate]

Why someone would spend several hours making a brew and then save mere minutes of work by just sprinkling is beyond me .
Osmotic pressure is very real and even if the death rate is overstated why take the risk ?

 

[jeffpn]

Why someone would spend several hours making a brew and then save mere minutes of work by just sprinkling is beyond me .
Osmotic pressure is very real and even if the death rate is overstated why take the risk ?

Because it doesn’t make a difference to me. When I started brewing 20+ years ago, the brew kit instructions specifically said not to rehydrate, so I didn’t, even though the yeast packet included instructions for rehydration. After a few brews, I did rehydrate, just for kicks. I got beer that way, too. Years later, I called the kit company and asked them why I shouldn’t rehydrate. Turns out, they used to get call after call from customers complaining about the yeast packs being dead. The yeast wasn’t dead on arrival. The customers were scalding it during rehydration. So they decided to include not to rehydrate the yeast in the kit instructions. I just never got into rehydrating, not part of my process.

That’s my answer to your question. Others answers, of course, will vary. Let’s drink to it!

 

[Nosybear]

Absolutely! Kunze's Grist Altbier hoisted in your direction.... The poster's question was if his yeast pitch was adequate. It was. If he'd said lager, I'd have said it wasn't. Cheers!

 

[thehaze]

I also just sprinkle dry yeast and have not yet had any issues. A have had a few brews which started fermentation within the first 5 hours.

I am also a fan of underpitching hefe and belgian yeast, to stress the yeast and force it to produce more esters. One sachet of 11 gr of yeast, at least for me, is enough for 5-6 gallons at 1.060-1.065 ( belgian yeast and hefe )

 

[Mark D Pirate]

Yeast are by far my favourite fungus , I got better results once I starting really looking after my yeast and turning into a bit of a yeast nerd .
I may do a side by side on dry sprinkle vs rehydrate.
They are tough lil buggers though the R&D guy for Coopers / Mr Beer left yeast in freezer for 2 years and it still made beer

 

[GFHomebrew]

Same as the yeast in them bottles found in that ship wreak recently of the coast off Tassie I think it was you who told me about that Mark they managed to culture some up and make a brew out of it simply outstanding microorganism them yeasties I love em.