# Small Batches And Yeast



## DJbrewer (22/5/09)

Hi all,

ok, so I am thinking of buying a 15 L, or smaller, fermenter (or two) and doing small brews for different things, e.g. another cider, maybe a mead, or something more exotic.

I am not sure, however, how much yeast to add for small brews. If 1 packet/sachet of liquid yeast is for approximately 20L do I simply add a proportionally smaller amount of yeast?

any advice is welcome.

cheers!


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## newguy (22/5/09)

There's a guy in my brew club whose normal batch size is 5l. He pitches an entire smack pack (no starter) and if he likes the resulting beer, he has a perfect amount of yeast for another 20l of it. It gets expensive if you don't reuse the yeast though.

If you can cleanly divide a smack pack under clean conditions, I'd hazard a guess that you'd only need 1/4 of one pack for 5l. Not sure how much dried yeast you'd require.


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## DJbrewer (22/5/09)

newguy said:


> There's a guy in my brew club whose normal batch size is 5l. He pitches an entire smack pack (no starter) and if he likes the resulting beer, he has a perfect amount of yeast for another 20l of it. It gets expensive if you don't reuse the yeast though.
> 
> If you can cleanly divide a smack pack under clean conditions, I'd hazard a guess that you'd only need 1/4 of one pack for 5l. Not sure how much dried yeast you'd require.



hey, thanks for the reply.

so it seems you cannot use too much yeast and that makes it reasonably simple, then, with no measuring required!

and, in the case you mention, does he just add more ingredients (water, beer kit, etc.) to the fermenter?

thanks


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## Airgead (22/5/09)

DJbrewer said:


> hey, thanks for the reply.
> 
> so it seems you cannot use too much yeast and that makes it reasonably simple, then, with no measuring required!
> 
> ...



You can overpitch. Too much yeast can had bad effects on beer (too little esters id one potential problem). If I'm making 5l of mean I use 1/5th the yeast that I use when making a 25l batch. Usually that's an active 200ml starter (my 25l batches are started with a 1l starter).

Cheers
Dave


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## DJbrewer (22/5/09)

Airgead said:


> You can overpitch. Too much yeast can had bad effects on beer (too little esters id one potential problem). If I'm making 5l of mean I use 1/5th the yeast that I use when making a 25l batch. Usually that's an active 200ml starter (my 25l batches are started with a 1l starter).
> 
> Cheers
> Dave



hmmm. ok, so stick to my maths and all should be well.
i wondered if, like bread, beer/cider/etc. would taste "yeasty" if too much yeast is added.

thanks.


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## pdilley (22/5/09)

+1 on Over Pitching, good call Dave!

Depending on the style you are making, some of the flavour characteristics are brought out through the stress the yeast goes through during the lag phase of fermentation when the yeasts are building up sufficient numbers of cells to ferment out the wort (or must). Over pitching will strip out all the flavours and ferment clean which might make a still tasty beer but if you a brewing to style and want to match the flavour of a particular style you need to scale your amount of yeast you pitch accordingly.

@DJbrewer: There is no need to worry about "yeasty" flavour in fermented drinks when the yeasts flocculate out as in most of the styles of beer a home brewer will brew. Hefeweibier or Hefeweizen beer style and others with yeast in suspension, you will drink the yeast and the flavour they impart is considered part of the style.

In small batch brewing, just scale down everything accordingly to the size of your fermenter and more appropriately the volume of your wort you are fermenting as compared to the original recipe volume.


Cheers,
Brewer Pete


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## MAH (22/5/09)

I do a lot of smaller batches. I'll make about 25 litres of wort, split it between two small fermenters (I use the 15 litre fermenters) and pitch a different yeast in each fermenter. If using dry yeast, I pitch the whole packet, as there is little point keeping the leftover yeast. If using liquid yeast, I use startes, but I still don't bother scaling down. I wouldn't worry about using a whole smack pack in a 12 litre brew. 

The exeception to this practice is when I want to deliberately stress the yeast, like Brewer Pete mentioned. Hefeweizen is a style I have found to benfit from what would be consider under-pitching.


Cheers
MAH


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## DJbrewer (23/5/09)

MAH said:


> I do a lot of smaller batches. I'll make about 25 litres of wort, split it between two small fermenters (I use the 15 litre fermenters) and pitch a different yeast in each fermenter. If using dry yeast, I pitch the whole packet, as there is little point keeping the leftover yeast. If using liquid yeast, I use startes, but I still don't bother scaling down. I wouldn't worry about using a whole smack pack in a 12 litre brew.
> 
> The exeception to this practice is when I want to deliberately stress the yeast, like Brewer Pete mentioned. Hefeweizen is a style I have found to benfit from what would be consider under-pitching.
> 
> ...



Thanks, Brewer Pete and MAH.
I was probably more concerned with adding too much yeast to a cider or something like that, rather than a beer, so I think that scaling down is the way to go but also that I do not have to be too accurate, either. good news.

As usual, the forum members come through again with useful advice.
Looks like a trip to the LHBS for me today.


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## smollocks (23/5/09)

For what it's worth, I've twice made half batches of about 10L and in each case used half a packet of dry yeast (US05). It worked perfectly.


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## DJbrewer (23/5/09)

smollocks said:


> For what it's worth, I've twice made half batches of about 10L and in each case used half a packet of dry yeast (US05). It worked perfectly.



thanks, smollocks.


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## Thirsty Boy (23/5/09)

I shall post what is for me a stock standard link to the Mr Malty Pitching Rate Calculator.

You can plug in the volume you are fermenting, the gravity of the wort, the type of beer, whether you are using liquid or dry or re-pitched yeast - and it will tell you just exactly how much of it you should use.

Mr Malty Pitching Rate Calculator.


TB


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## kevo (23/5/09)

+1 for Mr Malty

I regularly make 5L batches and Mr Malty is a great tool.


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## DJbrewer (24/5/09)

Thirsty Boy said:


> I shall post what is for me a stock standard link to the Mr Malty Pitching Rate Calculator.
> 
> You can plug in the volume you are fermenting, the gravity of the wort, the type of beer, whether you are using liquid or dry or re-pitched yeast - and it will tell you just exactly how much of it you should use.
> 
> ...



that is a very comprehensive tool. i saw something on the Wyeast website but i like this one better as it allows for more parameters and options.

thanks.


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