I Am Confused About Yeast Now

[Sydneybrewer]

Ok so i spent some time in the hunter during the week and of course visited the potters micro brewery outside cessnock and well i left confused and surprised, i asked a million questions on the tour and the one that surpised me most is the fact they use only 3 smack packs of yeast in a 600 litre beer, now i have been using one pack per 20 litre brew, is this overkill? Am i overpitching dreadfully or are they underpitchting dreadfully? Or os there no real right or wrong? Their beers were awesome btw and i plan on staying there next time round, am also curentltly under the influence of one of their 1.5l bottles of wietbier, also Sampled a fair few of docs salty gose. Anyway thoughts

 

[bum]

Did you ask if they step up a starter for those packs or if they pitch direct?

 

[hoohaaman]

If not using slurry from previous brews,you can rest comfortably that they will step up their smack pack ^_^

 

[Wolfy]

... the one that surpised me most is the fact they use only 3 smack packs of yeast in a 600 litre beer, now i have been using one pack per 20 litre brew, is this overkill? Am i overpitching dreadfully or are they underpitchting dreadfully? Or os there no real right or wrong?

While there is no right or wrong, there is a highly recommended pitching amount, both under and over pitching can have undesired impacts on your beer.
But really a pitching calculator can give you the best answer to your question: http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/calc.html

I was equally surprised when I visited a micro and they said they use 2 Wyeast packs per batch.
Next time you visit, ask about what size starter they make and it will give you a better idea of what is going on.

 

[gap]

They have some 19L corny kegs there which , iwas told,are used for yeast production.

Regards

Graeme

 

[Sydneybrewer]

dont worry i asked about starters and the girl said they just throw 3 packs straight into the tank! and they will multiply themselves, they do get a full corny of yeast that they dump in to the next brew though, which they reuse between 7-10 times depending on when they feel the yeast becomes lazy. i was very surprised by their methods. i am thinking i must have misunderstood her or something, surely this could not be correct.

 

[Dazza_devil]

dont worry i asked about starters and the girl said they just throw 3 packs straight into the tank! and they will multiply themselves, they do get a full corny of yeast that they dump in to the next brew though, which they reuse between 7-10 times depending on when they feel the yeast becomes lazy. i was very surprised by their methods. i am thinking i must have misunderstood her or something, surely this could not be correct.

That's a huge 600 litre starter.
What else did you find out about the process?

 

[dig]

I used to brew a bit at 600 litres. For most yeast strains, 3 smak-o's would be grossly under-pitching and a 20l corny of slurry would seem to be a massive over-pitch. I used to use a hemacytometer and microscope, and depending on yeast strain (some pack down more densely), beer type and cell viability, I'd be pitching 1-2.5 litres of slurry per 6hl to hit a target rate. Perhaps their targets are different.

 

[Sydneybrewer]

they did say the first brew with new yeast takes 2 weeks, and the second brew with the yeast takes 5 days so maybe i did hear them correctly.

 

[Sydneybrewer]

it was a very layed back style of brewing and their beers tasted awesome, they even told me that once they got their hops mixed up due to the lack of labels so they just had a guess at which ones they were and threw them in. it is kinda encouraging that you dont need to be all anal about the processes to make great beer. however they did say they clean, clean and clean again, it seemed the only process they were strict about.

 

[Dazza_devil]

they did say the first brew with new yeast takes 2 weeks, and the second brew with the yeast takes 5 days so maybe i did hear them correctly.

You would think that there would be a fair amount of difference in the 1st and 2nd brew. Maybe the staff get to drink the first.

it was a very layed back style of brewing and their beers tasted awesome, they even told me that once they got their hops mixed up due to the lack of labels so they just had a guess at which ones they were and threw them in. it is kinda encouraging that you dont need to be all anal about the processes to make great beer. however they did say they clean, clean and clean again, it seemed the only process they were strict about.

They probably get a different result each time they brew. Interesting really since sticking to a strict regime would limit a specific style they brewed. If they are documenting as they go and using what they found for each succesive brew their beers maybe really something else in years to come.
I'm not up on it but is it common practice for commercial microbreweries to experiment from one brew to the next within a specific recipe.
Just goes to show that the major factor in producing good beer is cleanliness.

 

[O'Henry]

I know of a micro that brews a lager which always stalls around 1018 on the 1st gen of the yeast then is pretty well set on the rest of the gens. I think they use it between 5 and 8 times. Just takes a bit longer and sometimes needs a rouse. That could help with the amount of time it takes with potters between 1st and 2nd gens.