I have some Wyeast 2206 Bavarian lager yeast that I will be using in a dunked eventually. I was thinking of making about a 12.5 gallon batch of Oktoberfest and using about 2 gallons of it with the smack pack as a small batch, rather than making a starter (I have 34/70 yeast for the rest of it as a regular beer). Any thoughts on that yeasts performance under those circumstances? I’ll check against Mr. Malty as to precise size to avoid under pitching…that way I can put this into my lager strain rotation without making a starter.
Great choice for an Oktoberfest, IMHO. At the sizes we’re talking about, you can just scale linearly and not have any significant changes in yeast performance or flavor. One smack pack would be about right for a ~1 gal batch.
I can fit a small batch in the lager chest with the large batch, then ramp it up over a couple batches before getting it in the regular sized rotation. In addition to ultimately making a dunkel, I want to do a dopplebock and then an eisbock (next winter)…I think I have a plan.