Would like your opinions on overpitching…I know the best way is have the proper pitch rate but say you overpitched by 60-65 billion cells…that would not have a negative effect on your beer right?
Yeah i figured 60-65 billion over would not have a negative impact since alot of people pitch directly on cakes with no problem…just wanted to get your opinions
End of the day it’s an educated guess of how much yeast you’re pitching, as Sean said. You’re using estimated starting cell counts, and if making a starter estimated growth. Just experiment, keep notes, and figure out your sweet spot based upon the results and your likes/dislikes. For me, I will error on side of slightly lower for ales, and slightly over for lagers.
I disagree that people pitch directly on yeast cakes with “no problems”. Over pitching by that much can have negative effects. From head retention to yeast off flavors to thin beer lacking proper “mouthfeel” I find it is always better to try to approximate an appropriate pitch. Over pitching a little though certainly won’t hurt you and unless you are doing cell counts, as sean said, you really have to idea.
BTW here is an interesting way to approximate cell counts on this page
Yeah makes sense…i always knew that it is pretty much impossible to know exactly how many yeast cells are in a starter unless like you guys said count the cells…and i would not even know where to start with that…I made a 2 liter starter stepped up twice which yielded probably 1 cup of slurry give or take and i have another pack of yeast same strain that im gonna throw in as well…Its a little bit of a waste but i will not be getting around to brewing another lager anytime soon…Its @ 62% viability and dropping so i figured why not
+1 i recently repitched from slurry for my first time, and used too much. lag time was about 4 hours i think, and finished at 1.019 (bad because this recipe always finished at 1.012-13). beer was full of off flavors and horrid-dumped it all down the drain.
not the first lesson, not the last. experimentation is part of the fun…never beat myself up anymore over something I tried and failed, yet learned from.