Yeast quantity for Pilsner

[duotwr]

Hi

I'm looking for a quick bit of advice. I'm planning to make my first Pilsner at the weekend, based on a recipe in Brewing Classic Styles.

I have a fermentation fridge, so am planning to get the wort to around 12C before pitching yeast. But - in the recipe he suggests using _three_ packets of dried yeast. I've bought two sachets of W-34/70. Brew length will be around 23 litres.

Is two sachets likely to be sufficient? If not, can I make a large starter now in the hope of have more yeast to pitch at the weekend?

Thanks

Keith

[nigelsch]

Use mrmalty or one of the yeast calculators online, I use these all the time now to get the pitching rate correct.

Getting the yeast right for a lager/pilsner is important. Off the top of my head ive just started a 38L ferm on a 1050 pilsner,
which needed around 750B cells. Therefore for your 23L (assuming 1050) this would project to 23/38*750B = 450B cells.

Assuming 15B per gram for 11g packet you have 330B, so under pitching. 3 would give you near 500B, which is right.

Id do a starter with one packet to get you 450B-500B cells.

Good luck

[rpt]

The normal advice with dried yeast is not to make a starter but to pitch enough packets. I've not used W-34/70 but with Saflager S-23 I pitch at 20C then lower to 12C after 24 hours. This means I only need one packet. Has always worked well for me.

[duotwr]

Hi

thanks for the replies on this - one question, two answers! I love homebrewing.

My current thinking is just to pitch the two sachets into the bucket at fermentation temperature - around 12 degrees or so. But I plan to spend a bit of time on Mr Malty to see what he recommends, and I'll try to come back with my conclusion.

Because I'm so tight, and want to save on yeast costs, I also am planning to do a second pilsner brew (different recipe) and no-chill it. Then either pitch this straight onto the yeast cake from the first brew, or possibly just scoop some of the trub from the first batch and drop it in the second (to avoid over-pitching - they will both be similar strength brews).

I'm desperate to get these going - so I can make the most of cold weather for lagering. Should have done this in November!

Keith

[Aleman]

The fermentis website for W34/70 recommends 80-120g / HL (so 0.8 to 1.2g per litre) if pitching between 12-15C, if you want to pitch and ferment colder (Say 9-10C like I do with W34/70) then you increase the pitching rate to 2-3g per litre.

So Fermentis pitching rates for a 23L batch is 18.4g (pitching at 15C) to 27.6g (Pitching at 12C), or 2-3 packets. Nothing stopping you pitching 2 packets at 15C and then dropping it to 12C after a couple of days.

Incidentally 20L is a starter for an 11g packet of dried yeast!! I often brew two batches of beer to make my lagers . . a small 20L batch that I hit with 60g of W34/70 and pitch at 12C . . . then 48 hours later I brew an 80L batch that I pitch directly onto the first batch of beer (both made to the same recipe, just scaled appropriately ), and fermented at 9C. Saves me pitching 300g of yeast into one batch of beer and I get 10 brews from one 500g brick ( at nearly 80 quid a brick you want to get more than one or two batches from it!!!)

[duotwr]

Really useful post. To be honest I've been doing BIAB for around a year now - but haven't paid much attention to quantities of yeast for my brews. Mainly just throwing a packet of dried yeast into a batch - which so far have typically been 12-15 litre batches from stove top.

Given I've got the temp control I'll use my 2 sachets and pitch at 15 degrees as you suggest, then bring the temperature down. I plan to transfer to a second plastic FV for lagering - which I'm planning to do either in my beer fridge, or by just leaving out in the garage - which gets pretty cold.

As for your comment on quantities - my wife is only just getting her head around the fact that I'm doing 23l batches in my new boiler - let alone suggesting using a 20l starter to ferment 100l at a time!

Do you think there's an issue with pitching a second batch straight onto the full yeast cake from the previous brew? Or should I do this, and just ferment at 12 degrees from the start?

Keith

[Rookie]

Use three packs. I had great results using two packs of 34/70 in a three gallon batch of pilsner (1.049 to 1.007). MrMalty called for less, but I didn't want to mess around with using a partial pack and then hope I saved the remaining partial pack properly to use in another brew.