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Pitching rate conversion

GoodNewsBrews

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Hey all.  I am new to liquid yeast and am trying to do a recipe that calls for a pitch rate of 16 to 18. It's a 19 liter batch and I've used Mr.Malty and Brewer's Friend before, but I don't know what 16 to 18 means as far as cells per ml/plato.  Can anyone explain this to me?  I don't want to over or under pitch.

Thanks so much!
 
GoodNewsBrews said:
Hey all.  I am new to liquid yeast and am trying to do a recipe that calls for a pitch rate of 16 to 18. It's a 19 liter batch and I've used Mr.Malty and Brewer's Friend before, but I don't know what 16 to 18 means as far as cells per ml/plato.  Can anyone explain this to me?  I don't want to over or under pitch.

Thanks so much!

Honestly, You can just pitch the entire packet or tube and it should be fine unless its a lager, then you should pitch double or even triple what you would with a ale.

 
GoodNewsBrews said:
calls for a pitch rate of 16 to 18.

I am not sure what the 16 to 18 refers to.  Can you elaborate more on what the units are for this and from where you have gotten that value?
 
GoodNewsBrews said:
Hey all.  I am new to liquid yeast and am trying to do a recipe that calls for a pitch rate of 16 to 18. It's a 19 liter batch and I've used Mr.Malty and Brewer's Friend before, but I don't know what 16 to 18 means as far as cells per ml/plato.  Can anyone explain this to me?  I don't want to over or under pitch.

Thanks so much!

Greetings GoodNewsBrews - without further information about what you are actually brewing, it sounds to me like you might be brewing a Lager where the recommended 16 - 18 in the recipe would equate to million cells/mL of wort.  The pitch rates I have used are as follows:

Ales - 6 million cells per mL wort. (6m x 19,000 mL) = 114 billion cells required for a 19L batch
Lagers - 15 million cells per mL wort (15m x 19,000 mL) 285 billion cells required for a 19L batch

Of coarse these numbers are quite rough.

So, the numbers you offer of 16 - 18 are in line with the pitch rate for a Lager and, again I?m guessing, it is probably a cold fermenting Lager - 40-45 degrees F (4.4-7.2 degrees C).

I hope this information helps!

Good luck!
 
Thanks guys for such a quick response!  I am brewing Stone Pale Ale from their own blog.  http://www.stonebrewing.com/blog/miscellany/2015/stone-pale-ale

It doesn't specify what the rate means, I normally use brewers friend which uses (millions of cells /ml/ plato) and I don't know how to convert this...Is it intended to be overpitched to achieve a different flavor?

On another note, the same recipe calls for a 20 minute mash at 156, I use a grainfather so I was thinking of just doing 40 minutes and then mashing out.  Any reason this isn't a good choice?

Thanks in advance!
 
Greetings GoodNewsBrews - I just visited the link you provided and the recipe calls for 1 35mL pkg of WLP002 or WLP007.  The OG is predicted at 1.057.  So according to Mr. Malty, if you use yeast produced today, for example, you would need 208 billion cells.  Which equates to 1 package of yeast in 1 liter starter.

I?m not certain what they are referring to when they state ?pitch rate 16 to 18?.  But I wouldn?t be too concerned about it.  However, if you would still like an answer to your question, you can allways call the brewery and speak with the brewer.  Quite often they are happy to offer you information.

Sorry I couldn?t help any further.
 
I think that KellerBrauer has the units correct for the pitching rates.  I, too, have never seen a pitching rate at other than billion cells/ml/?Plato.  If you go by KellerBrauer's findings and target around 17 million cells/ml you would want to plan for a pitch of 17 mil/ml * 19 l * 1000 ml/l = 323,000 million cells or 323 billion cells.  This seems like an overpitch for an ale, but they may do it to lessen the ester production for a cleaner ale character in the finished beer.

Mashing for 20 minutes seems on the short side to me, but it would definitely add to the body of the finished beer.  You can always run the mash for 20 minutes and then take a wort sample and check for completeness of conversion using a starch indicator test.  If the starch test comes out positive, mash a bit longer and test again.

As with any recipe, I recommend selecting the parameters which make sense to you, brew, and then make adjustments for the next brew based upon your experiences and outcome. 
 
Thank you all so much.  I now have a good idea where to from here.  Happy brewing!
 
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