Yeast to wash ratio

[Mr Four Square]

Been happily fermenting 25 litre ( fruit) washes on 1 gram of yeast (EC1118) per litre. I leave it for a month until it's done and dry. Decided to double the wash to 50 litres and doubled my yeast as well. It's a 200 litre barrel so I can step this up again.

Do need to keep up the ratio or is there a point at which the wash is going to take off anyway and I can start to cut back on the yeast?

The retailer recommends 5 gm to 23 litres for wine and EC1118 retails for a little under 20 euro per 100g

[RumJohn]

There is a lot of latitude in the amount to yeast to pitch.

Yeast is cheap enough, so pitch away. The yeast will sort itself out. In an ideal environment, the yeast will multiply happily until there is enough and sugar conversion begins. Yeast production will stop and the environment becomes anaerobic.

Some believe that the more yeast you pitch, the quicker the wash will take off. This true to a degree. All the yeast in the world wont get an unbalanced wash to perform.

I only use a good old bread yeast.

[RumJohn]

I would have to wonder why it takes you a month to ferment.

[Mash]

The commercial recommended dose is 60g/hl. I have over the years proved the correct dose does get job donew properly.

Equally I have fermented 300l on 10g.

It is a huge subject try lallamand for sole mind boggling detail.

1 month ferment is not uncommon in wine. It is not a race to produce Just alochol, but a well balanced drunk. Hot & quick famentations will blowoff
the delicate polyphenolic compounds.

[Easydrinker]

I too strive to be "a well balanced drunk", I shall be trying particularly hard this evening!

Robert.

[Mr Four Square]

"The commercial recommended dose is 60g/hl. I have over the years proved the correct dose does get job done properly".

Mashy are you saying you proved this particular ratio over the years?

I take it from these posts that I can back off the yeast a little as I increase the quantities. It might be a little slower but it will happen.

Kiwis reading may recognise the wisdom of the great New Zealand philosopher Rachael Hunter "it won't heppen right away ...but it will ... heppen?"

[Mash]

yes. It gets started without much lag stage. Does what it says on the tin. Once established at about 5m per ml yeast will not keep mulitpling.

I don't yet understand why the lentil wash (and similar) have such a high initial yeast dose. It's on my list off things to get to the bottom of....

[chill]

I think the genesis of the large initial yeast dose was "bread yeast is cheap and this is quicker and easier than making a starter".

[Mash]

I can see that.

Starters done (& or added) badly also create stress in the yeast and can actually make for slower starts that if just sprinkled.

I have done 2 lentils now 50g & 25g - no difference. 10g is where winemakers would be.

20g in 25l would ensure a good & quick start with minimum lag. SPRINKLED not started.

Think of the cost saving :-) Which will probably be completely negatated by a bad start later on because the yeast has been hanging around to long because it goes more than twice as far and wasn't store in optimum conditions.

Tell me why I started this post...................