Double pitch.

[ChelisHubby]

I just bought a cellar craft merlot kit, I was wondering if buying a second pack of yeast it is 1118 would cause any problems. I know that doubling the yeast in beer is almost always a good thing but what about wine?

 

[bernardsmith]

I guess if a belt holds your pants up then a pair of suspenders might help support the pants if the belt fails... A pack of yeast is designed to ferment any volume from 1 gallon to about 6 and if that is what the lab states then you can assume that that colony will likely ferment almost twice the volume with no problem. No sensible person ever advertises the very maximum some thing can do. They build a great deal of redundancy and tolerance into any claim they make... Could you pitch twice the amount? Sure. Is there any benefit? Only if you wear a belt and suspenders... But I guess others on this forum may have a different opinion..

 

[DoctorCAD]

I may be wrong, but if you could isolate one single cell of yeast out of the billions in a pack, it would eventually ferment any amount of wine, as long as the environment is good. Yeast divide and divide and divide...

Two packs may guarrantee a fermentation or at least a quick fermentation.

 

[bernardsmith]

I think DoctorCAD is exactly right. The real issue is the speed of the fermentation, and a pack of dried yeast has more than enough cells that when rehydrated according to the lab's protocol will colonize the must and prevent any other wild yeast and bacteria from taking over (because they will create the environment that best favors them and so disfavors any other possible competitor - assuming you are employing good sanitizing process) while fermenting the must quickly enough to inhibit any other spoilage. If the number of cells would typically be insufficient then the lab would ensure that the starting colony would be larger or they would be out of business long ago.

 

[lukebuz]

Best bet is to use a single pack, and make a yeast starter. 1 cup of water, 1/4 cup of sugar, yeast. Let it go crazy for 12 hours, and pitch! Even half this volume/sugar will still be more effective than a double dry pitch.

 

[theDREWery]

IIRC underpitching will cause more phenols and fusels as the yeast are stressed to reproduce. Overpitching will cause more esters, as the yeast aren't soaking up everything in order to reproduce. Not necessarily a bad thing for wine.

Source: [ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vELwUsBmWQ[/ame]

 

[jonereb]

My first attempt at winemaking resulted in wine that smelled and tasted too much like yeast. Did I pitch too much yeast? Did I use the wrong yeast (don't remember what I used). Would pitching too much of even the right yeast result in an overpowering yeast smell and taste?

 

[lukebuz]

Nope. Your pitch was multiplied 100x (or more!!) by yeast reproducing. If it was yeasty smelling, maybe you didn't fine it? Try some Super-Kleer.

 

[ChelisHubby]

Thanks for the answers folks. I was considering letting it age in secondary for about 6 weeks is this a potential problem?

 

[jonereb]

I didn't fine the batch I mentioned above. For my current batch of wine from last year, I used a different yeast, 1118. It didn't have the smell or yeast taste. Very pleased with it. It's aging in corked bottles. Didn't fine it either. Should I have done that?