Pitching the right amount of yeast is key to reliable fermentations and great-tasting beer every time. Cell counting yeast cultures help determine the correct volume/weight of live yeast needed and the current condition of the generation, making for more consistent fermentations.
Differences in pitching rate can affect flavor production, fermentation speed, yeast health, and flocculation, leading to yeast harvesting problems. Cell counting can be done as quickly as 10-15 minutes.
Practice makes perfect! Here's some quick tip on how to get used to focusing a microscope for a better view!
Keep it standardized and consistent! Here's some quick tip on make the most out of your time for cell counting while still maintaining an accurate count of the actual slurry.
What's considered dead and not dead? Double-check your methylene blue concentration. If not properly made, all cells will appear dead.
A 0.01% methylene blue in 2% sodium citrate dihydrate solution is a common industry-used dye. If the yeast slurry is left in the dye too long, all cells will eventually stain blue. Dead cells lack the enzyme to decolorize the methylene blue, take pictures and standardized within your brewhouse how dark a cell needs to be to be considered dead. Also, try other dyes with different pH levels can also help distinguish live and dead cells.
White Labs offers a range of other products, from nutrients to enzymes, to a bunch of different lab supplies to make brewing as easy as possible. Check them out below!
Plugging it into a pitch rate calculator is easy, but we're here to help understand where some of the values come from. As well as letting you in on some of our favorite cheat sheet tips! Follow along and please reach out if you have any questions!
In this guide, we’ll learn how to control our pitch rate from ideal pitch rates to how to cell count and repitch for the next batch of beer.
TLDR: Why This Matters for Brewers Longest shelf life available for liquid yeast PurePitch Next Generation allows you to buy and store yeast longer, reducing the need for tight brew-day timing. This makes planning easier and lets you order yeast for multiple batches at once, saving on shipping costs. Consistently higher yeast quality The improved…
Read more
Welcome to 2026! With a new year comes planning and scheduling; dialing in core beers, building out experimental releases, and mapping out fermentation capacity. One of the biggest levers brewers have is yeast selection, not just for flavor, but for fermentation, speed, consistency and tank utilization. PurePitch Next Generation technology. The only packaging designed specifically…
Read more
When most brewers talk about IPAs, the spotlight almost always lands on hops. New varieties, new products, and new combinations. It's easy to get caught up in the hop arms race. But here’s the truth that every experienced brewer eventually learns: You can’t brew a world-class IPA without world-class fermentation. Yeast doesn’t just “make alcohol”…
Read more
