* So how does Lallemand go from almost nothing to 3.5 million pounds of yeast in six days? Because the growth is exponential. For example, start with a mere hundredth of an ounce of yeast. In four hours it doubles to 0.02 oz.; aft er eight hours it doubles again to 0.04 oz. At the end of the first day, it’s doubled six times to yield a modest 0.64 oz. Aft er another day, though, you’re up to 40 oz. Now the numbers start rising fast: day three yields 164 pounds; day four, 10,000 pounds; and by the beginning of day six, when the yeast has doubled thirty-one times, that original hundredth of an ounce has grown to over 1 million pounds.