Yeast Starter ?

I made an Oatmeal Stout but I forgot all about doing a Yeast starter. Is this going to be bad?

Thoughts

TIA,
Zman

If you're using dry yeast, a starter shouldn't be necessary. If you're using liquid yeast, it's better to make a starter especially with stronger brews, but plenty of people don't and say they get good results.

-a.

It's more dependent on the SG and volume of the wort. Did you take a reading?

It's not going to be bad. Unless it's a really high gravity brew it really doesn't matter. Might take a day or two extra to take off.

When I want to brew a batch that requires a liquid yeast I start a week ahead on the yeast starter which usually give me enough time to build up a starter. Depending on the yeast is sometimes hit and miss because of the age of the yeast and so I never set a brew date until I know I will have enough viable yeast. I now want a microscope and a hemacytometer so I can count yeast. I have no idea how much magnification I need to do this but if anyone knows please chime in.

I used Irish WYeast. My hydrometer dropped and broke...sigh. So no no SG. How long should I wait before I panic?? It is fermenting in a 15 gal minibrew. I did aerate it for 10 min with an oxenegator system

Here is my ingredients:
6 lbs. amber, dry malt extract
1 lb. crystal malt, 60¡ Lovibond
1.5 lb. American two-row pale ale malt
18 oz. oatmeal (quick)
0.5 lb. chocolate malt
0.5 lb. roasted barley
1/2 tsp. Irish moss, for 15 min.
2 oz. Fuggles hop pellets (4.2% alpha acid), for 45 min.
Wyeast 1084, Irish ale yeast
Oatmeal Stout
5 gallons, extract with grains
OG = 1.054 IBU = 34

Fermentation should be completed before 14 days but I leave my ales in the primary 14 days so that the yeast can clean up (condition). I then keg or bottle. If you got good fermentation started within 15 hours of pitching then fermentation should be good being that you oxygenated.

WBC said:

I now want a microscope and a hemacytometer so I can count yeast. I have no idea how much magnification I need to do this but if anyone knows please chime in.

Click to expand...

You could do it with a 10x eyepiece and 10x objective, but that would only tell you half of the story (the number of cells in suspension). The relevant number you're after is the number of viable cells in suspension. Every culture will have a percentage of dead cells, and that percentage grows as the culture gets older and nutrients are used up. You can count the number of viable cells fairly easily, but you need to stain them with fluorescein diacetate (or another marker compound) and you'd need a fluorescence microscope (think $$$) to do the counting. I have access to all of that equipment (I'm a molecular biologist), and IMHO it'd be a waste of time.

Instead, my personal preference is to try to maximize the number of viable cells, which means pitching a "young" starter while it is still in log phase when most cells are still growing and dividing. So I'll time my final starter so it's only been growing for a day or so when I pitch it. I step up incrementally through the course of the week leading up to my brew session (50mL -> 250mL -> 1000mL etc.). Of course, I've only recently started brewing again and only have two batches under my belt with that technique, so I've no idea if that's the preferred method for flavor. I've had two nice vigorous fermentations though, and they tasted mighty fine going into the secondary.

Well it has been 16 hrs and no signs of fermentation. Can I just pitch some dry yeast in there?

Drew91,
I have been stepping up yeast for years but wanted to be able to count them and have some idea how viable a sample is while counting. It was my understanding that I could use a marker compound called "Trypan blue".

Ref: Chapter 12: Cell Cultures

Ref: http://www.brewingtechniques.com/library/backissues/issue2.4/allen.html

I just ordered a 1000x microscope and a hemacytometer so I hope it is usefull in some way? I also want to find if I have wild yeast or some infection of some sort so maybe it will help. I have always brewed great beer and do not get any off flavors any more but you never know without some tools other than taste. I would also like to be able to help other brewers in the area when they have a yeast problem and need answers.

Well I got brave and decided to peer in the lid of the of the Minibrew Fermenter (after I saw what I thought was Kraussen from the outside). Well it appears that there is in fact a layer of Kraussen happening. Is it possible that because I am fermenting 5 gal. in a 15 gal fermenter that the airlock is acting unusual(no activity)? Is the Yeast just taking its sweet old time?

Yes it could be taking a while. Are you sure you don't have a leak in the airlock? Maybe not enough water in it? If this is a bucket then the lid can leak out pressure and usually does. I bet it fermented already?

Yeah I've had similar results with buckets. One day no activity...the next still no activity but I layer of krausen....either wicked fast fermentation or possible small air leak

I am fermenting in a 15 gal minbrew conical fermenter. I am not thinking that there is a leak in there. I just checked it out by spraying sanitizer solution on the stopper/airlock. I am thinking that I am going to check the gravity now and compare it what the stated OG is. Well I am heading out to the LHBS to get a new hydrometer and supplies. It is just weird that I am not seeing activity from the fermentation/air lock

WBC said:

I just ordered a 1000x microscope and a hemacytometer so I hope it is usefull in some way? I also want to find if I have wild yeast or some infection of some sort so maybe it will help.

Click to expand...

It seems like overkill to me (but hey, I'm an overkill kind of guy too). If nothing else it should be interesting. I think you will have a difficult time identifying wild yeast based on morphology, but I also have no practical experience in that area. Hopefully you'll find a way to capture some images and share with the rest of us.

Drew91,
I plan on a 5 megapixel camera so I can save pictures of yeast during my counting and identification.