starter

**slomo** · 04-27-2009, 02:50 PM

hello all

I made my first starter last night (1500ml) Two tubes of white labes pacific ale yeast and one cup dme. This morning it has a small krausen, and some yeast at the bottom. I am about to head to work but before i go i was wondering if i should still swirl everything up a bit before I go. I am just looking for confirmation as this goes against beer make law to oxidize.

WELCOME TO MONDAY MORNING!!!!

TIA

Hugh_Jass · 04-27-2009, 02:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by slomo

hello all

I made my first starter last night (1500ml) Two tubes of white labes pacific ale yeast and one cup dme. This morning it has a small krausen, and some yeast at the bottom. I am about to head to work but before i go i was wondering if i should still swirl everything up a bit before I go. I am just looking for confirmation as this goes against beer make law to oxidize.

WELCOME TO MONDAY MORNING!!!!

TIA

yep, swirl that baby around. Every time I pass my starter, I give it a swirl.

BTW - At this phase, you're making yeast, not beer.

**slomo** · 04-27-2009, 02:54 PM

Thanks for the heads up I appreciate that!!!

llazy_llama · 04-27-2009, 02:56 PM

slomo: for future reference, 1 tube of WL is all you need to make a starter. Granted, 2 vials might be ready to pitch faster, but it's also about $7 more expensive.

Next time, save the money and stick that second vial in the fridge (or just buy 1 and wash the yeast when you're done. WL is freaking expensive.)

Edited: Oh yeah, and if you don't have a stir plate, just swirl it around everytime you pass by it. I usually keep my starter on my computer desk and just give it a whirl whenever I think about it.

Schnitzengiggle · 04-27-2009, 05:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by llazy_llama

slomo: for future reference, 1 tube of WL is all you need to make a starter. Granted, 2 vials might be ready to pitch faster, but it's also about $7 more expensive.

I agree, the point of making the starter is to increase your cell count, prevent over-stressing the yeast, and to reduce lag time. Pitching 2 vials of yeast into a starter is wasteful, unless it is a real big starter for a big beer. Even so, you could step that baby up if necessary. You very well could have just pitched the 2 vials into your 5 gallon batch, instead of making a starter.

If you haven't yet, check out this link Mr Malty it has all the info you neeed to know about starters, as well as a yeast pitching rate calculator.

**slomo** · 04-27-2009, 06:13 PM

Thanks for the additional info everyone. I was reading last night in some brewing magazine that said that a brew that had an OG of 1.040 needed some thing like 240 billion cells. White labs said that one vial had any where from 30-60 billion... or maybe it was million. anyways thats why i pitched both vials. I will be brewing on tuesday so i was concerned that i wouldnt make the proper cell count. My last brew was a strong ale and its og was 1.070 and i pitched one vial with like an hour starter. Everyone seemed to agree that i under pitched.

Schnitzengiggle · 04-27-2009, 07:09 PM

I just underpitched a Dubbel I brewed last night my Estimated OG was 1.070, but the Actual OG ended up as 1.078, all I made was a 1.5L starter that I let go for about 48 hours. I should have had a 3L starter for that high of an OG, but my airlock was bubbling away happily 5 hours later. I guess I'll just swirl my fermenter every 2-3 days to keep those yeasties busy, I'm hoping to hit a FG of 1.019 or so, but I have a feeling those little guys might poop out before that. Only time will tell.