dmbnpj

Recipes 

I keep seeing these terms come up but what exactly are they?

cdburg

Recipes 

Yeast Starters - Home Brewing Wiki

Washing yeast - Home Brewing Wiki

JLem

Recipes 

regarding the yeast washing wiki - what does it mean by "Try not to remove any of the part that separated"? Is this the liquid portion that sits on top of the settled yeast?

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Brewing blog at Brew by Brew

Bernie Brewer

Recipes 

No. At this point the yeast is still in suspension and the part that is settling out is trub. So you are pouring off the suspended yeast and leaving the trub behind, thus getting only yeast into the new jar.

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I like to squeeze the nickle until the buffalo craps-mt rob

"Why don't we get drunk and screw?" Jimmy Buffett

dmbnpj

Recipes 

Aren't most packs of yeast that are available from most local brewstores ready to use? So far we have used dry packets and just used a wyeast smack pack. What type of yeast would need a starter?

SumnerH

Recipes 

Mr Malty Pitching Rate Calculator (make sure you pick "dry" or "liquid") will tell

Basically, every beer needs a starter with liquid yeast. Anything with an OG over about 1.060-1.070 needs it with dry yeast.

If you don't make one under those conditions, you'll be underpitching the needed cell count. That will probably still have a pretty decent end result, but stressed yeast and yeast that's undergoing a lot of reproduction probably won't give you the best possible flavor profile and _might_ result in lower attenuation (hence sweeter, lower ABV beer).

So making a starter to get the right pitching count is important to making a really good beer.

Certain styles of beer rely on either underpitching or overpitching those levels intentionally, but unless you know your beer it's a good guide.

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On deck: Little Bo Pils, Bretta Off Dead (Brett pale)
Secondary: Oude Bruin, Red Sky at Morning (Sour brown ale)
On tap: Saison Duphunk (sour), Amarillo Slim (IPA), Earl White (ginger/bergamot wit)
Bottled: Number 8 (Belgian Strong Dark Ale), Eternale (Barleywine), Ancho Villa (Ancho/pasilla/chocolate/cinnamon RIS), Oak smoked porter (1/2 maple bourbon oaked, 1/2 apple brandy oaked)

dmbnpj

Recipes 

Why go with a liquid yeast if you can achieve the same product with a dry yeast that you can just pitch?

Kungpaodog

Recipes 

It is not quite the same end result. The different liquid yeasts available can contribute a lot to the final flavor of a brew, whereas most dry yeasts tend to be fairly neutral, and they give less flavor. You can still make mighty fine beer with dry yeast.

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Kelpie Home Brewery, Lafayette Colorado
Primary: Creek Dog Stout x2, Two Dogs IPA, Grinning Kelpie Wheat
Secondary: empty :(
In Bottles: Belgian Wheat

SumnerH

Recipes 

If I'm making a beer that needs a pretty neutral yeast or one that's otherwise available dry, I'll go with a dry yeast. There's a reason US-05 is insanely popular.

A lot of what I make (see signature for current examples) relies on more obscure yeasts for the flavor, so I wind up using liquid yeast and making a starter for those.

__________________
On deck: Little Bo Pils, Bretta Off Dead (Brett pale)
Secondary: Oude Bruin, Red Sky at Morning (Sour brown ale)
On tap: Saison Duphunk (sour), Amarillo Slim (IPA), Earl White (ginger/bergamot wit)
Bottled: Number 8 (Belgian Strong Dark Ale), Eternale (Barleywine), Ancho Villa (Ancho/pasilla/chocolate/cinnamon RIS), Oak smoked porter (1/2 maple bourbon oaked, 1/2 apple brandy oaked)