Yeast Starter Newbie Question

Hi folks,

Just wondering how my yeast will go in the fermentation process with the starter technique I used.

I used the safale s-04 yeast in a brew with a OG of 1.066. The amount in the fermenter is 20 liters.

I was reading up on the strain of yeast and on the web page that promotes it says to pitch it in ten times its weight of wort and shake it for 45 minutes to rehydrate before adding to the fermenter to do its job.

So I added 16.5g of S-04 yeast to ten times its weight in wort put it on the shake for 45 minutes then let rest for a further 30minutes at an ambient temp of 18 degrees C.

Will this be enough to create a clean fermentation process or have I done something bad? And if I have done something incredibly stupid please tell me how to do it better for future brews.

Overall, I think you did fine. One packet of s-04 is probably slightly underpitched for that batch size and gravity, but not by a lot. Also, you took the extra care to rehydrate the yeast prior to pitching which should help it out in the long run. I personally would use sterile water for rehydrating but Fermentis' literature says 'wort' so you should be fine.

Hold on... I just noticed you said 16.5g which would be plenty of yeast for that batch (i.e. correct pitching amount). Of course, I've never seen a 16.5g sachet of s-04 or us-05

You'll have something good if you keep your fermentation temperatures around 64F (+/- 3F). Not the ambient room temperature but the actual fermenter at this temperature.

You've done good, BUT you need to KEEP doing good

As BigFloyd has pointed out it would be preferable in future to rehydrate in water rather than wort.

It will have worked so do not be concerned too much but you will have killed off a % of the yeast by re-hydrating in wort.

16.5gms would have given you around 330bn cells if correctly rehydrated so your process probably got the viable cell count down near the optimum level for that batch.

Nothing wrong with your technique. If you're not into perfection brewing -and many of us aren't- then you will be perfectly pleased with a good beer. Don't get that yeast one degree over 68F though or you'll have banana beer. I hate that strain with all my heart.