Overkill to make yeast starter?

I am brewing a ten gallon batch of Honey Porter with a planned OG of 1.068. I bought two packets of Nottingham and the guy at my LHBS told me to just pitch them in. I've read the thread discussing rehydrating vs. pitching and the questions on the reliability of mr. malty. I just recently bought a stir plate and have used it for making starters for my brews using liquid yeast. Since this is my first attempt at dry yeast, please advise on what is appropriate.

Much appreciated!

Follow the directions on the Notty packet and you will be good; Rehydrate and pitch. No need for a starter 11g of dry yeast and a 1068 beer.

EDIT: 22g (2 packs) of Yeast should be good. I just saw you were doing a 10 gallon batch.

My understanding is that because of how dried yeast are prepared prior to freeze drying, using a starter with dry yeast is not recommended as it depletes the nutrient reserves that the yeast have been packaged with. Instead, if a calculator (like mr. malty, which I find very good) recommends more cells than are contained in 1 pkg, just buy enough packs to increase your cell count appropriately. I've never made starters for dry yeast, and have always had good luck.

Cheers

Two packets should be fine. Mr. Malty suggests 2.3. All of the calculators are providing estimates for pitching given the information they have. The numbers are not exact, but most of the time they work. They provide the best information they can given the limited information that can be provided to them. Most of the time they are close enough that even if you had counted the cells for your pitch you wouldn't be able to taste the difference in the product.

I would rehydrate as per the instructions on the pack and more importantly ferment at a low temperature.

Notty gets fruity with wort temps above the low 60's.

Xpertskir said:

I would rehydrate as per the instructions on the pack and more importantly ferment at a low temperature.

Notty gets fruity with wort temps above the low 60's.

Click to expand...

+1 for this.

Yup, I would rehydrate both packs, NOT make a starter, and ferment cool, just as Xpert said. Rehydrating will be critical to having enough yeast for this batch.

I guess I should have just bought liquid yeast if I wanted to use my new toy... Oh well, I will rehydrate and then pitch as normal. I don't have a ferm chamber but keeping the fermenter in my kitchen (much to the chagrin of my fiance') seems to keep it around 64. I willl follow all of your advice. Thank you.

You can place your fermenter in a tub of water to serve as a heat sink for the heat given off by fermentation. Of course, that would take up more room and thus might cause further chagrin. But some fruity esters would not be unwelcome in a honey porter in my opinion.