starter for a vial of white labs?

Sorry in advance if this is repeatedly asked... But, I have a vial of white labs S.F.lager yeast.(my first time w/liquid) I'm doing a cali. common. So my question is, should I still do a starter, or just pitch away like it says on the bottle? Thanks.

Yes, a starter is always recommended with liquid yeast. There are several guides in the forum and one on the wiki too.

Along the same lines, how do you change the procedure to make a bigger starter? I have never done one (will be soon), and I see some recipes that say "big starter" or "2L starter". Should I just increase the amount of DME and water?

I've used starters on every batch I've brewed and always had success.
It's a good idea and increases yeast count of the orig. vial.

Just boil 6oz of DME with 2qts of water for 15min, cool to 70deg and
vigorously shake to aerate, then pitch yeast and aerate again. Pop an airlock on, and you could use as soon as 12-18hr. It may be at high Krausen at that point (active) and you can pitch as long as the starter and your wort are within 5 deg. of each other. Otherwise you could let the yeast continue to munch on the starter and get healthy and pitch at 24-48hrs.

Here's some addt'l info:
http://www.mrmalty.com/starter_faq.htm

9/9 said:

Along the same lines, how do you change the procedure to make a bigger starter? I have never done one (will be soon), and I see some recipes that say "big starter" or "2L starter". Should I just increase the amount of DME and water?

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Jamil, aka Mr. Malty, has written up a nice piece about liquid yeast and how to make a proper starter in order to pitch the correct amount of yeast. And the amount of DME depends on the DME itself, but you are aiming for a starter wort SG of about 1.040. For most DME that is a pound per gallon.

Here is the write-up: http://www.mrmalty.com/pitching.php
and the he went a head a made a nice little calculator: http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/calc.html

Thanks, those are some useful links.

And, since I have already slightly hijacked this thread, another starter question. If I need to make a 2L starter, what is the best container for it? A 2L soda bottle seems the most obvious. Would that work?

9/9 said:

Thanks, those are some useful links.

And, since I have already slightly hijacked this thread, another starter question. If I need to make a 2L starter, what is the best container for it? A 2L soda bottle seems the most obvious. Would that work?

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That would work ok, but you might get into some trouble with foam, if it foams. Also, I like to use a bigger container as to be able to swirl it up to keep the yeast in suspension and to oxygenate it.

I have used a 1 gallon glass jug with success. You can buy them at your LHBS for about $4-5 or at the grocery store for a dollar more filled with apple juice (or wine, etc.).

Beerrific said:

That would work ok, but you might get into some trouble with foam, if it foams. Also, I like to use a bigger container as to be able to swirl it up to keep the yeast in suspension and to oxygenate it.

I have used a 1 gallon glass jug with success. You can buy them at your LHBS for about $4-5 or at the grocery store for a dollar more filled with apple juice (or wine, etc.).

Click to expand...

Sounds like a good option, thanks. I will look into it.