Grannyknot
Well-Known Member
This weekend, I plan on doing a beer that will be between 1.070 & 1.078 (don't quite have my efficiencies dialed in yet). So Thursday night, I plan on doing a 1.5L yeast starter with wyeast 1450, with 5.5oz of DME & intermittent shaking, decant that wort friday, and then add 1.5 more liters of wort with 5.5oz DME.
My calculation shows that my yeast starter will have around 325 billion cells by saturday afternoon, of which 280 will be needed for the upper range of my original gravity (1.078).
So thats the first step. If i've done anything wrong, thus far, please let me know.
Next, I had planned on washing this yeast after about 2 weeks in the primary. Yesterday I noticed on HBT that one guy said he never washes any yeast that has been working on wort at or above 1.070 because it is overworked and unhealthy. Is this an accurate statement? If this is somewhat accurate, is it still ok to wash this yeast, since I have overpitched by 50 billion or so cells? Should I overpitch by even more, like 100 billion cells?
One final question. Once this yeast is washed, is there any way to get an accurate estimate of viable cell count? Or should I stick to smaller beers with my washed yeast starters?
My calculation shows that my yeast starter will have around 325 billion cells by saturday afternoon, of which 280 will be needed for the upper range of my original gravity (1.078).
So thats the first step. If i've done anything wrong, thus far, please let me know.
Next, I had planned on washing this yeast after about 2 weeks in the primary. Yesterday I noticed on HBT that one guy said he never washes any yeast that has been working on wort at or above 1.070 because it is overworked and unhealthy. Is this an accurate statement? If this is somewhat accurate, is it still ok to wash this yeast, since I have overpitched by 50 billion or so cells? Should I overpitch by even more, like 100 billion cells?
One final question. Once this yeast is washed, is there any way to get an accurate estimate of viable cell count? Or should I stick to smaller beers with my washed yeast starters?