Did yeast starter start?

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robbase9

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I bought a beer kit for Christmas and just opened it this week. I didn't know that it came with liquid yeast that needs to be refridgerated. It probably hasn't gotten any higher than 70 degrees in my house, so i'm not sure if it's any good still.

To make sure it was still good, i made a yeast starter 3 days ago. I used 1/2 cup DME and a cup of water. I didn't notice any bubbles in the airlock and I can't tell if there's more yeast now than when i started.

Is there a way to determine if the yeast starter did anything? Or is it dead yeast?'
Thanks
 
i thought of that, but i didn't take an initial measurement. Can you still find out if it fermented anything?
 
i thought of that, but i didn't take an initial measurement. Can you still find out if it fermented anything?

Sure - just decant some of the liquid and drink it. If it tastes like wort (i.e. very sweet), you have dead yeast. If it tastes like green beer, you've had fermentation.

Also, it should have a fairly low FG in the single digits or lower double digits.
 
Specific gravity is 1.050 and the taste is, well, yeasty to say the least. But it's not very sweet.
 
If you made a starter with 1/2 cup DME to 1 cup water, it would have a gravity of something over 1.080. Introducing your poor innocent yeasts to such a starter is a bit like weaning your kids on Glenlivet.
If it's got down to 1.050, I'd say it's still alive, but probably has severe indegestion.

-a.
 
Just out of curiosity, what did you use to calculate that SG (1.080)?
 
When I make a starter, I use about 3/4 cup DME to 1 qt (4 cups) water That gives me about 1.040. You used more than twice as much DME per volume of water, so the gravity would be more than double.

-a.
 
Just to clarify, starters should generally be in the 1.030 - 1.040 range, no matter the type of beer you brew.
 
Just to clarify, starters should generally be in the 1.030 - 1.040 range, no matter the type of beer you brew.

So, the recipe I got from Midwest way overshoots the amount of DME needed. They recommend 1/3 to 1/2 cup per 16 ounces of water. Just so I don't dehydrate my yeast by pitching them into a desert (with an insanely high SG), what should I be adding to 16 ounces to hit 1.030 to 1.040? 1/4 cup (if my math is correct)?
 
Bookmarked. Thanks for the link. Unfortunately, I don't have a scale to accurately measure DME. It is on the list, right next to a wort chiller. Is there a conversion factor, so I can estimate weight based on volume? (So, I can convert cups to weight in ounces).

EDIT:
Nevermind, I did a search, can came up with an approximate conversion:
8/1/08, https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/dme-weight-volume-conversion-74685/
There are approximately 4-4.5 cups/lb but it is best to use a scale. Many things can influence the volume.

So, based on this, 1 cup aprox equals 4 ounces. This will have to do until I get a scale.
 
Bookmarked. Thanks for the link. Unfortunately, I don't have a scale to accurately measure DME. It is on the list

Reasonably accurate scales are cheaper than crap off eBay. I got a 300g scale (to the 1/10th g) scale for $12 shipped. SWMBO took it to the pharmacy and checked it against reference weights and it was giving the same weights their own high-dollar scales were. Of course, their scales go down to milligrams and are generally higher grade, but for brewing purposes I am 100% sassified.
 
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