making a starter from Half Wyeast1968

HI everyone.

I've red about starter, yet this will be my first attempt. I have purchased a Wyeast 1968 London ESB for an english beer, so I need the following questions answered

1: I don't have a stir plate as yet, so beersmith tells me I need a 2.5Litre starter. this seems a bit much to start with the OG is 1.049.

2: I plan on splitting the pack in 2, and placingthe other half in an airtight jar and placing in the fridge for a different brew in a few more weeks. I've read I can do this. is this correct?

3: After splitting ths pack, I'm not entirely sure on the amount of DME and Water to get to the desired amount of starter, I've read about stepping it up etc. but I'm not sure how it works to be honest.

4: can someone give me an idea of how much water/DME; how often to step up and with what amount to step up etc. this is with half a pack remember.

Once I have done this one, I will be using the sticky on the forum for washing yeast, but I don't want to **** that up, so thats why I'm splitting it up so I have some yeast left. (Here in NZ its Expensive to buy liquid yeast, so getting the most out of it is important).

Who can help me and give me a good detailed explanation etc.

Cheers

**bump/nugde**

The size of starter sounds right for a 1.049 batch without a stir plate or added oxygen. A static starter will not develop as well as one with oxygen being added by motion or dissolved oxygen. Check the Yeast Starter Calculator on mrmalty.com to see if you can scale it down using a different method.

As for splitting a smack pack in half, you'd have to make an even larger starter if you did that. I use a starter with a full pack on all but the lowest gravity ales (Scottish 60/-, Ordinary bitters, etc.). I would avoid this, but as you say it's expensive in NZ so...

mrmalty.com has instructions on how to make a starter. Worth a look if you're going there already to use the yeast calculator. I can't remember as I pressure-can wort to make starters much easier.

Hope that this is a bit of help. Good luck.

I will be giving it a shake every few hours or so. I was actually think do a 500 ml starter let it eat for a period of Time and step again with either 500ml or 1litre. Would that work? I know it would take longer but that's ok by me. Get it up to maybe 2 litres and then pitch? Mrmalty.com shows me 1.15litres? Is this correct? I think I'm using it wrong?

So it'd be: 50g for 500 ml water
Then Another 500 ml and 50g
And then 1litre again if required? With 100 grams

Another option for you could be to do the regular starter and then wash and save the yeast after you finish your primary fermentation. How soon will you be doing another batch?

If you want to do a step starter take a look at this site.
http://www.yeastcalc.com/

HOPCousin said:

Another option for you could be to do the regular starter and then wash and save the yeast after you finish your primary fermentation. How soon will you be doing another batch?

Click to expand...

I see what your saying it could be an option but I am trying to sort it this way at this stage see what experiences people have had. Thanks for your input though

Anyone else fancy chiming in?

Definitely use the calculator at http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/calc.html and use the viability tool (date of production is important). It may sound like a lot, but if you're not using a stir plate and your yeast is more than a few weeks old, you may need a lot. Mr Malty tells me that your beer will need a 1.5L starter (no stir plate) if your yeast was made today, but 3L if it was made two months ago due to losses in viability. This requires that you use the entire vial in a starter of OG ~1.040 (100g DME per 1L of water).

If you use half, you'll probably have to step the starter, which is more complicated, and there are calculators for that but I can't recommend one.

daksin said:

Definitely use the calculator at http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/calc.html and use the viability tool (date of production is important). It may sound like a lot, but if you're not using a stir plate and your yeast is more than a few weeks old, you may need a lot. Mr Malty tells me that your beer will need a 1.5L starter (no stir plate) if your yeast was made today, but 3L if it was made two months ago due to losses in viability. This requires that you use the entire vial in a starter of OG ~1.040 (100g DME per 1L of water).

If you use half, you'll probably have to step the starter, which is more complicated, and there are calculators for that but I can't recommend one.

Click to expand...

Cheers damson had a look at the one above yeastcalc.com. Seems like the one for stepping