Hi all,
I've never done a yeast starter before, but am planning on brewing a 1.080 Imperial IPA, so it seems time time to do it. I've read up a bit on the process here and elsewhere but could use a bit of hand-holding.
According to the numbers in Palmer's How to Brew I should be making around a 3qt starter for a beer of this size, starting from a single Wyeast 1056 smack pack. That sound right? I'm also hoping to be able brew tomorrow night, but I'm not sure if 24 hours is enough time to build up the starter I'd need.
Would it be best to just do 3qt starter off the bat, or start with a smaller one and build up from there? For such a large starter I don't think I want to dump the whole thing into my beer, so I suppose I'll want to settle out the yeast in the fridge and just pitch the slurry.
Should I make my starter match my wort gravity (ie 1.080) or just keep it at a more standard 1.040? Should I start with 3qt, or build it up in stages? If the latter, should I decant and add more wort to the slurry or just keep adding wort every day or so? How long should I expect it to take to work a single smack-pack up to the ~275 billion or so cells that (I think) I need?
Sorry for the long-winded question, but for some reason the whole yeast starter thing is kinda intimidating to me. Thanks!
I've never done a yeast starter before, but am planning on brewing a 1.080 Imperial IPA, so it seems time time to do it. I've read up a bit on the process here and elsewhere but could use a bit of hand-holding.
According to the numbers in Palmer's How to Brew I should be making around a 3qt starter for a beer of this size, starting from a single Wyeast 1056 smack pack. That sound right? I'm also hoping to be able brew tomorrow night, but I'm not sure if 24 hours is enough time to build up the starter I'd need.
Would it be best to just do 3qt starter off the bat, or start with a smaller one and build up from there? For such a large starter I don't think I want to dump the whole thing into my beer, so I suppose I'll want to settle out the yeast in the fridge and just pitch the slurry.
Should I make my starter match my wort gravity (ie 1.080) or just keep it at a more standard 1.040? Should I start with 3qt, or build it up in stages? If the latter, should I decant and add more wort to the slurry or just keep adding wort every day or so? How long should I expect it to take to work a single smack-pack up to the ~275 billion or so cells that (I think) I need?
Sorry for the long-winded question, but for some reason the whole yeast starter thing is kinda intimidating to me. Thanks!