Does this starter look normal?
- Thread starter arborman
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Looks ok to me. I just bought the 1000mL erlenmyer flask yesterday to make a starter for my WLP029 yeast. Used .5lb of plain light DME in 800mL of boiled & cooled water. I'm beginning to think the other member was right in another thread that uses .5C in 1100mL of water.
If I'd have used 1/2C of DME in that 800mL,it likely would've been settling out by now for brewday today. May have to wait till tomorrow now to brew.
But I will have one heck of a lot of yeast for this batch.
24 hours was said by the white labs guy to be plenty of time for a starter to finish. It looks like it depends on how much extract to water is used as well.
Here's a pic of mine with WLP029 yeast;
http://
If I'd have used 1/2C of DME in that 800mL,it likely would've been settling out by now for brewday today. May have to wait till tomorrow now to brew.
But I will have one heck of a lot of yeast for this batch.
24 hours was said by the white labs guy to be plenty of time for a starter to finish. It looks like it depends on how much extract to water is used as well.
Here's a pic of mine with WLP029 yeast;
http://
Well,I was under the inpression that you were to let it settle,then pour off most of the liquid. Leaving just enough to swirl up the yeast to pitch it?
For low volume starters, IMO it is really not that necessary to decant as you are really not adding that much liquid to your wort. That being said if you plan ahead enough there is no reason why you can't crash and decant so you just pitch the yeast. For large volume starters you want to decant because adding 2-4L of bland beer to your wort IMO is less than ideal.
Personally I get my starters going at least 1 week ahead of brew day, This gives me time to start, step up if necessary, cold crash and decant before I need to pitch and it's a pretty easy schedule to keep with no rushing around although it kind of eliminates the ability to spontaneously brew
I kinda hate to pitch an 800mL starter though. It might lower the OG a tad. Besides the resulting liquid would be less than ideal to me. I gotta run to the lhbs anyway,since I used DME from the wrong bloody bag. Otherwise,I could've waited on the run till next week when the LME can I need for the dark lager comes in. Was gunna brew my Hopped & Confused v2 today. Might still wait till morning to see if it settles out or not. might just have to cold crash at that point...
It doesn't look like much being in that huge flask. I decided against that 2000mL one,since I generally don't brew many big strong ales. I think it'll be fine. Although I didn't take a gravity reading on it. Some do,but I'm just looking to get it freshened up & multiplying nicely by pitch time. That's supposed to make for a quicker start to fermentation. May finish quicker as well. Which would be a good thing for me,since the WLP029 yeasts' opitmal range is 65-69F. I was gunna keep the temps down to that range till initial fermentation is over. Then let it creep up to finish. I wanna wash this yeast,so I'll need to treat it right.
Maybe, maybe not, it depends on the actual weight of DME that was really in your cup.............
To be exact, those types of measurements can vary so it is best to weigh out the DME. Basically if you go 10:1 like 100grams DME to 1L you will get a 1.040 gravity starter or 150grams to 1.5L and so on...........
Weighing out ingredients like this is a good habit to get into so you know you are always consistent.
Good thing I have a scale. I'd like to use as little DME as possible to get the average batch of yeasy ready in 24 hours. Sorry I was gone so long. got to the lhbs in westlake & the darn battery died. Shop owner was a good guy. Took care of his customers & then came out,pushed me back into the isle away from the wall & jump started it.
