Yeast Starter and stepping

I plan to brew tomorrow and I think I've messed up my starter. I plan to brew a 10 gallon Batch of Ed Worts heff. I had one pack of 3068 and made a 2l starter (200g of DME) last night and pitched yeast about 1 am. I really didn't read the directions well and i should have made a smaller starter, started earlier, and stepped up. So my questions are:

Should I just purchase another pack and add that in to my starter today?
Can I just add more Wort today with out decanting?
Should I try and refrigerate today and see what I can get out and do another starter?

1 pack in a 2L starter is just fine, unless the pack was really old. No need to buy more.

Check out this site:
http://yeastcalc.com/

You can plug in everything and see where you stand.

according to that site i'm like 200b short of the amount of yeast cells needed.

Actually IF you are a bit short on yeast cell count, your hefe will have a more pronounced banana flavor+aroma. Not a big deal.

I often pitch 1 Wyeast pack into a 2L starter. Works fine.

MC

Can a home brewer (me) just go ahead and make a 2L starter right off the bat without going thru stepping?

Sheldon said:

Can a home brewer (me) just go ahead and make a 2L starter right off the bat without going thru stepping?

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Totally depends on cell count. I usually shoot for 50-150 million cells / mL of starter wort.

So, you don't want to pitch 10 billion cells into 2L, but pitching 100 billion should be just fine.

Otiluke said:

according to that site i'm like 200b short of the amount of yeast cells needed.

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What is that on a percentage basis? 200bn shy seems like a lot to me...is that ~50% of what you need? Underpitching is often recommended for hefes as the Canuck said, but grossly underpitching does more harm than good, IMO.

Do you have any aeration (shaking, stir plate) on your starter?

TyTanium said:

What is that on a percentage basis? 200bn shy seems like a lot to me...is that ~50% of what you need? Underpitching is often recommended for hefes as the Canuck said, but grossly underpitching does more harm than good, IMO.

Do you have any aeration (shaking, stir plate) on your starter?

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according to yeastcalc it says :total cells needed [billions] 267 in red. so I take that as short. It also says that i need 390. So yea I'm at like 50%.

390 - 267 = 123 cells short

The number listed on the top (390) is the total number you're shooting for. The number in red (267) is what you have after the starter, it's red if you're short. It is NOT the amount of cells you're short.


123/390 = 32% short...an underpitch, but not drastic. I'd be ok with that for a hefe.

TyTanium said:

390 - 267 = 123 cells short

The number listed on the top (390) is the total number you're shooting for. The number in red (267) is what you have after the starter, it's red if you're short. It is NOT the amount of cells you're short.


123/390 = 32% short...an underpitch, but not drastic. I'd be ok with that for a hefe.

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I think that you might be looking at my post wrong. The red number is what I need to reach the 390.

To try and solve this mess what I have decided to do is swing over to the brewstore and grab another yeast pack. chill the original starter for a few hours and make up another 1 liter starter and pitch the new yeast and "old" yeast together.

Sound perfectly fine for a hef with some nice esters. Ferment in the mid 70s for even more!

Otiluke said:

I think that you might be looking at my post wrong. The red number is what I need to reach the 390.

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No, Ty is correct. The red number is the total number that you will have at the end, not the amount that you are short.

Play with the numbers. Increase the amount of starter and you'll see the number go up, which will correspond to producing more yeast.

You're still short, just not by as much as you thought.

I understand the chart and think it makes sense on its own. I am planning a 5.5 gal batch of 1.078 stout. This chart says I need to make a 1.78 l starters. Using Beersmith's Yeast Starter analysis tool, it says I only need .5L starter to get to the 294 billion yeast cell count, both processes entail using a stir plate. There is quite a bit of difference. Can someone point out what I may be missing. BTW, I am using a WLP099 (because I have it and it has to be used soon).

Thanks,

Sheldon

Sheldon said:

I understand the chart and think it makes sense on its own. I am planning a 5.5 gal batch of 1.078 stout. This chart says I need to make a 1.78 l starters. Using Beersmith's Yeast Starter analysis tool, it says I only need .5L starter to get to the 294 billion yeast cell count, both processes entail using a stir plate. There is quite a bit of difference. Can someone point out what I may be missing. BTW, I am using a WLP099 (because I have it and it has to be used soon).

Thanks,

Sheldon

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Check the date of the package and be sure you have it set in both locations because the viability may be different which will result in different calculations. I plugged into Beersmith with a July 1st date and got a 1.39L size w/ stir plate for 293B cells and 91% viability