help guys

I made my first yeast starter batch last night. I used 2 cups water 1/2 cup light dme boiled for 10 min cooled to 70 then pitched a packet of dry yeast. this morring I kinda expected something more than I have, it is the same has it was last night what should I be looking for??

Did you swirl the bottle every once in a while? Also give it a little more time, I usually let mine go 36-48 hours.

yes quite a bit

There is really no need to make a starter for dry yeast. They ship dry yeast in a very viable state, ready to pitch, and plenty of yeast for most 5 Gallon batches.

With that said, your starter should show signs of fermentation, bubbles, etc. It may have fermented out already and begun to settle. The only real way to know is to check the gravity.

Make sure you give the bottle a shake/stir to get plenty of oxygen in there. Starter activity isnt as violent as a larger scale fermentation. What kind of container do you have the starter in? Is it capped? If you cover it with tin-foil, you'll protect from bacteria and allow oxygen in.

If you're feeling ambitious, search "homemade stir plate" and take on that little project. It's cheap, easy, and does great things for your starter.

Good luck!

s3n8 said:

There is really no need to make a starter for dry yeast. They ship dry yeast in a very viable state, ready to pitch, and plenty of yeast for most 5 Gallon batches.

With that said, your starter should show signs of fermentation, bubbles, etc. It may have fermented out already and begun to settle. The only real way to know is to check the gravity.

Click to expand...

True story, liquid yeast is the only type you need to make a starter for. Dry yeast just needs to be rehydrated at the most but most people just pitch it right into the wort.

You really didn't need to make a starter for dry yeast,,,,the purpose of a starter is to crank up the volume of available liquid yeast...the dry has a high enough cell count...

SO either way, pitch it and you will be fine!!!

I have it in a 750ml flask with tin foil over it

Listen to Revvy and just pitch it as is. You didn't need to make a starter for it to begin with.

The good thing is, is that you have a lot of awake and active yeast....you'll have a good fermentation going...

And if you used a yeast that you like (like I like US-05) you can harvest that yeast and reuse it...but remember, that is no longer considered dry yeast if it's harvested...So you WILL need to make a starter for it the next time you use it.

Thanks guys I was under the assumption it is always good to do a starter batch. So here's the thing I have a thread titled yeast taste and am thinking that my liquid yeast in primary fermentation is overworking its self and am thinking that I will pitch this yeast when transferring this to secondary. you can see the other post if you have questions about what has been going on with the taste of the beer. do you think this is a good idea?

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f36/yeast-taste-80237/

akamatt said:

Thanks guys I was under the assumption it is always good to do a starter batch. So here's the thing I have a thread titled yeast taste and am thinking that my liquid yeast in primary fermentation is overworking its self and am thinking that I will pitch this yeast when transferring this to secondary. you can see the other post if you have questions about what has been going on with the taste of the beer. do you think this is a good idea?

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f36/yeast-taste-80237/

Click to expand...

They all pretty much answered what the issue is/was....

especially https://www.homebrewtalk.com/848822-post3.html


Leave your beer in primary for 3-4 weeks, then bottle them and leave them alone for at least 3 weeks if not more

Your patience will be rewarded!

I have a few blogs you might want to consider reading....

http://blogs.homebrewtalk.com/Revvy

if you read the hole post you will see that the beer is well over 4 mo in the keg and the taste is worse if not better and the 2nd was in fermantation for 11 weeks and been keged for 3 weeks. so its not that it is young it is a taste that well read to hole thread if you think you can help

akamatt said:

I made my first yeast starter batch last night. I used 2 cups water 1/2 cup light dme boiled for 10 min cooled to 70 then pitched a packet of dry yeast. this morring I kinda expected something more than I have, it is the same has it was last night what should I be looking for??

Click to expand...

Your starter is around 1.090 and the yeast are probably struggling.

.25lbsX45/.125=90

do you think the 2nd additon of yeast will help?

TeleTwanger said:

Your starter is around 1.090 and the yeast are probably struggling.

.25lbsX45/.125=90

Click to expand...

I get 1.040 with 1/2 cup DME and a pint of water. My math is different, I guess. I think it's fine.

YooperBrew said:

I get 1.040 with 1/2 cup DME and a pint of water. My math is different, I guess. I think it's fine.

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assuming 16oz in 4qts=1.045 then:

8oz/2qt=1.045
4oz/1qt=1.045
2oz/.5qt=1.045

4oz/.5qt=1.090 (1/2c=4oz/1pint=.5qt=.125gallon)

I never measured it but I shoot for 1.030 with 1/2c dme+1.5qts h20 or 2/3 c dme+2 qts h20

Something like that LOL

TeleTwanger said:

assuming 16oz in 4qts=1.045 then:

8oz/2qt=1.045
4oz/1qt=1.045
2oz/.5qt=1.045

4oz/.5qt=1.090 (1/2c=4oz/1pint=.5qt=.125gallon)

I never measured it but I shoot for 1.030 with 1/2c dme+1.5qts h20 or 2/3 c dme+2 qts h20

Something like that LOL

Click to expand...

Oh, ok, now I see the math IS different!

You said yourself that 2 ounces in .5 quart is 1.045. That's right.

But we're not talking weight, we're talking CUPS.
2 ounces of DME = 1/2 cup.
Weight and liquid measures are too very different things, so you're doubling the measurement and telling us that 1/2 cup DME is 1.090 in a pint of water. That's wrong.

Weigh it yourself. Then check the SG. 1/2 cup DME one pint of water = 1.040.

YooperBrew said:

Oh, ok, now I see the math IS different!

You said yourself that 2 ounces in .5 quart is 1.045. That's right.

But we're not talking weight, we're talking CUPS.
2 ounces of DME = 1/2 cup.
Weight and liquid measures are too very different things, so you're doubling the measurement and telling us that 1/2 cup DME is 1.090 in a pint of water. That's wrong.

Weigh it yourself. Then check the SG. 1/2 cup DME one pint of water = 1.040.

Click to expand...

OK you're right...I just boiled 4 oz DME + 2 cups of water and it is indeed 1.090. But how is 1/2 cup liquid 2 oz wieght? 1 cup is 8 fluid oz so I assumed 1/2 cup is 4 oz. Why not just say 2 oz? I can pound a lot of dme into a dry measuring cup, certainly more than 2 oz.

ounce as a unit of volume and ounce as a unit of weight are two totally different units of measure, and you're definitely not the first person to run into problems by confusing the two.

since dry ingredients can be compressed, measuring by volume can be problematic so it's best to measure by weight if you have a good kitchen scale. for starters however, 1/2 cup dme per pint is usually close enough.

if it's not stated, it's usually safe to assume that ounces means ounces by weight when talking about dry ingredients. for liquid, ounces usually means fliud ounces. when possible i try to use less confusing units (i.e. 1/2 cup instead of 4 fluid ounces, 1/4 pound instead of 4 ounces by weight).