Think a starter is neccesary?

Gonna be brewing up Ed's Bee Cave Hefe that has an OG of 1.052 this Saturday. I have a couple of options to me here but really building the start properly isn't one or I would do it without question (12-24 hour build the night before brewing).

Yeast: Wyeast Weihenstephan Activator Pack (100 bil Cell Count). I know the package says to smack and pitch but I hear otherwise on these forums depending on the beer and such. The other option I have is this following:

Make a starter with 50 grams of Light DME and 500ml of Water in an Erlenmeyer the morning of brewing(Around 8:30AM - 9AM) and pitching by 3PM-4PM possibly earlier depending. I have heard that this is not optimal because it does not give the yeast adequate time to reproduce and fall out of suspension.

Since this is such an average sized beer I am thinking that following Wyeast's instructions might be adequate but would like an experienced opinion on this.

Thanks,

I think making the starter would be a great idea. I only let them finish off and then decant when they are really big and would effect the flavor of the beer. A 1L starter is not going to effect the flavor of the beer but could grow a healthy pitch of yeast. My preferred method with starters of 2L or less is to make them morning of and pitch them when they are at the height of activity.

I would advise that you definitly make a starter. The flavor profile of a hefeweizen depends SO heavily on the ester profile generated by the yeast that I would not want to do anything to upset them (like pitching an inadequate cell count). Could you possibly make the starter earlier in the week, say tomorrow or wednesday? After 24 hours, throw the starter into the fridge until saturday morning. Then decant off the liquid from the yeast cake. Pitch 500 mL of wort in to resuspend the yeast cake at that point and you should be good to go come pitch time.
Good luck,
Matt

Unfortunately I cannot make the starter any earlier than that. The only option I have is when I get to my brewing location, go ahead and immediately make the starter (Around 8:30 AM) then commence to brewing. Brewing needs to be done by about 3-4PM so I assume that is the time I will be pitching so roughly a 6 hour growth period for the yeast. I am going to make a 50 Gram DME/500 ML Water wort for the starter and pitch. I also may have the ability to oxygenate the starter wort via diffusion stone and pure oxygen.

The only thing holding me back from making my starter is an adequate glass container to use. I cannot find an Erlenmeyer Flask locally in time, any ideas on what I could use other than that? I was thinking maybe a cheap glass tea pitcher would do the trick, could be large enough to do it but the only issue there is everyone I find is like 10$, looking to spend less if possible.

You can use just about anything to make a starter. I have used glass booze bottles, growlers ,plastic apple juice bottles etc . If you can't make a starter you could use 2 smack packs , smack and let sit then pitch.


edit:you need 255 million cells for your beer so Mr.malty say'ssssss.... 2.6 smack packs or 1 smack or vial with 3.45 liter starter

Really cool tool, I used it and it says I need a 2.97L starter. Looks like I will be trying to find a Glass Pitcher or maybe even a large Vase possibly to do this in (90 oz pitcher).

Thanks for the help guys. I will try and make this the night before so it has 24 full hours to reproduce. Any Objections?

I use one of these and they work just fine. They come in several sizes.

Badass man, you win. Unfortunately it's not large enough to make the starter that Mr. Malty wants me to make but it's better than nothing for sure. I will probably make a full liter starter (about 33 oz). That should be adequate enough, I will go ahead and let it take off for a full 24 hours then pitch into the wort.

Probably not the first to think of it but how about those huge Carlo Rossi jugs, I'd just pour out the wine lol.

So it looks like I am going to do a starter on a stirplate the morning of Brewing and let it go on the stirplate for 6 hours then pitch. Looking to do a 1.2L starter is what Mr. Malty Calc says.

I'm still trying to figure out why you're going to all this trouble and not just pitching two XL smack-packs. You said you don't want the bother of making a starter; just go to LHBS and get another packet of yeast.

That aside, an active starter is the best bet in your instance. I usually decant the spent starter 'beer' also, in order to pitch the slurry, but if you can't start your starter now that's a no-go.

Wait - why must you wait until you reach your brewing location? You mean you can't go to the grocery, buy a gallon glass jug of apple juice or something, make a starter, and do that at your current location? I'm confused as to what deal you made with what devil that prevents you even brewing a starter away from your 'brewing location'. If you don't want to share details, that's fine. It just seems a bit goofy to be completely unable to build your starter and transport it to your 'brewing location' in a cooler or something.

Cheers,

Bob

The cryptic "brewing location" is my house. Don't worry, his starter will be in good hands! He just doesn't have a flask and stirplate yet and I do. Not that those are necessary but they just make it easier. And really we won't need to pitch as soon as we're done brewing, we'll probably sit around and drink my beer for a while, so lets call it 8 hours. 1.2L starter on a stirplate for 8 hours, then pitching the whole volume should be a pretty safe amount of yeast. If he does it at his place with no stirplate it'll just have to be a bit bigger, but it's his second batch so I'm helping out a bit.

Oh, and at our LHBS you're lucky if they have both notty and US-05. Too late for him to get another smack pack.

Gotcha. Understood.

With no stirplate, you just need to chill the starter, decant the spent wort, and pitch the slurry. Volume doesn't necessarily enter into it. Just so you fellas know for next time!

But you guys have a plan, and you're gonna have fun.

Bob