First Yeast Starter

So I'm braving the world of yeast starters. I'm using some washed WLP001 (Ca Ale). I wanted to make sure that I had enough beasties for my brown.

One Question:

How long should this take before I can pitch it?
(I'd like to brew tomorrow if possible.)


(Tried to add a picture, but couldn't resize it for the post.)

I would think that 24 hours in advance should be enough time to get a nice population for a brew.

You should make it 24-72 hours prior to brewing and it'll be good.

Thanks!!!

It looks like I'll be brewing tomorrow afternoon if all goes well.

welcome to the world of yeast...I started these shananagins a few weeks ago....it's so fun!

I only had about maybe a quarter on an inch of krausen on the top.
It was foamy and off-white and smelled GREAT.

Will this be enough for a 5 gallon brew? It's starting to sink back down
into the psuedo-beer that it was raised in. Should I raise it again?

Here was my recipe:

Boil 2 C water and 1/2 C DME for 5 mins, cool, pour into a pickle jar, add your yeast, cover with alum foil, shake to aerate and wait

Oh, I just gave it a bit of a shake. Is that OK?

mrb said:

I only had about maybe a quarter on an inch of krausen on the top.
It was foamy and off-white and smelled GREAT.

Will this be enough for a 5 gallon brew? It's starting to sink back down
into the psuedo-beer that it was raised in. Should I raise it again?

Here was my recipe:

Boil 2 C water and 1/2 C DME for 5 mins, cool, pour into a pickle jar, add your yeast, cover with alum foil, shake to aerate and wait

Oh, I just gave it a bit of a shake. Is that OK?

Click to expand...

Should be good to go. However it is usually suggested to do a 1-2 qt starter at 1.030 to 1.040 OG. That means 1/2C DME per quart of water. I usually just use 1 cup DME in 2 quarts water. After the mini wort cools I pour it in a 3 quart plastic jug, cover and shaker vigorously until it is very foamy. Then I add the yeast.

mrmalty.com is an excellent resource for these types of questions.

Craig

We just finished the apple juice today. I'll clean it and add some water and see what goes?

Thanks,

Craig

Amped up my starter to about a quart and a half and 3/4 cup of DME.
It was pitched today. Looks good so far.

I have always followed Palmer's rule (1/2c DME to 2c water) and have never had a problem (I dont brew particularly large brews though). 1 inch of krausen is fine. Actually, with such a small 'beer' you can easily miss the fermentation and krausen. I have had some start and be visibly done in a matter of half a day, maybe less.

My Brown is bubbling away famously.

Thanks for the yeast advice everyone.

everybody loves yeasties working!