Newbie here,
I visit a few homebrewing forums quite often, and one of the biggest complaints I read about is long lag times and supposedly "bad" yeast.
In ten years of homebrewing - first Wyeast smacks, now exclusively White Labs tubes - We've never done a starter and have never had a batch not ferment properly (cross myself three times and knock on wood).
But we always...
- Slowly bring the yeast vial to room temp. about 8 hours before pitching.
- Pitch when the wort is 72 - 75 degrees.
- Primary vessel is a 6 gallon carboy for a 5 gallon batch - lots of "aeration room".
- Aeration accomplished by vigorously rocking the carboy for 4 to 5 minutes.
Important note: We don't do high gravity brews. 3.5% to 5% is the norm.
FWIW,
Hopsnort
I visit a few homebrewing forums quite often, and one of the biggest complaints I read about is long lag times and supposedly "bad" yeast.
In ten years of homebrewing - first Wyeast smacks, now exclusively White Labs tubes - We've never done a starter and have never had a batch not ferment properly (cross myself three times and knock on wood).
But we always...
- Slowly bring the yeast vial to room temp. about 8 hours before pitching.
- Pitch when the wort is 72 - 75 degrees.
- Primary vessel is a 6 gallon carboy for a 5 gallon batch - lots of "aeration room".
- Aeration accomplished by vigorously rocking the carboy for 4 to 5 minutes.
Important note: We don't do high gravity brews. 3.5% to 5% is the norm.
FWIW,
Hopsnort