How do I determine how much DME for a starter

I am doing Pliny the Elder this weekend and according to Mr Malty a 1.075 OG beer requires a starter that needs to be 1.65L (56 oz). The Wyeast smack pack is 125ml (4.2 oz). So am I correct in assuming that I need 52 ounces of water for the starter? How much DME I should use?

I use 1/2 cup DME per 2 cups (16 ounces) water. For a bigger starter, then I just multiply this. I wouldn't take the yeast into consideration, I'd just make a 56 ounce starter. Well, actually, I'd make a 64 ounce starter, because that's just multiplying by 4- so I'd use 64 ounces of water and 2 cups of DME.

YooperBrew said:

I use 1/2 cup DME per 2 cups (16 ounces) water. For a bigger starter, then I just multiply this. I wouldn't take the yeast into consideration, I'd just make a 56 ounce starter. Well, actually, I'd make a 64 ounce starter, because that's just multiplying by 4- so I'd use 64 ounces of water and 2 cups of DME.

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Thanks Yoop. Well I did the calculations wrong so I need a 1.37L starter and it calls for 2 yeast packs. I had the wrong mfr. date of the yeast. Is it possible to get away with just one yeast pkg or am I definitely going to need 2? I picked up Wyeast 1272 American Ale. Think this strain will work? I do not have Zymurgy in front of me but I thought that was the strain indicated in the recipe. However, I could be wrong

TIA,

Zman

zman said:

Thanks Yoop. Well I did the calculations wrong so I need a 1.37L starter and it calls for 2 yeast packs. I had the wrong mfr. date of the yeast. Is it possible to get away with just one yeast pkg or am I definitely going to need 2? I picked up Wyeast 1272 American Ale. Think this strain will work? I do not have Zymurgy in front of me but I thought that was the strain indicated in the recipe. However, I could be wrong

TIA,

Zman

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Sure, you could do it with one package. I'd suggest making a starter as described, then allowing it to ferment out and then add fresh wort after it's fermented out. You could decant the spent wort if you're using a flocculant yeast, so that you don't have to use a carboy for the starter!

that seems like a really big starter for a 1.075 OG...right?

If you have a scale which can do grams, it's even easier, just remember 10g of DME per 100mL of water. So a 1L starter uses 100g which is about 3.5 oz.

BobcatBrew said:

that seems like a really big starter for a 1.075 OG...right?

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This was the info I got per Mr Malty

I use .75 oz. of DME per cup of water. I've found that different brands of DME have different densities, so I've taken to weighing it rather than measuring it.

1L starter:
1 cup DME, 4 cups water

For 2L starter, just add another cup of DME and 4 more cups water after krausen.

I also add a couple hop pellets to the boil get the pH down.

I use 1300ml water and one cup of DME in a 2L erlenmeyer flask (easy to measure by markings). This produces about a 1.5L starter, which is always enough for a 5 gal. batch. Put it on a stir plate for 24-36 hrs. Pour it all in, or decant some wort off depending on the type of beer.

The ratio I always use is 1 gram of DME for every 10 grams of water. Grams and mL are roughly equivalent for water at the temperatures we use. Easy to scale up with this ratio in mind.

zman said:

Thanks Yoop. Well I did the calculations wrong so I need a 1.37L starter and it calls for 2 yeast packs. I had the wrong mfr. date of the yeast. Is it possible to get away with just one yeast pkg or am I definitely going to need 2? I picked up Wyeast 1272 American Ale. Think this strain will work? I do not have Zymurgy in front of me but I thought that was the strain indicated in the recipe. However, I could be wrong

Zman

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Are you mking your starter on a stir plate, or just shaking the starter? For a 5 gallon 1.075 ale with starter on a stir plate Mr Malty calls for 1.32 liter and 1 pack of yeast. It's 1.65 liters at 5.5 gallons. So I guess we need to know how you are doing your starter (shaking, stirring, airating) and what is your final boil volume. You should not need 2 vials of yeast, but if you are only shaking the starter instead of a stir plate you may need to step it up in two separate steps

zman said:

This was the info I got per Mr Malty

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I sometimes wonder if Mr Malty hits us too hard for the date on the package. You'd think that storage conditions have so much more effect than the date. Is Mr Malty just taking a worse case scenario?

AnOldUR said:

I sometimes wonder if Mr Malty hits us too hard for the date on the package. You'd think that storage conditions have so much more effect than the date. Is Mr Malty just taking a worse case scenario?

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Yeah, I really really wonder about that myself. I mean, it's a guess either way. If we did every perfect thing to protect the yeast we'd have more and if we did every wrong thing it'd all be dead. I'd like to see the assumptions associate with their equation.

<exhumation alert>

passedpawn said:

<exhumation alert>

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Wow, it must have been one of the threads at the bottom of the screen or something. I had no idea I was resurrecting a thread from 2009.

derp