Should I make a yeast starter for a 1.075 OG?

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sethP

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I had planned on it and was under the impression that I would need to with this big of a beer but one of the brewers at my LHBS said that it really wasn't necessary, just add yeast nutrients in the last 10-15 min of the boil. I'm making NB's Black Ipa extract kit with WYEAST 1272 American II. Expected OG of 1.075. Fermentation temps will be around 72 degrees.

I'd really rather not mess with a starter if i don't have to (haven't had to yet). What do you guys think and what has worked best for you?

BTW this will be my 4th batch and I'm loving making and drinking my own beer, can't beat it.
 
I believe it is recommended to make a starter on any beer over 1.056. Before i got my equipment for making starters(stir plate and flask) I was just throwing the vial of white labs in and rdwhahb. Biggest beer i made with that method was 1.085. Now i make starters for every beer. I personally think the beers using starters tasted better(just 1 man's opinion) than those using the just pitch the vial method.
 
According to Beersmith's yeast calculations... It recommends 274.1 Billion yeast cells for that OG.

Depending on the "made on date" of the Wyeast package, it could have quite a bit less than 100 billion cells.

I'd recommend the starter. It'll only help and is relatively a cheap considering the money spent on the brew.

You can look up the Mr. Malty Calculator online and punch in all the relevant data from the yeast, OG as well as what kind of starter you can make (Stir Plate, Shake it when you can method etc. )
 
Yes.
otherwise you will be starting a new thread saying... Help it has been three days & no airlock activity/ should i pitch more yeast?
:)

If you do not want to make a starter, just grab a packet of dry US-05 yeast. Yeast does not really matter in an IPA, it should just be "clean" to let the hops shine through. Rehydrate the yeast in warm water (sprinkling into the wort kills half of them; you need a lotta yeast for that high OG).

And 72* is too high; try to ferment in mid 60's. (search: swamp cooler)
 
Great responses, thanks guys. I've decided to go with the starter, making it tonight, 24hrs from now I'll refrigerate it (i'll be out of town for part of the week at Cigar City's brewery event) and brew sunday. I have one pound of DME and I'm not positive on the DME to water ratio I should use but it shouldn't be hard to figure out. I'm thinking about a half gallon starter should be plenty big enough even though it won't get me to 270 billion-ish and I'll decant tho wort of of the yeast cake.
 
tchuklobrau said:
I believe it is recommended to make a starter on any beer over 1.056. Before i got my equipment for making starters(stir plate and flask) I was just throwing the vial of white labs in and rdwhahb. Biggest beer i made with that method was 1.085. Now i make starters for every beer. I personally think the beers using starters tasted better(just 1 man's opinion) than those using the just pitch the vial method.
Click to expand...

This. Always making a starter, always gives you the chance to make a better beer. Pretty much, if you're asking if you should, then you should.

All we are saying, is give yeast a chance!
 
My first AG batch I decided to make an IIPA with OG of 1.082. I made a starter with a single packet of 1056 and fermented at about 72F. I got a big ol bucket of finger nail polish remover. With those big beers it is very important to pitch the correct amount of healthy yeast and ferment at a low enough temperature that they don't get stressed. When underpitching at high temps you may get lucky sometimes, but eventually you are going to get a very expensive dumper.
 
sethP said:
Great responses, thanks guys. I've decided to go with the starter, making it tonight, 24hrs from now I'll refrigerate it (i'll be out of town for part of the week at Cigar City's brewery event) and brew sunday. I have one pound of DME and I'm not positive on the DME to water ratio I should use but it shouldn't be hard to figure out. I'm thinking about a half gallon starter should be plenty big enough even though it won't get me to 270 billion-ish and I'll decant tho wort of of the yeast cake.
Click to expand...

24 hrs from now will probably not be enough time for the starter to be finished. For a Sunday brewday, I'd just let it go for the next few days at room temp and pitch the whole thing. I know you want to crash and decant it, but I'd rather give it more time to finish. And be sure to give it a vigorous shake/swirl everytime you walk past it.

Also, a good rule of thumb for starters is 1oz of DME per cup of water. This will get you about a 1.040 gravity. As for the size of the starter, check out the pitching rate calculator - http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/calc.html
 
Well, the starter is done, had a few homebrews, relaxed, put a little more DME than I intended, boiled off a little more water than expected, and ended up with a started at 1.053 and I would say about a 1/3 of a gal. Not worried about it at all at this point and I'm sure it will be fine. My 72 degree fermenting temp is going to be the hardest thing to control as I live in south Florida right now and it's always hot. My apt stays at 75 to keep the power bill under $300 and my swamp cooler with a little fan brings it to 71-72.

I think I will let the starter sit out until sunday afternoon, I was worried about pitching a half gal. or more starter into my wort but I'm not too concerned about less than a half gallon for some reason.

I'll be sure to let you know how it turns out, I've got pretty high hopes for this one. I love this forum!
 
I've become a big fan of starters with liquid yeasts. It is easy enough to do. I start about Wednesday evening before a weekend brew. 1 cup of DME to 1.6 liters of water, boil 15 minutes then cool. Oxygenate and add the yeast. 24-36 hours on the stir plate and then into the fridge to drop the yeast. On brewday I pour off the liquid and add some clean water to get the yeast into suspension before I dump the little beasties into the cooled wort. It really is easy and I think it makes a big difference on all my beers.
 
sethP said:
Well, the starter is done, had a few homebrews, relaxed, put a little more DME than I intended, boiled off a little more water than expected, and ended up with a started at 1.053 and I would say about a 1/3 of a gal. Not worried about it at all at this point and I'm sure it will be fine. My 72 degree fermenting temp is going to be the hardest thing to control as I live in south Florida right now and it's always hot. My apt stays at 75 to keep the power bill under $300 and my swamp cooler with a little fan brings it to 71-72.

I think I will let the starter sit out until sunday afternoon, I was worried about pitching a half gal. or more starter into my wort but I'm not too concerned about less than a half gallon for some reason.

I'll be sure to let you know how it turns out, I've got pretty high hopes for this one. I love this forum!
Click to expand...

Now you're on track. At least you are documenting your process. If you need to chill a FV, wrap a wet towel around it and blow a fan on it. This will drop the temp 3-4 degrees an hour.
 
By dumping off the liquid and replacing it with water are you introducing microorganisms back into the beer? Or is this boiled/cooled water?
 

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