Upping a Starter

If I use of my jars of washed yeast and there is only minimal activity, how do I up the yeast count? Do I add another jar of my washed yeast AND more boiled water/DME? Do I add just one or the other (another jar of washed yeast OR more boiled water/DME)? Does it mean my yeast isn't viable?

Basically, if I don't have a very active starter, what do I do to beef up the yeast count?

Boil up a basic 1.040ish wort with DME and water, and then add some of your washed yeast to it (after cooling, of course). Swirl it periodically over the next few days and you should get some decent activity.

Any activity at all indicates that your yeast is present, so there's no sense using more than one jar in cultivation.

So, then how do I know I'm pitching about the right amount of yeast?

jwic said:

So, then how do I know I'm pitching about the right amount of yeast?

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I'd like to know the same. Good ?

jwic said:

So, then how do I know I'm pitching about the right amount of yeast?

Click to expand...

Pitch as much as you can if you don't know the amounts for certain. I use a gallon glass jug for starters and I aim for at least half an inch of yeast on the bottom for five gallons, 1 inch or more for ten gallons. Each batch contains plenty of yeast to get the job done and starts quickly.

Two additional questions then:
(1) What if I'm not getting the 1/2 inch? Should I throw in more DME/water? More yeast? Both?

(2) I used a brown jug for my starters in the past because I thought light hinders, hurts, or otherwise is bad for yeast/wort. Can I use a clear jug so that I can see it? Should I just cover it with a towel or something while it's doing its thing?

jwic said:

Two additional questions then:
(1) What if I'm not getting the 1/2 inch? Should I throw in more DME/water? More yeast? Both?

(2) I used a brown jug for my starters in the past because I thought light hinders, hurts, or otherwise is bad for yeast/wort. Can I use a clear jug so that I can see it? Should I just cover it with a towel or something while it's doing its thing?

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1. Adding yeast would be OK, but adding wort will help much more IMO. What you're doing is stimulating the yeast to go through the fermentation process so you get active yeast to multiply and eat so to speak. Keep in mind, the 1/2 inch is just an estimate on my part.

Also, if you're using a low floc yeast, a good portion of it will stay in suspension so you won't see it on the bottom. Cooling the starter will help the yeast drop out, then you can eyeball it from there. Keep it cool until brew day, letting it warm up while you brew.

2. Light + fermentation = not good, so you're brown jug is cool. I always place the starter/carboy/bucket in a dark place. No light worries regardless of vessel transparency then. If unable to do so, covering is recommended.

Excellent! Thank you!

1. I think you need to let the starter fully attenuate (check gravity and should be very little activity for a while), then decant the "beer" off the top and repitch the mini yeast cake into a new starter of 1.040 wort to step it up.

2. You don't need to worry about light exposure for a starter, since oxidation affects the beer more than the yeast. You don't even need to cover it with a towel. If you pitch your entire starter and it's large (I'd say maybe >2L for a 5g batch?) then you should probably decant the oxidized "beer" off of the starter, leave a little bit so you can swirl up the yeast cake, and just pitch that.

The only way i know of to ACCURATLY depict cell counts is a hemocytometer (although theres a few other really expensive lab tools but this one is cheap and only requires a microscope). Its pretty much a slide with a grid on it and you look under a microscope, count how many cells per area and multiply out to the size container your using to depict how many cells per milliliter, etc. It's almost impossibly to over pitch as a homebrewer unless your talking about tossing your beer onto a full previous yeast cake...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hemocytometer

That's good to know. Thanks! Esp. considering I'm going to bottle my wheat beer in a week or so and I was planning to throw the new wheat beer right on top of the old cake.

I find that about 500 to 700 ml of slurry works pretty well when using the cake. It comes out to about 1/4 to 1/3