First time starter help...

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zephed666

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I am new to starters and made one for an ale I am planning on brewing.

I used Brewer's friend for the following:
My wort will be 1.054 OG and 5 gallons.
The yeast lot was made 5/24/15. (WLP007)
So I read it to read only 72 billions viable cells.
My target pitch rate was set at .75 (Ale)

My starter was 1.6 liters with 6.4 oz of the pilsen light DME - shaking method.

My questions are, can I pitch the starter directly to the wort - I assume that is a yes, but how long before I can do this?

And if I cold crash the starter to decant, how long is that process? Should I leave the starter for 36 hours then cold crash for 24?

Thanks for any help to this newbie...
 
That should work fine......I have gone as short as 24 hours for the yeasties to reproduce....but the longer the better to ensure completion.....you might be able to get away with cold crashing for 12 hours.....but the longer the better to make sure as many yeast drop out before you decant. Remember to allow starter to warm to room temp before pitching!

Also....if you want to make sure starter is complete and you have a Refractometer you can take a drop of starter after 24 hours and check gravity to make sure it is done
 
That should work fine......I have gone as short as 24 hours for the yeasties to reproduce....but the longer the better to ensure completion.....you might be able to get away with cold crashing for 12 hours.....but the longer the better to make sure as many yeast drop out before you decant. Remember to allow starter to warm to room temp before pitching!

Also....if you want to make sure starter is complete and you have a Refractometer you can take a drop of starter after 24 hours and check gravity to make sure it is done

So it's best to decant?
 
It will not hurt if you do not decant....but I prefer not to add all of the extra starter wort to my brews...especially if it is a larger starter
 
It will not hurt if you do not decant....but I prefer not to add all of the extra starter wort to my brews...especially if it is a larger starter

I may not be able to brew until 6 days from now. Is it okay to leave the starter in the fridge until brew day?
I figure I will give it another 24 hours and then put it in the fridge.
So it will be 48 hours at 72 degrees and then in the fridge for 4 1/2 days...
 
You don't have to decant, though I totally understand why some people do. You shouldn't need that large of a starter for a 1.056 beer either. To be honest, lately I've just been making my starter the night before I brew. This gives the yeast 12 hours+ to get the reproduction cycle going, and then you have a decent colony of yeast that is already active and ready to chew through more sugars.

I don't have the technology to cell count, etc., but my experience has shown that this strategy makes for a quick, healthy start. You should also be okay leaving the starter for 6 days in the refrigerator, but I would pull them out at the beginning of brew day, take a pint or so of wort, cool it to pitching temps (in a sanitary manner) and pitch it into the starter after decanting off the starter wort to get the yeast an hour or so head start. Necessary, probably not, but it works for me. You'll hear all kinds of theories and strategies in this realm!
 
I prefer to decant because heavily aerated starter wort doesn't taste good and for most starters could be 5-10% of the total volume. I like to crash for about 2 days before decanting, then pitching.
 
I prefer to decant because heavily aerated starter wort doesn't taste good and for most starters could be 5-10% of the total volume. I like to crash for about 2 days before decanting, then pitching.

I agree with this sentiment, -but- I just use the swirl once in a while method, and over less than 24 hours, the yeast seems to use up any oxygen you give them. Yes, you end up pitching around a liter of starter wort into your batch, but I haven't noticed any ill effects. I also try to make my starters mimic slightly what I'm brewing.

For example: I use munton's dry extract plus a small amount of turbinado sugar when brewing English ales. With that short of a time frame, it's basically just getting the yeast to reproduce, and we typically aerate our worts way more heavily than swirling here and there.

I'm not suggesting that my method is any better than somebody else's, though. Just that it works pretty well for me! :mug:
 
So my starter has been going for 48 hrs. A few questions at this point-
Is it normal to have no krausen on top?
the is about a 1/4 of yeast on the bottom of the gallon jug I used. Is this a good amount?
I plan on cold crashing now and brewing in 5 days...
 
So my starter has been going for 48 hrs. A few questions at this point-
Is it normal to have no krausen on top?
the is about a 1/4 of yeast on the bottom of the gallon jug I used. Is this a good amount?
I plan on cold crashing now and brewing in 5 days...

I'd say no krausen on the top is normal as I just went through the same worry. My first starter had krausen and spilled out of my flask. Afterwards, I had plenty of yeast. I just did my second starter on Friday night in which I apparently bought old yeast from my lhbs. Absolutely no krausen, so I got worried, but my wort did change color from that dark brown to a creamy khaki and that beer smell was there. I ended up preparing another wort and tossed it in. 12 hours later, no krausen, but again, the creamy khaki happened. After another 12 hours on the stir plate, I decided to cold crash and I had A LOT of yeast at the bottom of my flask. So all was fine.

If you have no krausen, you should be fine as long as your wort changed to that creamy color and it smells like beer. Those are perfect signs of fermentation.

As far as the amount of yeast, if the amount you say covers the entire bottom of that gallon jug, that's definitely plenty of yeast you've got from that one vial.
 
So I started brewing today. Decanted the yeast and it is resting now to come up to room temp. I have a question about the grains I will be brewing with.
My recipe calls for about 3.5 lbs of grains to steep. I assume it is okay to split the amount into separate grain bags? All of it could not fit into one bag...

Thanks!
 
That should work fine......I have gone as short as 24 hours for the yeasties to reproduce....but the longer the better to ensure completion.....you might be able to get away with cold crashing for 12 hours.....but the longer the better to make sure as many yeast drop out before you decant. Remember to allow starter to warm to room temp before pitching!

Also....if you want to make sure starter is complete and you have a Refractometer you can take a drop of starter after 24 hours and check gravity to make sure it is done

I disagree pretty strongly with this.

The goal of a starter is to make yeast babies not alcohol. You don't want your starter to ferment to completion because you end up with more die off. Ideally a starter should only be left long enough for the yeast to go through the lag phase and complete the exponential growth phase (~36 hours). After that, the only new yeast cells being produced are to replace those that die. The population remains fairly constant.

The problem with die off is that the dead yeast can begin autolysis which can produce off flavors in your beer. Additionally, you don't want to pitch all that nasty starter wort because it's highly oxidized and can also produce off flavors (though it's unlikely with that small of a volume).

I would recommend stirring your starter for ~36 hours, then cold crashing for 24. Decant, and allow the slurry to warm to room temp before pitching so you don't thermally shock the yeast.
 
I'd say no krausen on the top is normal as I just went through the same worry. My first starter had krausen and spilled out of my flask. Afterwards, I had plenty of yeast. I just did my second starter on Friday night in which I apparently bought old yeast from my lhbs. Absolutely no krausen, so I got worried, but my wort did change color from that dark brown to a creamy khaki and that beer smell was there. I ended up preparing another wort and tossed it in. 12 hours later, no krausen, but again, the creamy khaki happened. After another 12 hours on the stir plate, I decided to cold crash and I had A LOT of yeast at the bottom of my flask. So all was fine.

If you have no krausen, you should be fine as long as your wort changed to that creamy color and it smells like beer. Those are perfect signs of fermentation.

As far as the amount of yeast, if the amount you say covers the entire bottom of that gallon jug, that's definitely plenty of yeast you've got from that one vial.

+1, no karusen is normal because you are shaking it all back into suspension !
 
I disagree pretty strongly with this.

Your description and reasoning for disagreeing with me seem sound.....I appreciate the correction...looks like I learned something new on this forum....again....

Luckily I pretty much do what you said myself.....but I have used the refractometer to confirm yeast are alive and working. My last starter I was not sure it was doing anything after 30 hrs....tested gravity and it was exactly the same as my starting gravity...which to me says the yeast have done nothing because they were dead when I bought them
 
Your description and reasoning for disagreeing with me seem sound.....I appreciate the correction...looks like I learned something new on this forum....again....

Luckily I pretty much do what you said myself.....but I have used the refractometer to confirm yeast are alive and working. My last starter I was not sure it was doing anything after 30 hrs....tested gravity and it was exactly the same as my starting gravity...which to me says the yeast have done nothing because they were dead when I bought them

I've never used a refractometer so I could do to learn a thing or two as well!

But yeah, after 30 hours and no change in SG, something is very wrong. I hope you can get your money back, or at least some free yeast! :mug:
 
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