Liquid yeast help

[rcreamer0713]

So i brewed my first 5 gallon batch. Been doing mr beer figured tome to dtep up.

So i had a great brew day. Cooled wart...took forever. And waited till next day to pitch yeast ( wprt wasnt all the way down yet.)

So being new never heard of a starter. I split the liquod yeast between 2 lbks. And then that very day u read that 1 pack isnt enough for 5 gallons. :, (

For a quick recovery i took some standard mrbeer dry yeast and split the pack between my lbks.

Question is. Did i atleast kind of save my beer? It was amber ale. 1.048 og. Purchasing a yeast starter kit for the next batch but hoping this batch isnt shot.

 

[Subdivisions]

I read this as you split one pack of liquid yeast between 2 mr. beer kegs (2.5 gallons each). At that gravity it wouldn't be that big of an underpitch. I've put a smack pack without a starter into 5 gallons of a 1.05 wort before and it came out pretty good. You probably didn't need to toss the Mr. Beer yeast in. What effect that will have is yet to be determined. You'll get beer out of it I can guarantee.

In the future make a starter with liquid yeast. It doesn't always need to be done but it's ALWAYS better than just pitching straight from the pack.

 

[ZmannR2]

It's not an under pitch. I did a 1.058 OG and less than 2 weeks later it was 1.009 using one vial of WLP-001

 

[rcreamer0713]

Awsome. I feel a bit better. Amd yea i didnt use a whole pack of the mrbeer yeast. Few sprinkles to up the yeast count. Should be interesting. First 5 gallon brew had to mess up somehow right. Yea im ordering yeast starter kits now.

Does it matter what dme is usdd in starter?

 

[ajr7678]

Hi All - I am brewing my very first home brew at home this weekend. I've never done any of it before, and I'm starting with an all grain. I bought the liquid yeast, and I see in the thread talk about a "starter"... Can you tell me what that means?? I also am wondering if I will have enough heat from an 18,500BTU gas stove to boil the 6.5 gallons of wort correctly.... Do I "need" an outdoor propane burner??

 

[rcreamer0713]

Starter can be googled. Ull find good reads if u google yeast starter. Its basically growing yeast from ur packet.

As for burner i have a propane burner. To boil 5 gallons i had it cranked open pretty good. Its a good investment to have. But if u have limits on space. Then give it a shot.see if it will boil 6.5gallons of water. If not u need more.

 

[BlueHouseBrewhaus]

A higher gravity brew (>1.060) may need more yeast than you get in a single pack of liquid yeast. A starter is used to increase your yeast count. You boil up some water and DME (usually 1L to 2L), cool it and put it in a sanitized flask or jar, pitch your yeast and put some foil over the top. Swirl it around as often as possible (or put it on a stir plate) and let it ferment for 12 - 36 hours. There are calculators like Mr. Malty and YeastCalc that will tell you how many yeast cells you can expect for a given size starter. Once the starter has fermented, you can pitch the whole thing into your brew or you can chill it in the fridge for a day and pour off the clear liquid (decant) then pitch only the settled yeast.

 

[ajr7678]

Ok, so my first batch is in the fermentor and I'm not sure I did it all right. I'm making an IPA, AG, 5 gallons. I used WLP-007 and pitched it directly into my cooled wort, no starter. The OG on my measurement was 1.071 (higher than it was supposed to be....) and the fermentation took 3 days to really get going. Now it's on day 5 and it's pumping along very nicely through a blow off tube.

I believe I underpitched, but the fermentation seems ok. Should I be considering additional aeration or nutrients? I didn't really want a big beer, next time I will water down the wort (or maybe I sparged too slowly? It took 95 minutes to gather 6.5 gallons for the boil....)

 

[kombat]

I believe I underpitched, but the fermentation seems ok. Should I be considering additional aeration or nutrients? I didn't really want a big beer, next time I will water down the wort (or maybe I sparged too slowly? It took 95 minutes to gather 6.5 gallons for the boil....)

You definitely underpitched, but it's too late to do anything about it now. The evidence was that it took 3 days to really get going. During that period, the yeast was struggling to build up its cell count, and would have produced excessive esters and phenols. You'll perceive these in the finished beer as fruitiness, clove, possibly banana, and a general "Belgian" character. It'll likely still be drinkable (the bitterness and hops of an IPA will mask some of it), but for next time, definitely make a starter.

While 1 vial or 1 smack-pack may be enough for a batch of beer, there are a lot of caveats with that proclamation. It assumes 100% yeast viability (i.e., a brand new packet of yeast, fresh off the assembly line). This is rarely the case. Yeast lose viability quickly with each passing week. It also assumes you're making an ale (lagers need twice as much yeast). Finally, it also assumes a low-to-moderate (<= 1.040) starting gravity. This is rarely the case for me.

A good rule is, when using a new pack/vial of liquid yeast, always make a starter.

 

[kh54s10]

It's not an under pitch. I did a 1.058 OG and less than 2 weeks later it was 1.009 using one vial of WLP-001

It is an underpitch. A vial of WLP 001 will definitely ferment the beer but that is not the optimum. In fact one vial would probably ferment 50 gallons - 100 gallons more? The yeast will reproduce in the wort until there are cell counts enough to ferment the wort. During this time they are stressed and will produce off flavors. How bad these off flavors will be depends on many factors and is debatable.

OP. As stated it is an underpitch. But it is not severe enough to worry too much about. The wort will ferment. The different yeasts might work together or one will just reproduce and dominate the other in fermenting the wort.

But, it certainly did not hurt anything by adding the MrBeer yeast.

 

[charliehorse]

Purchasing a yeast starter kit for the next batch but hoping this batch isnt shot.

Don't buy a starter kit unless you're flush with cash (in that case, I'll send you my address). You can build a stir plate for about $15 out of a computer fan, hard drive magnet, PWM nob, a plastic storage box and a 12 volt power supply from a yard sale.

Does it matter what dme is usdd in starter?

In general, you want the DME to match closely with what's in the wort. Pale beer -> pale DME, dark beer -> dark DME. I generally use a pale DME for everything.

I bought the liquid yeast, and I see in the thread talk about a "starter"... Can you tell me what that means?? I also am wondering if I will have enough heat from an 18,500BTU gas stove to boil the 6.5 gallons of wort correctly.... Do I "need" an outdoor propane burner??

With liquid yeast, there generally isn't enough healthy yeast to get fermentation going very quickly. The cell walls tend to be thin and the cell count is low. By getting the yeast revitalized in a fairly low sugar solution you're not subjecting the cells to a lot of alcohol and they reproduce giving you a lot more yeast cells. There are articles that give exact numbers. I know guys who just use a mason jar (sanitized) and add DME and cooled boiled water and put it someplace to swirl it every time they walk by. Some folks use a stir plate for this. This keeps the yeast suspended in the liquid so they have a better chance of munching sugars.

As far as your burner goes... you'll be fine. That said, when your budget allows, you may want to look into some sort of outdoor gas burner. I would avoid the turkey fryer setup because you have to do something about the timer which can drive you nuts. I picked up a single burner from Bass Pro for about $30 a few years ago and it worked very well. Remember 1 BTU is the energy required to heat 1 pound of water from 59°F to 60°F.