I would make a starter.
Couldn't you do a starter with your dried yeast just like you do with your liquid? Are there any benefits to not doing a starter with dry yeast?
Couldn't you do a starter with your dried yeast just like you do with your liquid? Are there any benefits to not doing a starter with dry yeast?
Couldn't you do a starter with your dried yeast just like you do with your liquid? Are there any benefits to not doing a starter with dry yeast?
Would it be ok to just pitch 2 vials of white labs yeast to get to 200 billion cell count instead of doing a starter?
Yeah but dude making starters is fun, it's like a mini brew day before brew day. Plus it's good insurance to make sure the yeast are awake and viable.Would it be ok to just pitch 2 vials of white labs yeast to get to 200 billion cell count instead of doing a starter?
One of my biggest concerns of a starter is most times I'd have to use DME and doesnt' that stand a good chance of changing the flavor of my AG brew if I pitch in a dme and yeast starter?If you're doing a 2L starter, you're talking half a pound of LME, which is not going to change anything drastically. On top of that, LME doesn't have a terribly large amount of character on its own, so it's not going to change much of anything.
Help understanding the need for a starter would really help. I keep reading everyone saying its really needed and lots of stats like the number of cells needed, etc... why does my yeast work so well then w/o off flavors or bad attenuation?
You probably have a good yeast provider, and you're using fresh stuff... you should feel fortunate. If the yeast is getting old, it might have half of the 100 billion cells that it started out with, so it will lag considerably more and be stuck in that multiplication phase for much longer.
One problem I have is timing. I am leaving town on Friday morning for 10 days or so, and I would like to get this brewed tomorrow if possible. From what I've read, a starter needs more time than this allows. Also, I am brewing a mini mash from AHB, and the malt is liquid, not dry. Does that change things?
Would it be sufficient to boil some water with some sugar, then pitch the yeast into that, three hours or so before it gets pitched with the beer? This seems to activate it, and definitely will tell me if the yeast is alive or dead. Thoughts?
And thanks for all teh great responses
You know this makes me wonder something, this question of starter has always confused me. I've never done a starter, and I've used liquid yeasts, and always seem to get excellent attenuation. I.e. I have an IPA right now still in secondary that started at 1.075 OG, and is already at 1.009 86.8% attenuation. I've never had bad attenuation and get activity almost always within 24 hrs and fermentation is done by 4 or 5 days almost every time too. (per my sg readings for several days in a row, etc.)
I understand realistically that there's optimal pitching rate of 200bill cell count and all, but I thought that's what the yeast does in the initial phase anyway, reproduces like mad for a certain number of hours, before moving to yum yum eat up the sugar phase... therefore why do I need to worry so much about a starter?
One of my biggest concerns of a starter is most times I'd have to use DME and doesnt' that stand a good chance of changing the flavor of my AG brew if I pitch in a dme and yeast starter?
I keep reading everyone saying its really needed and lots of stats like the number of cells needed, etc... why does my yeast work so well then w/o off flavors or bad attenuation?
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