Yeast Starter Question

[paint_it_black]

I've recently been doing all-grain brewing, often using Safale yeasts with no starter. However, I'm looking at doing an AG recipe that calls for a a White Labs yeast, with starter (EdWort's Koelsch - https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f62/bee-cave-brewery-koelsch-33548/).
Back when I was doing extract brews, I would just cook up some of my malt extract syrup and pitch my Wyeast. But since I'm doing an AG brew and need a starter, I don't know what to do. I have some light dry malt extract on hand. Though my recipe calls for Pils as the bast malt, is it okay to make a starter with light DME?

 

[ardentfrost]

Use the DME you have on hand.

I need to go get a bag of extra light DME for starters in my recent AG setup.

 

[Torg]

You could use a tablespoon of cane sugar and a half a cup of water (as I do for ales). Or you can malt 1 pound of 2-row and start with it.

Basically if you have a slow starting yeast, like a lager, you want to give it a head start. You make something that it will start a colony in.

 

[mosquitocontrol]

a half cup starter is not going to get you anywhere. Make a 1Liter starter (minimum) with the DME you have laying around. Do a few days ahead of your brew day and you will be all set.

 

[Kahuna]

Here's a good step-by-step run through of the process:

http://hbd.org/uchima/yeaststart/yeaststart.html

 

[Torg]

a half cup starter is not going to get you anywhere. Make a 1Liter starter (minimum) with the DME you have laying around. Do a few days ahead of your brew day and you will be all set.

I don't actually start ale yeasts. I simply rehydrate them.

 

[rcrabb22]

Here's a good step-by-step run through of the process:

http://hbd.org/uchima/yeaststart/yeaststart.html

good advice but don't use an airlock. Santize some foil and use that to cover the flask. The foil will be enough to keep air borne contaminants out of the vessel. Also if you don't have a stir plate, gently shake the starter vessel every few hours to promote the exchange of CO2 for oxygen the yeast need to reproduce. If all goes well it should be done in 24 to 36 hours.

It would be best to complete your starter a day or 2 ahead of your brew day, then you can place the starter in the refrigerator to get the yeast to flocculate to the bottom of the vessel. You can then decant most of the liquid and let sit out to warm to pitching temperature of the wort. Swirl the vessel to get the yeast off the bottom and pitch.

 

[GLoBaLReBeL]

I had a quick question myself . . I keep seeing the word "Decant" when talking about starters . . . I'm guessing that Decanting a starter means that you basically put the starter into the freezer for a day/long enough for the yeast to drop to the bottom, then you pour out the liquid and then let the yeast sit at room temp for like 2 hour before you pitch. When you are ready to pitch you pour a little of the cooled wort/beer into the flask swirl it around and then pitch into primary . . . . correct?

 

[ardentfrost]

I had a quick question myself . . I keep seeing the word "Decant" when talking about starters . . . I'm guessing that Decanting a starter means that you basically put the starter into the freezer for a day/long enough for the yeast to drop to the bottom, then you pour out the liquid and then let the yeast sit at room temp for like 2 hour before you pitch. When you are ready to pitch you pour a little of the cooled wort/beer into the flask swirl it around and then pitch into primary . . . . correct?

Decant means "pour out." When someone says "decant off the liquid" they're talking about the stuff above the yeast, but not the yeast itself.

Your paragraph is the correct process for making the starter ready for pitching (except put the starter into the fridge, not the freezer) and includes decanting the starter wort.

 

[Kahuna]

Don't freeze yeast. It can burst the yeast cells and kill them.

'Decant' merely means 'pour'. As the starter ferments, the yeast cells will drop to the bottom. You'll see an off-white layer at the bottom of the flask. If it is completely fermented, (say after 2 days) you can pour off the liquid from the top without losing any yeast. Inside of two days there may be yeast in suspension, so I tend to pitch the whole starter into the wort without pouring anything off the top.

 

[GLoBaLReBeL]

wonderful. I should always use the following for a 5 gallon batch . .

- 20 oz. of water (600mL)
- 2 oz. (60 grams) of Light DME
- 1 smack pack of Wyeast or equivalent (left to sit for a day at room temp after breaking the pack on the inside)

I will be using a stirplate as well. So after 2 days of the stir plate i should let it sit in the fridge overnight, then decant the liquid and put back in fridge and then just pull out during brewing and pour a little of the cooled brew into it and then pitch to primary. All the while, I will have a "cap" made from tinfoil to keep anything from falling into the starter.

 

[susitna4]

What is the ratio of DME to water in a 1 liter starter?

 

[ardentfrost]

1:4 is the ratio. I do 1/2c DME to 2c water which makes about a quart which ~1L

 

[Kahuna]

This is actually easier in metric. Just use 10 grams of DME to every 100 ml of water. 60 grams of DME in 600 ml in a 1 liter flask is about as much as you can squeeze in without major boil overs (just minor ones.)

 

[leapdog]

ok, quick question. i need to make a starter and don't have any dme on hand. can i use table sugar? and if so, is the ration the same?

 

[ardentfrost]

ok, quick question. i need to make a starter and don't have any dme on hand. can i use table sugar? and if so, is the ration the same?

I asked this exact question a week ago.

I was told that people would rather pitch without a starter than use table sugar. That's what I ended up doing, too (I aerated well, so lag time wasn't horrible).

There were some other suggestions too. Here's the thread

 

[jpsloan]

1:4 is the ratio. I do 1/2c DME to 2c water which makes about a quart which ~1L

I thought there were four cups to a quart? I typically use a full cup of DME per quart of water, which follows your ratio it seems.

 

[ardentfrost]

I thought there were four cups to a quart? I typically use a full cup of DME per quart of water, which follows your ratio it seems.

Gar, you're right. It's ok to blame beer for simple mistakes like that, right?

 

[rcrabb22]

ok, quick question. i need to make a starter and don't have any dme on hand. can i use table sugar? and if so, is the ration the same?

No don't use sugar. The yeast will condition themselves to want more sucrose and not the maltose in the wort. For a single cell critter they can be pretty particular huh?

 

[jpsloan]

Well, here's a hypothetical...

What say you were planning on brewing a Belgian style, to which you intend to add sucrose?

Would it benefit you to make your starter out of a blend of maltose and sucrose, to condition the yeast for both?