Yeast starter

[dodeebryan]

I thought I would make a my first yeast starter and make a DIY stir plate all in the same night. Well the stir plate is a no go. For now anyway. Not too worried about that. Pretty sure I can trouble shoot and fix. However. With my yeast starter I wonder how long til it is ready to pitch. It was us-05 I hydrated the yeast then pitched in a flask. It has now been about 4 hrs since I pitched the starter. #1 how do I know it is ready ( no stir plate)? # 2. If there is fermentation in the starter and I have trub on the bottom of flask do I want to pitch the trub as well in the primary? Or leave the trub out?

 

[reinstone]

i would say depending on batch size and the fact that you are using dry yeast more yeast is probably a cheaper route and easier route than the starter but if you made one ok. so I assume you are making an ale.......if so......I would say that if the beer is a stronger beer.....prob any ale you can just pitch the whole starter as soon as it shows some action or after it has ceased.....no need to decant in ales I figure.....there will be plenty of beer to dilute that starter beer....assuming that it is not contaminated or fermented at 80F.

good luck and respond with questions.

 

[dodeebryan]

The starter will be around 72 degrees. Is it not typical to do a starter with Dry yeast? I am brewing an N brewer Sierra Madre Pale ale. I got the dry over the wyeast b/c the temp at which I able to brew at is around 74-76. The us 05 seemed like it liked warmer ferment temp than the wyeast that was suggested. I don't want to pitch this yeast and them have to dump the beer.

 

[reinstone]

I think that the safeale is 11 grams......that is enough for five gallons (of ale)...pitch the whole starter.....next time go to Mr. malty for pitching calcs.....overpitching is rarely a problem unless you want a really estery banana character. I would sat to keep the starter going at room temp and watch for blow offs if not on a plate. Pitch the whole thing......it'll be fine cheeers....and if ya wanna cool the ferment temp a few degrees ....place a wet towel around the ferment vessle with a fan on it.....that will cool ya off a few degrees.......keep the temp as close to 65-70 as possible. Give the beer time.....it may look finished in 4 days....give it at least 10...

 

[reinstone]

and no a starter is not typical with dry yeast.......it gives more bang for the buck than liquid and keeps better....but there are less selections......typically the cell count of dry yeast is a lot higher than liquid- per volume. But i think the starter is okay.....think of it as a rehydration of he yeast...which you always do w dry yeast

 

[dodeebryan]

I guess I'll give it 48 hrs to do what it's going to do. This morning when I woke up there was krausen on top and trub on bottom. Good sign (I believe). Should I swirl it around every time I go past it or just let it be? I've seen both approaches

 

[gcdowd]

Swirl whenever you can. The yeast want oxygen at this point.

 

[stratslinger]

To answer your original question: Typically, a healthy starter can get done in about 24 hours. It's pretty common to let it rip for 24 hours then cold crash in the fridge overnight, so you can decant off most of the starter beer and just pitch what you're referring to as the trub - that's actually the yeast cake, and it's what you're trying to produce!

 

[barnhs]

Great advice on settling the yeast. I usually try to match the DME (light or dark) with the beer to avoid changing the color profile. Also, been doing this lately when I mail order liquid yeast, to make sure it's viable when it arrives. Easier to get credit on just the yeast than it is on all the grains too. Sure enough - yesterday, some white labs yeast came from NB. And it looked terrible. So I started it to be sure, and it was bubbling away waiting the hour using a stir plate. (Mine is also home made. So much more impressive to me than just dropping $100).

 

[william_shakes_beer]

Everybody has their own take on starters, here's mine

1. Usually dry brewing yeast packets have sufficient cells to ferment a 5 gallon batch, unless the packet is very old. No need to do a starter, but no harm either. You do a starter to increase the cell count. Cell counts are increased by adding as much oxygen as possible, since the yeast need oxygen to reproduce effeciently. First choice stir plate. Second choice, shake the starter every time you walk by.

2. You can get as anal or laid back as you wish. If you want to get anal, go to Mr. Malty and open the pitching rate calculator. Enter your values and it will tell you how big a starter to do. If you want to be laid back (as I do) just boil up some wort from extract, (4 cups water to 1 cup DME) cool it to 75F or so, chuck it in the 2L flask and pop it on the stir plate til the krausen falls back into the starter beer. Then pop it in the frige til brew day, take it out and set it on the counter til you're ready to pitch.

 

[stratslinger]

William_shakes_beer has a point on you having the choice on being as laid back or as anal as you like about starters... But, I'll make an analogy here based on an argument I read just a few days ago that I think is absolutely valid when it comes to starters and yeast pitching rates: You can also be as anal or as laid back as you like about hopping your beer. You could just toss "some hops" into the kettle "some time" during your boil and get what you get. Or you can toss "some amount" of the right hops into the kettle at the right time, and get what you get. Or toss the right amount of the right hops into the kettle "some time" during the boil... Etc, etc.. But I'd argue that the vast majority of us spend quite a bit of time choosing exactly the appropriate variety of hops for the style we're going for, in exactly the right amount, and add it at just the right time during the boil to get what we're looking for. The same kind of analogy could be made with grain or extract bills (I'll just toss in "some grain" or "some extract" and see what I get). I think very few of us brew like that!

So why would we go to the effort to make a starter, but then not pay attention to the correct pitching rate and actually try to get to it? If we're going to pay super close attention to every other step in the process, why would we stop short when it comes to our yeast?

 

[dodeebryan]

What do you mean the yeast looked terrible? How would one know if the yeast looked terrible

 

[barnhs]

What do you mean the yeast looked terrible? How would one know if the yeast looked terrible

It was clumpy and separated, not a smooth slurry. And when I opened it, there was definitely some positive pressure. It's really just a summer thing. I always worry about live yeast sitting in the back of a hot UPS truck for two days. I know they ship with an ice pack, but it's not like it's ever cold when it arrives. Maybe just my paranoia, but I hate the thought of going through the work to brew beer, just to worry about why fermentation hasn't started.

 

[dodeebryan]

Got it. Yeah the cold pack has never been cold when it showed up