Ok so I had a little complication with my brewday yesterday and I haven't been able to find a clear answer. I'm hoping someone here can help me, as I assume it has to be very common.
I made a 2 liter yeast starter a couple days before brewing my NB Dead Ringer kit. Since this was a bigger yeast starter than I am accustomed to doing I assumed it would be best to bring the wort volume to around 4.5 gallons after cooldown, since the 2 liter starter should have brought it to my 5 gallon mark. Without thinking, I took my gravity reading before pitching the yeast, even though there was no way it could have reached my target gravity, being at only 4.5 gallons. Dead Ringer's target OG is 1.067 and I came up with 1.076. I'm unsure why most directions tell you to take the reading before pitching yeast, but I'm just assuming it is to avoid infections? Anyway, I'm wondering how I can counteract this in the future. Do I just get a reading right after pitching? Or do I bring the wort to 5 gallons before pitching the starter, regardless of it's size?
Also, is it necessary to factor in the DME I used in the starter to get a more accurate ABV estimation for the final product? I've done a starter with all three of my batches so far, but it's still sort of unknown territory to me. I've done a little research but haven't found a good resource for starter info. Any help in this matter would be appreciated!
I made a 2 liter yeast starter a couple days before brewing my NB Dead Ringer kit. Since this was a bigger yeast starter than I am accustomed to doing I assumed it would be best to bring the wort volume to around 4.5 gallons after cooldown, since the 2 liter starter should have brought it to my 5 gallon mark. Without thinking, I took my gravity reading before pitching the yeast, even though there was no way it could have reached my target gravity, being at only 4.5 gallons. Dead Ringer's target OG is 1.067 and I came up with 1.076. I'm unsure why most directions tell you to take the reading before pitching yeast, but I'm just assuming it is to avoid infections? Anyway, I'm wondering how I can counteract this in the future. Do I just get a reading right after pitching? Or do I bring the wort to 5 gallons before pitching the starter, regardless of it's size?
Also, is it necessary to factor in the DME I used in the starter to get a more accurate ABV estimation for the final product? I've done a starter with all three of my batches so far, but it's still sort of unknown territory to me. I've done a little research but haven't found a good resource for starter info. Any help in this matter would be appreciated!