Yeast starters in general

[BohWarden]

I am new to home brewing and have only brewed two batches so far. First was a kolsch that turned out pretty darn good and I just put a pumpkin spice porter in the primary. Neither time did I use a yeast starter. The kolsch had a vigorous fermentation whereas the porter is taking its sweet time. I haven't taken any gravity readings since the OG 5 days ago. Just wondering how useful a yeast starter is and if it should always be employed.

Thanks!

 

[Warthaug]

Unless using dry yeast, starters are generally considered necessary. White labs & wyeast both provide ~100 billion cells, which is ~1/2 (ales) to ~1/4 (lagers) the recommended amount of yeast for average-strengthen 5 gallon batches. A starter can get you upto proper pitching numbers, which helps avoid off-flavours and prolonged fermentations.

Bryan

 

[flars]

..also with using starters you can ferment at lower temperatures, to prevent some off flavors, and still reach a good FG.

 

[Cyclman]

Starters are never necessary. You can go to Mrmalty.com and it will tell you how many vials or packs you need to buy to pitch.

What a starter does is turn a single yeast pack into multiple ones by doing a mini-beer and growing the number of yeast cells you have. It is in essence, a cheap way to get more yeast.

The main reason people don't do starters with dry yeast is it is cheap, whereas liquid yeast is expensive. Starters save money, simply put. Stir plates grow the yeast more effectively, which is why they are a good investment for a brewer too.

 

[eltorrente]

I like to do starters because it gives the yeast a good head start and the fermentation starts quicker. The necessity is completely overblown, though.

If you read some websites and posts, you'd think you need 2liters of yeast slurry otherwise you are going to ruin your beer - which is complete, and utter BS.

As long as you've aerated your wort properly, you can pitch a single vile of yeast with no starter in high gravity beer, and it will ferment to it's expected FG no problem. It will take a little longer though, but still - don't get too hung up on "yeast starter calculators" and stuff like that. The yeast will reproduce and end up with the amount necessary to finish the beer properly. All it needs is nutrients and oxygen, and it will get the job done.

That being said - I would recommend making starters just because they kick off quickly and have enough cells right off the bat to get things going. I don't mean to make crazy amounts of yeast slurry, though - like is often recommended - just cook up some DME and ferment it in a 2L erlenmeyer flask, and that is plenty for any batch.

If you don't feel like doing starters though - don't do them. Just make sure you take the extra few minutes to aerate your wort properly. Don't get hung up on the need for starters.

There are many things that people fret over that is completely unnecessary - like hot-side aeration, secondary fermenters and trub, and the huge amounts of yeast *allegedly* necessary for high gravity batches.

 

[bigbeergeek]

I've been doing a lot of no chill-batches with micro starters lately. Case in point: a recent Belgian pale ale.

As I collected my fly sparge runnings I monitor the gravity occasionally with a refrac. Then the runnings are in the 1.035-1.045 range, I collect two pints worth of wort into a medium sized saucepan. I add a pinch of yeast nutrient, boil for five minutes and cover the pot with an oversized sanitized lid. While the rest of the wort is boiled and hopped conventionally and allowed to cool for 24 hours, the two pints of low gravity wort in the small saucepan cools to room temperature in about half the time. I pitch the (typically rinsed/reused) yeast into the small saucepan and let it go for 8-12 hours before dumping the whole lot into the fermentor of aerated, cooled not-chill wort. Works great for a lazy brewer like myself. No extra time invested in a starter and I at least get the benefit of "waking up the yeast" before it hits the full batch.

 

[acidrain]

I'm cheap, so instead of buying two packs, I do a starter... always.
Taking 2L of runnings is good, but what I do is make a 5 gallon batch from 8lbs of two-row, freeze 2 L ea. in two-gallon freezer bags, and pull one out when I need it.

 

[ny101]

There are a few variables to look at:

1) How viable is the yeast you're using? (depends on storage temp, age, ect...)
2) How much yeast do you need for your gravity?
3) How much yeast do you need for your type of yeast? (ale/lager)
4) Do you want esters caused by under pitching? (good for some styles, not for others)
5) Are you willing to risk off-flavors caused by under-pitching/over-pitching? (this seems random to me, but does happen)
6) And ultimately: Do you want good beer, reproducible beer, or to "just make beer"?

When I first started out, I got lucky and even though I under-pitched I had good beer most of the time.
When I wanted to reproduce my results... the next beer would always taste good, but have a different profile than what I did before.

Now that I have nailed down my procedure for pitching rates and other yeast practices, my beers are much more reproducible.

People tend to ignore yeast practices, but in my experience, you can have 2 identical grain bills, the same temp, same everything else, but if the yeast is different (in amount, type, generation ect...) you will get very noticeably different beer!

 

[dhotnisky]

I like http://yeastcalc.com/ it gives you some different options from MrM

 

[Xpertskir]

95% of the people on here who actually make great beer will point to 2 things that make the biggest difference

1. Ferm Temps
2. Pitching the appropriate cell count of healthy yeast cells.


When it comes down to it you can screw up most of the brewing process pretty badly(except sanitation) and still turn out good beer with just those two things.

Use yeastcalc.com or mrmalty.com for cell count estimates


So yes...it's important and you are doing everyone who drinks your beer a disservice by not paying attention to this aspect of brewing, because your beer could be better.