Washed yeast starter question...

So after washing yeast for the first time the other week, I decided to pitch a starter, just to make sure that I did in fact harvest some viable yeast cells. My question now, is how can I make sure that my new starter is actually viable and large enough to be pitchable? My washed yeast jars had very little in the bottom, which was slightly concerning to me, but not overly alarming. My starter which I pitched last night was 3 cups of water and 3oz of DME put into a growler with an airlock. It is bubbling now, but not crazy active. Am I worrying too much about this or should I not trust the washed yeast?

 

Washed yeast is fine to use, a starter is always advised, as without one you risk under pitching and low attenuation. Personally I've used washed yeast up to 4 generations, but have heard of others going to 6 or 7. Everything should be fine, check out mrmalty for amounts of yeast if your still worried.

 

Yes, I am not so worried about using washed yeast in general, more so about using my washed yeast, if that makes sense lol.

I am mostly concerned with making sure that I have a high enough cell count in the slurry, and that they are active enough to start and carry out fermentation.

I suppose that I can always pitch it and as a worst case scenario I would have to re-pitch fresh yeast if the fermentation fails, correct?

 

Yes you could do that if needed. With airlock activity in your starter it is a pretty safe bet your yeast are viable though. Www.mrmalty.com has yeast pitching calculators that include options for slurry.

 

What do you mean by "very little in the bottom"? I have some washed yeast in half pint jars that only take up maybe a 1cm layer at the bottom (if that), which I guess doesn't look like much but it's definitely enough to do a pitchable starter in one step.

 

A few other questions:

I have read lots of people suggesting to use foil instead of an airlock. Does that not pose a risk for an infection? That seems awfully dangerous to me, but I'd love to be proven wrong about that.

Also, if I wanted to ramp up a starter and pitch wort to it twice, if I Built my first starter an let it go, then cold crash and decant so I can add more wort, wouldn't I be losing some of the more flocculant yeast when I decant the beer? Is that a valid concern or am I being paranoid about it?

 

Just in case anyone is still interested:

I did a starter this past week with one of the jars of washed yeast that I had doubts about, and it started up and multiplied beautifully. I pitched it into a brew yesterday, and had signs of fermentation in less than an hour! I was pretty surprised with it.

Just goes to show you, RDWHAHB.

 

What about washing yeast and having enough of it to pitch without a starter? LIke how much washed yeast is neccesary to do this? I went from overpitching slurry to underpitching with washed yeast,i think. I had almost a 2 day lag with the washed yeast. With the slurry that i think i overpitched i had about twice the size of yeast cake on the bottom of the fermenter after fermentation.
What is good for washed yeast to pitch direct?, about a finger size on the bottom of a medium jar?