Amount of yeast in 1 Liter starter made in growler

[sborz22]

Simple question:

How much yeast should appear in my gallon growler once the 1 Liter starter has finished its job on a 1.030 wort.

I know I am a little light on the wort but that was a miscalculation of using LME compared to DME.

I am literally tossing and turning wondering whether or not my starter produced enough viable yeast for my brew tomorrow.

I used a Wyeast English Ale yeast-full packet. Its supposed to flocculate quickly.

From what I can tell I have maybe a quarter of an inch of yeast on the bottom post cold crashing.

Should I decant the wort and add more wort tomorrow or am I being crazy and everything is in fact fine?

Also- if anybody has a picture of a completed 1 L starter in a growler I would love to see it!

Cheers!

 

[SoCal-Doug]

If your growler showed signs of having an active yeast party (foaming, bubbling, etc), you will be just fine. You can stop tossing and turning. Let it come up to temperature the morning of brew day. Pitch it when your wort is cool enough.

If you want the technical side, your original yeast package probably had around 80 billion cells in it. At 1.030 with no stir plate, you may have bumped it up to 140 to 160 billion. Some people like 180 to 200 for a 5 gallon batch. Pitch it. It will be fine. Worst case, you added 8 to 10 hours to your fermentation time while a few billion more cells divide and conquer.

 

[sborz22]

If your growler showed signs of having an active yeast party (foaming, bubbling, etc), you will be just fine. You can stop tossing and turning.

Let it come up to temperature the morning of brew day. Pitch it when your wort is cool enough.

If you want the technical side, your original yeast package probably had around 80 billion cells in it. At 1.030 with no stir plate, you may have bumped it up to 140 to 160 billion. Some people like 180 to 200 for a 5 gallon batch. Pitch it. It will be fine.

I should have added that I did not see a lot of activity in the growler(however it is a brown growler and I was using a flashlight behind it to check on it so take that for what it is).

When I swirled the growler it did create some foam action on top but the layer wasn't thick like a nice foamy krausen but it did stick around for awhile.

Sorry, this is brew number 3 for me and its actually my first major concern so far haha.

 

[flars]

Difficult to say what the total number of yeast cells will be. Propagation of new cells depends upon the age/vitality of the yeast used in the starter. A quarter inch of yeast could be enough for a moderate OG beer. You can increase the odds by making a half liter vitality starter tomorrow morning. Decant the spent starter wort and add the new half liter of wort when both are at room temperature or at least not more than a 10°F temperature difference. The vitality starter should have your yeast active by the time your wort is ready.

This pitch rate/starter calculator may help relieve some worry. Enter your numbers for the pitch rate you need and an estimate of what you have now.
http://www.brewunited.com/yeast_calculator.php

 

[SoCal-Doug]

Here's the deal... Had you done NO starter and just pitched your package of yeast into the fermenter... It would have worked 100% perfectly. Depending on the recipe and the yeast, a seasoned guru taster might (keyword: might) be able to tell the yeast was slightly "stressed". You must have increased the cell count unless it rotted and died (very foul smell in that case) or the yeast was dead on arrival. The biggest thing with starters is the amount of time the cells need to multiply enough to deal with all that sweet wort. More initial cells, faster start, faster finish. It's a math thing.

Some strains of yeast go full jihad bazerk in the starter. Some just generate a little foam and are visually docile. A visual can't be used as a guide unless you are familiar with that specific yeast.

You will be fine. Enjoy your brew!

 

[sborz22]

Here's the deal... Had you done NO starter and just pitched your package of yeast into the fermenter... It would have worked 100% perfectly. Depending on the recipe and the yeast, a very seasoned guru might be able to tell the yeast was slightly "stressed". You must have increased the cell count unless it rotted and died (very foul smell in that case).

You will be fine. Enjoy your brew!

And with that, I can sleep comfortably! Thanks a bunch!

 

[SoCal-Doug]

I've got an Irish Red Ale fermenting now with WY1084 (Irish Ale Yeast) that was brewed on Sunday. It's Wednesday night and its already gone ferment nuts for a couple days, fallen out and is slowing down now. I had every intention of doing a starter as I normally do but family commitments killed that plan. I said screw it and smacked the pack the morning of brew day, gave it a good shake, set it on the kitchen counter, and pitched it that evening. It's been holding around 68F. Optimum? Not really. Did it hurt the beer? Absolutely not. Some beers however, I would not do that with. What you can get away with very much depends on the type of beer.

 

[radwizard]

If this is your third beer, and you are asking these questions you are on the right track. I agree that your beer is going to be just fine. I would recommend learning a little more about starters and pitching rates before your next brew-- so you can get some better sleep, at the least! Check out one of the online yeast calculators, and play around with it for an afternoon. The "Yeast" book is great as well.

For my first year home brewing I was just tossing in a packet of dry yeast, and really not knowing what the hell was going on in there. I was still turning out some good beers, but everything went to another level when I studied yeast a bit, and focused on fermentation. It sounds like you are light years ahead of where I was on my 3rd beer!!!

Good luck on the brew day!

 

[sborz22]

If this is your third beer, and you are asking these questions you are on the right track. I agree that your beer is going to be just fine. I would recommend learning a little more about starters and pitching rates before your next brew-- so you can get some better sleep, at the least! Check out one of the online yeast calculators, and play around with it for an afternoon. The "Yeast" book is great as well.

For my first year home brewing I was just tossing in a packet of dry yeast, and really not knowing what the hell was going on in there. I was still turning out some good beers, but everything went to another level when I studied yeast a bit, and focused on fermentation. It sounds like you are light years ahead of where I was on my 3rd beer!!!

Good luck on the brew day!

Yeah, unfortunately Ive read some of the yeast book and a few other of Johns book already and have had great starters up until this point.

To be honest, the only reason I was a little nervous about the size of the yeast was because I smashed my hydrometer cylinder and the starter wasn't large enough for me to take a reading in a tall glass. My estimate was 1.030 but I was continuing to add water to my boil due to my boil being way too strong. The wort seemed light but I figured it would be fine. Then when I didn't see much of any activity I kind of freaked.

I'll chalk this one up to a massive rookie mistake haha

If the yeast are on the smaller side, I hope it still turns out drinkable- it's my first beer going into my draft system haha