Approximately How Many mL of Yeast in a starter

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jamesseth

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So, I'm trying to get into yeast banking to save some money on each brew. I plan to have around 3-4 strains available throughout the year. I just made a starter from Wyeast's golden strong strain and let it ferment out, then I threw it in the fridge. I've only had it in the fridge for about 12 hours, but was wondering how much usable slury people get from their starter batches. I made a 2.5 qt starter from the smack pack and am still waiting for the yeast to drop out more. Thank you for your insight! Just trying to plan ahead and see how many 15ml vials I will end up using.
 
It depends on the size of your starter, the type of aeration method you use, and the strain of yeast; temperature has a bit part to play as well. My suggestion is to pick a set of variables and run with it. Measure the slurry when it's done fermenting, this will give you a baseline for future starters.
 
Measuring yeast is a difficult task, most people leave it sit for a day or so and let it compact a little and measure the amount of solids or use the volume method based on a known method ie consistent OG, step size and aeration method you can guesstimate the amount of yeast from the quantity of wort used to make the last step. If you want an accurate count get a hemacytometer and count the yeast in a diluted sample under a microscope and then multiply out from the size of the sample.

I personally use the consistent method and base yeast numbers of the size of my starter.

Clem
 
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