Cheerios Yeast Starter!

[Denny]

I heard that if you take your yeast out of the fridge or freezer and plop it into something 30-40 deg warmer, it can actually KILL some of the cells through shock.

Not true. As long as you're pitching colder yeast into warmer wort, it's actually beneficial. Once the yeast start warming up, they start consuming their glycon reserves. You want that to happen in the wort, not before the yeast reaches the wort. I've been taking yeast, both dry and liquid, out of the fridge just minutes before pitching for years and hundreds of batches. It works great.

 

[rockfish42]

I'm not completely convinced a starter with dry is as terrible as implied in all situations. Personally I add nutrient and run it full duration on a stir plate and I've had clearly better results with at least several batches. But I also boil similar DME as the beer it's going into and I don't personally decant anymore. Doesn't seem to make a difference but I do flame the rim out of superstition I guess.

Isn't it just cheaper to buy two packets of yeast and rehydrate them?

 

[Accidic]

If you have a LHBS perhaps. I do a variety of smaller batches and I sometimes start before realizing I'm low on the yeast I want to use.

Alternatively, try working through 2lbs of muscadines then realizing you have maybe a 1g batch worth of yeast and 20 lbs of perry pears warming in the oven for the lot of it.

The nearest HBS is ~2hrs away with questionable legality tho so I usually choose to mail order.

 

[Accidic]

Oh, and I use nutrient & apple juice for starters for wine with great effect.

For beer starters I try to keep myself in dme of varying types. I've not found good subs but Goya was ok diluted 1:1 and under $1 a bottle.

 

[squirrelly]

To say that we use dry yeast to save money seems kind of silly. Who actually entered this hobby to save money? If that was the case after equipment, time, ingredients, more time, a few more equipment upgrades, and time spent reading every book on the subject and pouring through forums like this, I'd just as soon go buy a Duvel.

A lot people I speak to in my local club use dry yeast either because they have been brewing since homebrewing was legalized, and it was all that was available at the time. People seem to get set in their ways; or there are strains that some people swear are more easily obtainable than liquid.

I just have a hard time believing there is anyone who entered this hobby to simply save money. I personally brew to compete and learn as much as I can about brewing and judging. I guess we all have our own reasons though.

 

[rockfish42]

To say that we use dry yeast to save money seems kind of silly.

1 packets of S-05 for ~3 dollars or 5.75 for WLP001 plus 2 dollars for the 1/2 lb of DME for a 2 quart starter without a stir plate. The only real difference for me comes down to whether or not I have the time to make a starter and if I'm getting it shipped to me in a hot month. Storage is another concern of course dry yeast can happily sit in a freezer for a year plus. If I had more time to brew I'd probably stick with dry yeasts more often.

 

[squirrelly]

So basically 8.00 to ensure you have healthy viable yeast. That seems quite reasonable to me, though I usually buy 5 pound sacks of DME.

Here in CA a six pack of good craft beer is about 10.00 with taxes. I would gladly drop that on each batch to ensure I don't have yeast problems.