Cream Ale Yeast Starter Yes or NO

[biggubba]

Being very new to this craft, I am wondering if I should make a yeast starter for the cream ale I am going to brew next? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[BrewKnurd]

Being very new to this craft, I am wondering if I should make a yeast starter for the cream ale I am going to brew next? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I vote yes. I use a starter for everything. At the very least, make a small starter to wake them yeasties up.

 

[osagedr]

Use the pitching rate calculator at www.mrmalty.com to help you decide how big a starter to make if you are using liquid yeast.

If you're using dry yeast, don't bother with a starter but you might want to rehydrate your yeast (check manufacturer instructions).

 

[jiggs_casey]

What yeast are you using?

 

[lumpher]

what yeast are you going to use? if dry yeast, it's not worth using a starter; just use 2. if liquid, then yes, a starter is called for

 

[AdamWiz]

I have always made starters for everything I brew, mostly out of paranoia. I figure that a starter takes very little time or effort to make, so why not? That being said, I really doubt that a starter is really necessary most of the time unless you are dealing with a large batch or a really high OG. I just make starters because I always have and don't want to change anything when I have had success this way for so long.

 

[dabeers]

I was wondering this myself. I'm about to make a cream ale using the white labs cream ale blend (I think wlp080 off the top of my head). It is a ale/lager blend and didn't know if the starter would end up favoring production of one of the yeasts. Actually I was probably going to make a starter anyway because I doubt 24ish hours would drastically effect the ratio..... but.... what about washing the yeast after-will I still have a decent blend from the harvested yeast?

 

[AdamWiz]

I was wondering this myself. I'm about to make a cream ale using the white labs cream ale blend (I think wlp080 off the top of my head). It is a ale/lager blend and didn't know if the starter would end up favoring production of one of the yeasts. Actually I was probably going to make a starter anyway because I doubt 24ish hours would drastically effect the ratio....

It just happens that one of the few times I have gone without a starter was using the yeast you are talking about (WLP080). I forgot to make a starter the previous day, but I thought since my OG was only about 1.044(5 gallon batch) that I should be fine just pitching the vial. It worked just as well as any yeast starter I have ever made. I pitched it right before going to bed, and by the time I woke up in the morning the airlock was bubbling like crazy. It took the gravity from 1.044 to 1.009 in about 11 days, and the beer was great. I have also used this same recipe and same yeast with a starter, and the beer was basically the same. So I don't think that a starter messes with the ratio too much, especially if you only do 24 hours as I normally do.

 

[dabeers]

Thanks for the info, and glad to hear the WLP080 preformed well both with and without a starter. I guess we still don't know what yeast the OP was planning on using, as well as his targeted OG. My recipe is shooting for 1.052, if I plan ahead enough ill prob still make a starter, but if the mood strikes me may just pitch. What do people think on washing and reusing the WLP080 yeast blend? I plan on using that for an Oktoberfest and think it would be a good blend to use without ability to truly lager...but wondering if people think both yeasts of a blend will still be present after washing.

 

[biggubba]

Wye yeast American Ale 1050

 

[biggubba]

I checked that out, they recomond a yeast starter for the American Ale Wyeast 1050

 

[Mr_Pear]

Seems like Cream Ale's are the thing to do! I have my WLP 080 bubbling away and I was curious about washing it as well as far as how the blend will hold up through future generations. I'm shooting for something like http://www.yourlittlebeachtown.com/pelican/beer/kiwanda-cream-ale as that's probably the first cream ale I ever tried and it's quite delicious. I ended up doing like 80% 2 row and 20% flaked barley so we'll see how that goes. Good luck with all of your future brews as well!

 

[AdamWiz]

I plan on using that for an Oktoberfest and think it would be a good blend to use without ability to truly lager...

sounds like a good idea to me - I have never had a more lager-like ale than with this yeast. I had several people think that the cream ale I made with it was a lager. As for washing it, I can't be of much help there. I have only recently started washing and reusing yeast, so I never have reused this one. You can always do what I do when in doubt - just give it a try on a small batch to see what happens. If it works out, you can wash it again and use it. If not, you didn't waste much.

 

[lumpher]

no need to do a starter anymore for any 5g batch 1.060 or less. just pitch. if dry yeast, pitch 2 if over 1.060