Did I ruin my yeast?

[jzamora3]

I'm usually very careful to read things so not sure how this happened. I'm brewing a brown ale tomorrow night so on Tuesday I made a starter for a vial of white labs wlp005. On the white labs website it said use 1/4 cup DME and 1 pint water to activate fresh yeaat. I got the 1 pint right but accidentally added 1/2 cup DME resulting in a gravity higher than the suggested 1.040. Did I ruin the yeast with too strong of a starter?

 

[jekeane]

Did you get activity? Has everything settled out well? Any bad smells? Sulfury?

My guess is you likely stressed the yeast to some degree but if you had fermentation and can see growth you are likely ok.

Some others may have better insight though.

In general for starters I find the 1g DME to 10ml water a little easier to work with / remember (ie 100g dme to 1L)

 

[jzamora3]

Did you get activity? Has everything settled out well? Any bad smells? Sulfury?

My guess is you likely stressed the yeast to some degree but if you had fermentation and can see growth you are likely ok.

Some others may have better insight though.

In general for starters I find the 1g DME to 10ml water a little easier to work with / remember (ie 100g dme to 1L)

I did get some activity yesterday. There was some foam that developed on the top but not too much. I'm assuming the krausen wasn't that impressive because I did have to use a drop of FermCaps to keep the starter from boiling over in my small pot.

It did settle out entirely and I can say I've seen some moderate growth, but nothing too substantial.

Smell is slight sulfury. Also has a strong sweet smell. Much more sweet than sulfury.

 

[jzamora3]

You guys think I'll be okay? Brew day is tonight and I'd rather go buy a new vial on my lunch break than pitch a yeast that's stressed and may cause undesirable flavors

 

[Saboral]

You're probably fine, but if in doubt new yeast is cheaper than an entire wasted batch of ingredients.


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[jzamora3]

Okay, I think I'll do that. My new batch will have an OG of 1.051. A fresh vial of white labs with no starter should be fine right?

 

[MrSnacks]

Just use the yeast. Yeast is an absurdly hardy thing If you're process is so nailed down that you're going to taste off flavors from possibly stressed yeast, kudos. If not, just pitch it and forget about it. The odds that you're going to taste it in the final product are almost nil.

 

[TheZymurgist]

Okay, I think I'll do that. My new batch will have an OG of 1.051. A fresh vial of white labs with no starter should be fine right?

I don't think that's necessary at all. Yes, the yeast was stressed, but if it were me, I would just decant the starter and pitch the yeast. I think you'll still end up with great tasting beer.

 

[rlmiller10]

Okay, I think I'll do that. My new batch will have an OG of 1.051. A fresh vial of white labs with no starter should be fine right?

pitching a single vial with no starter will be under pitching your yeast. This will be more stressful and more likely to give off flavors then pitching the yeast you prepared. I doubt you really stressed the yeast your prepared, it isn't like you had a 1.080 starter gravity.

But if you are worried and want new yeast I would go with dry since you don't have time for a starter. That way you will not be under pitching so much. You could try Safbrew S-33 as a substitute.

 

[TastyAdventure]

I think given these circumstances, the yeast is just fine, probably put off some off flavors in the starter wort. Just decant and pitch!

 

[jzamora3]

Thanks for all the advice! I'm going to go ahead and pitch the yeast I've already prepared. I decanted it now at lunch and there's a nice yeast cake built up. I think I'll be fine

 

[Gameface]

Yeah you'll be fine. The issues with stress were mostly decanted away when you got rid of the starter wort. The only other issue with stressing the yeast is that you probably have a few less viable ones, but still far more than a new vial would have.

 

[joewouldbrew]

I am a brew novice ... Just made a starter for the first time. I accidentally made a starter with og 1.130. I had it on the stir plate for 3 days when it eventually started to foam on top. I pitched it along with a fresh vile of wlp 575 into a 5gal batch of belgian tripel. It is going off in my garage right now. Fingers crossed!!!

Aloha!

 

[eadavis80]

Yikes - no idea how that will work out for you. I've never taken a gravity reading for any starter, but have always just used this 'rule of thumb' I've read and been told by many, including N. Brewer, who I really trust. If the beer is 1.060 or less use 650 ML of water and 1/2 cup of DME for your starter. If it's 1.070 or higher, use 2/3 cup of water and 1L of water for your starter. Guess I'd just split the difference if me beer was between those two gravities. As you probably know, the point of a starter is to ensure a healthy dose of yeast - not stress them prematurely which you might have done given the gravity of that starter! Hope it turns out for you. How much water and DME did you use?