Does S23 need a starter?

[Beertk]

I am going to brew a lager tomorrow. Has anyone used the S-23 without a starter. I was thinking since it is a dry yeast it may do alright. I don't really have the time to make a starter at the moment and have it propigated by morning. If it is not a good idea maybe I will just do a house pale with nottinghams. anyway...

 

[TexLaw]

Nope. No starter. At least, that's what I understand. I've never used S-23, but I've been talking to a lot of people about dry yeasts and listening quite a bit on this forum about them, and I can't recall anyone saying they needed a starter.


TL

 

[Beertk]

Yeah, I know that's the case with the ales I was a little concerned with the lager yeast

 

[Evan!]

From what I understand about the way dry yeast (ale or lager) works, starters can actually be detrimental to their development, and thus your beer. All you need to do is rehydrate it so as to minimize the stress of the hydration process once it's pitched. Boil about a half-pint of water for 15 mins, cool it down below 90f and put it in a sanitized jar. Pitch the sachet into it, put the lid on, and swirl it around. Swirl again every 30 minutes or so until you can look through the bottom of the jar and not see any granules. Pour that whole deal into the wort.

 

[FlyGuy]

Nope, no starters with dry yeast. Even for lagers. Just be SURE to rehydrate properly. And depending on the volume and gravity of your brew, you might need to pitch more than one pouch. See the Pitching Rate Calculator at MrMalty.com to figure it out (don't forget to set the first switch from Ale to Lager).

 

[Bobby_M]

Rehydrate with 90F water for 30 minutes, stir it up and then acclimate it to the wort temp by putting a small amount of the wort into the yeast slurry.

Just a word of warning, while I use S23 all the time and like it for the convenience, you have to pitch it into relatively cold wort, under 60F or you're going to get a lot of ale character. If you pitch between 50-60F, you'll get the clean lager character and you likely will not have to do a diacytel rest.