First time stepping up a starter. Have I done it correctly?

[jetmac]

A week ago, I pitched 2 smack packs of Wyeast 1056 into a 2L starter . I had one pack about 2 months old and 1 pack about 2 weeks old. I didn't get a chance to brew so I left it in the fridge. Today I made another 2L of starter wort, decanted the first starter and poured the newly made wort onto the yeast. On the stir plate. I will let it ferment out at least 24 hours then chill it until time to pitch this Saturday.

Does that sound about right?

I'm hoping I don't over pitch. With the first pack having about 40% viability and the second pack about 85% viability and sitting in the fridge a week I'm figuring I will have a good amount of yeast but not too much.

 

[djsethall]

Just a quick question, where are you getting your viability numbers? Did you do a cell count?

 

[caver95]

That would be rather tedious.

 

[jetmac]

Mr Malty

 

[jetmac]

:bump:

 

[BigBadMikey]

I have done exactly what you did except with Wyeast 1084 Irish Ale, except it was for a 11 gallon batch. Fermentation was rapid and was to target gravity in 5 days. It has been sitting in the yeast cake for three weeks and I will keg it in two weeks. The sample that I took for gravity reading tasted very good. Just waiting for the yeast to drop. 1084 flocs well...

 

[djsethall]

IMHO, you truly don't know how much yeast you have unless you were to do a cell count with a hemocytometer and a microscope. I have invested in both and I gotta tellya, it really makes a difference when figuring yeast pitching rates.

 

[optimatored]

A week ago, I pitched 2 smack packs of Wyeast 1056 into a 2L starter . I had one pack about 2 months old and 1 pack about 2 weeks old. I didn't get a chance to brew so I left it in the fridge. Today I made another 2L of starter wort, decanted the first starter and poured the newly made wort onto the yeast. On the stir plate. I will let it ferment out at least 24 hours then chill it until time to pitch this Saturday.

Does that sound about right?

I'm hoping I don't over pitch. With the first pack having about 40% viability and the second pack about 85% viability and sitting in the fridge a week I'm figuring I will have a good amount of yeast but not too much.

i would have pitched the 2L starter into something larger... like 4-6L... you may not have had enough food to really get the growth you were looking for... but no worries, you will have fresh yeast and should get a good quick fermentation.

 

[beowulf]

I'm not sure how concerned I would be about over-pitching. I regularly rack on top of 2-3qt yeastcakes and have yet to run into any problems with fermentation...

 

[jetmac]

i would have pitched the 2L starter into something larger... like 4-6L... you may not have had enough food to really get the growth you were looking for... but no worries, you will have fresh yeast and should get a good quick fermentation.

Hmmm..Hadn't thought I would not have enough.
Looking at this chart from a Yeast Book. Say my smack packs totaled 120billion cells(80%+40% viability) When pitched into a 2L starter it should replicate to about 240billion cells. I'm rough guessing based on pitching a single smack pack into a 2L Starter = 200billion cells. So given a week in the fridge I would assume some of those have died. So pitching roughly 220billion cells into a 2L starter should replicate to roughly 360billion. I come to that conclusion based on the chart. 2 smack packs into a 2L starter= about 1.5x replication.
Now looking at the chart pitching that 220billion into a 4L starter would yeild a replication of about 440bil cells.

 

[kyle6286]

Does this look ok? I made my first starter today and put it in an empty wine glass using only 2 cups of water and a half cup of extra light DME. I used a wyeast activator. It's going crazy right now! The krausen was coming up to the airlock so I took it off. I didn't have a blowoff tube sanitized so I just put some sanitized aluminum foil. Hope this is ok.

 

[jetmac]

Does this look ok? I made my first starter today and put it in an empty wine glass using only 2 cups of water and a half cup of extra light DME. I used a wyeast activator. It's going crazy right now! The krausen was coming up to the airlock so I took it off. I didn't have a blowoff tube sanitized so I just put some sanitized aluminum foil. Hope this is ok.

Really? Have you not read anything on how to make a starter.

 

[kyle6286]

Really? Have you not read anything on how to make a starter.

I've read plenty on how to make a starter. I also talked to the owner of my lhbs today and he said it was fine. I don't know why you'd make a comment like that. I boiled my dme, sanitized everything, and am now waiting 24 hours until I pitch my yeast. The only reason I commented is because this is my first starter and I used a wine glass instead of a 2 quart mason jar since I didn't have anything else. Thanks for the help though!

 

[rico567]

IMHO, you truly don't know how much yeast you have unless you were to do a cell count with a hemocytometer and a microscope. I have invested in both and I gotta tellya, it really makes a difference when figuring yeast pitching rates.

To respond to this, I must first say, parenthetically, that I have some background in microbiology and know what this technology is, and, basically, how it would be used to perform a cell count. The second thing is that if I thought I needed to do this to determine the correct amount of yeast to pitch, the last batch of beer I brewed would be.....my last batch.

 

[jetmac]

I've read plenty on how to make a starter. I also talked to the owner of my lhbs today and he said it was fine. I don't know why you'd make a comment like that. I boiled my dme, sanitized everything, and am now waiting 24 hours until I pitch my yeast. The only reason I commented is because this is my first starter and I used a wine glass instead of a 2 quart mason jar since I didn't have anything else. Thanks for the help though!

Sorry to be so harsh I had a few in me.

 

[djsethall]

IMHO, you truly don't know how much yeast you have unless you were to do a cell count with a hemocytometer and a microscope. I have invested in both and I gotta tellya, it really makes a difference when figuring yeast pitching rates.

To respond to this, I must first say, parenthetically, that I have some background in microbiology and know what this technology is, and, basically, how it would be used to perform a cell count. The second thing is that if I thought I needed to do this to determine the correct amount of yeast to pitch, the last batch of beer I brewed would be.....my last batch.

That's why I put the IMHO disclaimer on it. One of the reasons I went to all grain is so that I can have more control over my process. No buying extract and mixing it with water and caling it beer for me. Yes technically extract water is beer, but I want control over all flavor profiles. Thats me, not you or anyone else. I'm just a hypomaniac that enjoys microbiology, electronics design and principle, mycology, organic chemistry etc etc. A program that runs numbers is just that, a program that runs numbers. Mr Malty doesn't take into consideration all aspects of yeast. Mr Malty basically takes an educated guess on what numbers you put into it. I am anal about my beer, just ask my wife. Does Mr Malty ask for what temp you fermented your beer at for your yeast slurry? Does Mr Malty do a cell count for you? The answers are no to both. If Mr Malty works for you then great, it works for you. I just prefer more control and knowledge about my processes than the average brewer. I don't brew to relax, I brew to make the best beer I can. Thats my rant for the day, didn't mean to hijack a thread. IMHO is in my honest opinion, which is just that, my opinion. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion still right?

In order to answer the OP, it looks great, lots of vitality. If, however you were to invest some time and money into a magnetic stir plate (mine cost $10) then you would have less of a problem with the krausen as it mixed back in via the whirlpool created by the stir plate.