Fresh Rinsed Yeast - Starter?

[tagz]

I washed some 1450 about 2 weeks ago. I have about 100 ml. Mr. Malty seems to say that an average slurry concentration is about 2 billion cells per ml. That should put me at 200 billion cells.. or with lower viability (70%) about 150. I need about 150 for my next batch.

If I make a small half liter starter, that puts my yeast count over 200. Am I better off just pitching what I have? Or, doing a small starter to get the yeast active? Thoughts?

 

[AmandaK]

Depends on the gravity of the beer you are making.

1.050? I'd just pitch the slurry. Higher? Make a starter for sure.

 

[tagz]

Its a pale ale at about 1.055. I don't mind making a starter, I just don't want to over-pitch.

 

[stjackson]

I almost always make some sort of starter. If it's a smaller beer, it'll be a starter just big enough to wake up the yeast and get them going so there is as small a lag time as possible; I'll let it go overnight and pitch it the next morning/afternoon. If I need a lot of growth, I'll make a bigger starter and let it go for 24 hours or so and maybe even step up if I need more.

 

[AmandaK]

Its a pale ale at about 1.055. I don't mind making a starter, I just don't want to over-pitch.

Then try a 1L starter.

 

[MrTheKing]

A lot of times i'm washing yeast from my last batch on brew day - if that's the case or i'm brewing the day after washing i'll just calculate how much slurry I need and pitch it straight in. The way I see it, that yeast has just been in a "big" 5 gallon starter. Been working great for me. If it's a few days or more out from when I washed it then i'll make a starter, or if i'm washing from a primary that's been sitting there for quite a while. I typically have pretty quick turnover so the yeast haven't been sitting in the primary for months on end - usually just a week or two.

 

[diS]

Its a pale ale at about 1.055. I don't mind making a starter, I just don't want to over-pitch.

Over pitching is usually better than under pitching (excluding some beers like hefeweizen).
I would make starter just to be on safe side. Also, starter will wake up yeast and you"ll have fermentation with shorten lag phase.

 

[Peppers16]

I almost always make some sort of starter. If it's a smaller beer, it'll be a starter just big enough to wake up the yeast and get them going so there is as small a lag time as possible

Apparently we brewers can place a bit too much emphasis on lag time. If you've got pitchable cell counts a starter just seems like unnecessary effort?

 

[diS]

Apparently we brewers can place a bit too much emphasis on lag time. If you've got pitchable cell counts a starter just seems like unnecessary effort?

Importance of lag phase length is related with contamination.
Most homebrewed beers have some level of contamination, but with short lag phase yeast quickly creates enviroment that is undesirable for other microbes which can cause estery, lactic, phenolic or other unwanted character in beer.