Vince Screwy Brewer Femin
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A typical Saturday brewday for me begins on Monday before sitting down to eat dinner. After picking up the liquid yeast vials needed for my recipe I boil up a batch of yeast starter wort made from extra light dried malt extract and filtered water. My LHBS The Brewers Apprentice stocks Munton's Extra Light DME packaged in convenient one pound plastic bags, they're perfect for making up starter wort on short notice and easy to store on a refrigerator shelf once opened. To make up the wort I use a pretty simple formula of one cup of dried malt extract to two liters of filtered water, it gets me within the 1.030 to 1.040 gravity range every time and it's easy for me to remember. Once you've measured out the water pour it into a small pot and begin heating it up as you stir in the DME making sure to break up any clumps with the back of a long spoon if any form. Let the wort boil for ten or fifteen minutes and prepare an ice bath to cool the finished wort down to pitching temperature then pour the cooled wort into a sanitized Erlenmeyer flask and your done.
I should also point out that the next question that comes to mind, after finding out that the yeast I need is in stock, is how old is the yeast that I'm buying. If you're lucky enough to live within a short driving distance of a LHBS like I am there's a pretty good chance when you drop by in person you'll like the way they store their liquid yeast. If your yeast supplier refrigerates their yeast and their yeast packages aren't too close to the 'Best Used By' dates you should have no problem making a good starter. In really hot weather you can prevent shocking the yeast with too rapid a temperature swing by bringing a small cooler and ice pack with you to transport them home in. I remember being contacted a few years ago by a representative of a formally well known brewing system and ingredient supplier about the deal he would give me on buying vials of liquid yeast that were more than a month past their 'Best Used By' date, in heat of August too no less!
Think temperature and age when buying your liquid yeast because the best yeast to use hasn't been frozen or stored at or above room temperature for any length of time. If you're ordering liquid yeast and having it shipped long distances in either weather extreme make sure the supplier packs the yeast in an insulated container to prevent it from freezing or baking while on its way to you. Temperature extremes and excessively long storage times kill yeast cells and to ferment our beer efficiently we need as many healthy viable cells as possible. That's where the benefits of making a yeast starter, rather than pitching a vial of yeast directly into our beer, can really be appreciated. If after spinning a yeast starter on a stir plate there's hardly any krausen forming after the first twelve hours it's an indication that the yeast you used had a very low cell count and would probably benefit from making a step starter to build up the initial cell count.
To calculate the cell count needed to ferment a beer I first enter the estimated original gravity of the wort my recipe will make and the estimated final gravity. There are plenty of yeast pitching rate calculators out there so pick one that works best for you and stick with it. The calculator will estimate the number of cells needed to ferment the beer according to the gravity, size of the batch and the type of yeast. Nearly all pitching rate calculators double the Ale pitching rate when calculating the cell count for a Lager yeast. There are also hybrid strains of yeast like White Labs WLP810 - San Francisco Lager Yeast that are true Lager strains but fermented at or near Ale temperatures, for these I've used one and a half times the cells used for fermenting an Ale and have gotten excellent results. I use the fairly unscientific method of estimating that each vial of fresh yeast holds 100 billion cells and when spun on a stir plate in a two liter starter wort it yields 220 billion cells. I haven't run into any brewers yet that have been accused of over pitching their fermentations but I have read a lot about those who have inadvertently managed to under pitch their fermentations at some point and I believe that's much more likely to occur.
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Vince "Screwy Brewer" Feminella is one of the many bloggers and industry pro's making HomeBrewTalk their home online. For more from Vince please be sure to visit his blog, TheScrewyBrewer.com.
I should also point out that the next question that comes to mind, after finding out that the yeast I need is in stock, is how old is the yeast that I'm buying. If you're lucky enough to live within a short driving distance of a LHBS like I am there's a pretty good chance when you drop by in person you'll like the way they store their liquid yeast. If your yeast supplier refrigerates their yeast and their yeast packages aren't too close to the 'Best Used By' dates you should have no problem making a good starter. In really hot weather you can prevent shocking the yeast with too rapid a temperature swing by bringing a small cooler and ice pack with you to transport them home in. I remember being contacted a few years ago by a representative of a formally well known brewing system and ingredient supplier about the deal he would give me on buying vials of liquid yeast that were more than a month past their 'Best Used By' date, in heat of August too no less!
Think temperature and age when buying your liquid yeast because the best yeast to use hasn't been frozen or stored at or above room temperature for any length of time. If you're ordering liquid yeast and having it shipped long distances in either weather extreme make sure the supplier packs the yeast in an insulated container to prevent it from freezing or baking while on its way to you. Temperature extremes and excessively long storage times kill yeast cells and to ferment our beer efficiently we need as many healthy viable cells as possible. That's where the benefits of making a yeast starter, rather than pitching a vial of yeast directly into our beer, can really be appreciated. If after spinning a yeast starter on a stir plate there's hardly any krausen forming after the first twelve hours it's an indication that the yeast you used had a very low cell count and would probably benefit from making a step starter to build up the initial cell count.
To calculate the cell count needed to ferment a beer I first enter the estimated original gravity of the wort my recipe will make and the estimated final gravity. There are plenty of yeast pitching rate calculators out there so pick one that works best for you and stick with it. The calculator will estimate the number of cells needed to ferment the beer according to the gravity, size of the batch and the type of yeast. Nearly all pitching rate calculators double the Ale pitching rate when calculating the cell count for a Lager yeast. There are also hybrid strains of yeast like White Labs WLP810 - San Francisco Lager Yeast that are true Lager strains but fermented at or near Ale temperatures, for these I've used one and a half times the cells used for fermenting an Ale and have gotten excellent results. I use the fairly unscientific method of estimating that each vial of fresh yeast holds 100 billion cells and when spun on a stir plate in a two liter starter wort it yields 220 billion cells. I haven't run into any brewers yet that have been accused of over pitching their fermentations but I have read a lot about those who have inadvertently managed to under pitch their fermentations at some point and I believe that's much more likely to occur.
***
Vince "Screwy Brewer" Feminella is one of the many bloggers and industry pro's making HomeBrewTalk their home online. For more from Vince please be sure to visit his blog, TheScrewyBrewer.com.