Hot wort and yeast

[AQUILAS]

I got to talking to a friend about homebrewing and we got to talking about hot wort and yeast.

Earlier today, he said he was getting set to make a starter. Boiled 150g of DME in 1.5L of water. All was fine and well during the boil. He made an ice bath to cool the wort and as it cooled, he decided to do some cleaning. He said he lost track of time and when he came back to his cooling pot, the pot was warmish-cool to the touch and when he gave it a stir, there was no steam escaping. So he poured it into his flask and pitched the yeast. He said he noticed the flask seemed a bit warm when he was adjusting the flask onto the stir plate.

He didn't seem too worried, but I told him although yeast is pretty resilient and they're probably fine, they could produce off flavors that he may not want in the beer. Again, he wasn't worried and said that he decants most of the beer off before pitching and he only pitches the yeast slurry/cake.

My question is, when he makes his batch later this week, will those off flavors created in the starter carry on over to the batch even though he's just pitching the yeast??

 

[MaxStout]

If he decants most of the spent wort, there shouldn't be a problem with off-flavors. A few ounces of starter wort aren't likely to affect 5 gallons of beer.

 

[AQUILAS]

If he decants most of the spent wort, there shouldn't be a problem with off-flavors. A few ounces of starter wort aren't likely to affect 5 gallons of beer.

Thanks. I'll let him know that.

I guess he woke up today with a different outlook. Now he's thinking he probably did kill the yeast. He told me he checked the starter this morning before heading out for work and it didn't look as milky as his other starters and had no smell of fermentation/beer. He said he's going to stop by the lhbs after work and get another vial of yeast.

Should he pitch it directly into that starter or should he just create a new starter altogether?

 

[m00ps]

I would just pitch the vial, its nto ideal, but the lag time from that will be better than the days to get the starter going with the wort vulnerable. Maybe pitch 2 vials

I think youd need to be a decent amount over 100 to kill the yeast. If it was just warm and not hot its probably fine

in the future, definitely make the starter at least 1 day beforehand. I like to do 4 days with the last 24hrs for it to settle for decanting

 

[donk5]

I would make a new starter. I did the same thing on accident and killed the yeast. You do not want dead yeast pitched into a batch of beer as autolysis is nasty.

 

[AQUILAS]

I would just pitch the vial, its nto ideal, but the lag time from that will be better than the days to get the starter going with the wort vulnerable. Maybe pitch 2 vials

I think youd need to be a decent amount over 100 to kill the yeast. If it was just warm and not hot its probably fine

in the future, definitely make the starter at least 1 day beforehand. I like to do 4 days with the last 24hrs for it to settle for decanting

Yeah normally I make my starters a few days before hand. 24-48 hours on the stir plate and then 24 hours cold crashing before pitching.

My friend usually does the same. He's made the starter yesterday to possibly brew on Saturday.

Anyways, he said the flask was warm. I asked if he thought it was hot at all and he said it could haev been, but it wasn't too hot to touch.

I told him to go ahead and buy the yeast, but when he gets home to check the starter first as he may not need it. The yeast probably were injured, so the lag time increased and they may have started up once he gets home.

I would make a new starter. I did the same thing on accident and killed the yeast. You do not want dead yeast pitched into a batch of beer as autolysis is nasty.

Good point on the autolysis. If he does need to make a new batch, I'll tell him just to make a new starter.

 

[hopbrad]

if he killed the yeast, wouldnt the new yeast use the dead yeast as nutrient? I tried this for the first time with a Mead/Cyser. Boiled up some bread yeast and slurry from an s-05 cake and pitched it along with more s-05 slurry.

 

[AQUILAS]

if he killed the yeast, wouldnt the new yeast use the dead yeast as nutrient? I tried this for the first time with a Mead/Cyser. Boiled up some bread yeast and slurry from an s-05 cake and pitched it along with more s-05 slurry.

Good point on that nutrient bit. I'm not entirely sure, but hopefully someone can chime in on that. Makes sense though.