How early to make a yeast starter?

[mosquitocontrol]

So I hate to be another person asking simple yeast starter questions... but the searching is what made me confused.

I've seen conflicting times for yeast starters. How to brew recommends about 4-5 days prior to brew day. Most of what I've read on here says anywhere between 1-3 days. How do I know when its ready?
When the airlock on my growler calms down? Is there anything such as yeast being in a starter too long?

Last question, do I need to acclimate the yeast in the vial to room temperature before adding it to the cooled wort? Or can i put the refrigerated yeast directly in the 70-80F starter?

 

[Displaced MassHole]

It all depends on how much yeast you need, which depends on the original gravity and volume of beer you intend to make. I usually do my normal starters (for beers with an OG under 1.050) the day before. Anything higher than that and I'll give it two days.

I always let my refrigerated vials sit on the counter for at least 3 hours before pitching. The temperature shock can piss off the little yeasties.

 

[BeerPressure]

Sometimes i will make mine earlier and step up a little more and have it in the fridge til the day of the brew.

 

[truckmann]

Like said above I like to let my yeast warm up a bit before pitching and tend to make my starters the night before. I'm brewing 10 gallon batches though. If I were still brewing 5 gallon batches I wouldn't bother. At least with they Wyeast Smack packs anyway, just smack them when you start brewing and it's good to go when you are ready to pitch.

Also one thing to consider that most people seem to ignore is that some beers benefit from reproductive phase of the yeast. It seems people always want to pitch a large amount of yeast for a "clean" beer... however some beers really can benefit from the flavors produced during the reproductive phase of the yeast produced by pitching a smaller amount of yeast.

 

[JMSetzler]

Also one thing to consider that most people seem to ignore is that some beers benefit from reproductive phase of the yeast. It seems people always want to pitch a large amount of yeast for a "clean" beer... however some beers really can benefit from the flavors produced during the reproductive phase of the yeast produced by pitching a smaller amount of yeast.

Isn't there going to be a rather large reproduction of yeast once the starter is pitched, whether it be a large or small starter? A larger starter, in terms of a 5 or 10 gallon batch is still significantly small to what will be produced in the fermenter...

 

[SpanishCastleAle]

Wyeast and White Labs both have some info on their sites so you should probably read that. Wyeast says that: Because starters are inoculated at high cell densities, growth is usually maximized within 24-36 hours. So I think the 4-5 days number comes from the occasional slow starter.

I've pitched at various stages of the starter's life and it seems as long as the starter has started fermenting and is going pretty well then you'll be fine. You can go all the way out to a few days after it stops fermenting. If you pitch any decent starter into properly cooled and aerated wort then you should get a fairly quick start. Try to make the wort temp and starter temp (or starter wort and vial temps) as close as possible so when you pitch the yeast there's no thermal shock.

 

[mosquitocontrol]

Well I did my first yeast starter yesterday. Came home from work today and its bubbling away. Looks like I did pretty well. Now just have to make 1 or 2 more starter vessels. Need to find some free growlers somewhere. Just drilled a hole in the screw-on top, put in a grommet that they use on simple primaries and stuck in an airlock.

Sorry, I'm proud of my baby steps.

Thanks for all the help and advice on this one!

 

[Displaced MassHole]

Looks pretty good, now you just need to get yourself a stir-plate.

 

[kendrid]

I just did my first starter a few days ago. I mixed it 48 hours before brewing. Now less than 24 hours later my air lock is going nuts with bubbles every second (sometimes two per second or more). My last batch without a starter was 1 bubble every 2-3 seconds after 48 hours.