Is my starter OK?

[Sharkness]

Soon Monday I started some Wyeast American Ale II. It was an older package, and the Mr. Malty calculator said it had 3% viability.I had just been agitating it by hand, and took it into the bedroom with me on Monday night. That night the fire went out, and the room got pretty cold. Maybe 50°. I slowly warmed it back up into the mid 60s and agitated it throughout the day yesterday, but there were no obvious signs of life. I figured that either because of the age or the drop in the temperature the yeast wasn't viable at all, and I needed to get a new pack. This morning as soon as I touched it it sprang to life, and produce a nice rich foam as soon as I agitated it. Is it okay to brew with?

 

[johngaltsmotor]

If it was only 3%, are you planning to do a multi-stage starter? I would think that you're still way low on the cell count for a 5g batch.

 

[FiddlersGreen87]

We're not using the term "starter" as a term for a little personal happy time are we?

 

[Sharkness]

The OG I'm brewing is 1.05. Would a multistage be necessary?

 

[RmikeVT]

if there is 3% viability you definitely need to step up a few times. 1 time will probably not be enough.

 

[johngaltsmotor]

I'm not sure how to even determine how many stages you'd need to get from 3% viability to enough cells. Mr Malty says you need 4L of slurry or 11vials of 3%. Somebody with more experience might have a better clue. If it were me I'd go at least another stage (double the volume of your original), then cold crash and look at the volume of sediment. Part of it will be dead yeast cells from straight out of the package, the rest will be newly created cells - you want to make sure you have enough new cells.

 

[Sharkness]

OK... sorry, I'm fairly new to this. When I pitch should I just be using the sludge at the bottom, or the whole volume of the starter?

 

[johngaltsmotor]

As long as you cold crash and/or leave it sit to settle out you just want the sediment. The yeast will fall to the bottom once they have stopped eating the sugars. In a typical starter that happens after about 24hours. The liquid above is now devoid of sugars and would only dilute the wort that you want to ferment.

 

[Sharkness]

OK, that makes sense. I feel like an idiot for pitching the whole thing. So can I just boil up a new volume of sugar for the small layer of sediment that I've got from this 2l batch?

 

[johngaltsmotor]

I don't recall the recommended step size... it might be 2x or 4x or more between steps. So if you did a 2L starter you should do a 1g (4L) for the 2nd stage. But even if you only have room to do another 2L, another stage at that size is better than nothing.

 

[Sharkness]

I can do a 3l pretty easily. I'll boil 3l of LME at 1.03 for 20 minutes, let it cool to about 65-70, pour the liquid off the top of the starter and pour the fresh stuff in. Does that sound right?

 

[johngaltsmotor]

Yeah. If you can estimate the amount of yeast on the bottom in the end you can use Mr Malty's slurry pitch to get a volume estimate. My last repitch was 100ml (just under 1/2 cup) so I would think you'd want a similar volume of yeast sludge at the end of making your starter.
Someone more experienced feel free to correct me if I'm wrong :-D

 

[Sharkness]

This is really helpful. Thank you.

 

[brewkinger]

OK, here is what you want to do....

I am going to try and answer the other side questions as well, but here goes.

1) Under the YEAST/FERMENTATION subforum, there is are multiple threads that pertain to making starters. Check that out for a VERY in depth look at the process.

2) Mr. Malty confuses the $h!t out of me, so I choose the yeast calculator on Brewers Friend. It is just my preference.

3) According to BF, you can do this is 3 steps to build 198 billion cells for a 5.5 gallon batch of 1.050 wort.

Assuming 3% viability in a smack pack of 100 billion cells works out to 3 billion cells to start with.

Step #1: Make a 2L starter of gravity 1.036 by combining 7.2 oz (205.4 grams) of DME and enough water to bring the volume up to 2L.
(A little yeast nutrient and FermCap never hurts either)
You mentioned that you have no problems making a 3L starter, so I assume that you have a 5L flask (or empty growler). If not, then be very careful that when you shake/agitate the starter that it does not erupt all over the place (ask me how I know this....???) This is where the FermCap helps tremendously.
According to BF this should result in growth to 21 billion cells

Swirl/shake/agitate that sucker for 24 hours or so and then stick it in the fridge to cause it to flocculate and settle out.

Remove the starter from the fridge and allow it to warm up (great temp differences cause the yeast to be "shocked" and hurt them)
Think of jumping into really hot water after being in really cold water!!!

Decant (slowly pour the clearish liquid) off from the settled yeast leaving as much of the settled yeast at the bottom with enough liquid to get them back into suspension.

Step #2: Make a 1.5L starter (5.4oz / 154.1 grams) of DME and add the step #1 to this vessel. (REMEMBER THE TEMP DIFFERENCE ADVICE)

Repeat the italicized blue directions from above.
This should build it up to 89 billion cells

Step #3: Make another 1.5L starter (5.4oz / 154.1 grams) of DME

Repeat the steps and this should result in a cell count of 216 billion cells.

When it comes time to pitch it in the beer for real, remember the temperature difference advice.

Decant off enough clear liquid to leave enough to get the yeast in suspension (I personally say screw it at this point and just agitate it all up and dump it in)

Make sense???

 

[Sharkness]

Yes, that's very comprehensive and helpful. Thanks for taking the time for the thorough writeup.