Is this enough yeast

[johngie]

Been lurking for awhile now, about to do my 6th batch tomorrow

I have harvested the yeast from 2 bottles of Rogue Brutal Bitter and have stepped it up 3 times now.

The picture in the link shows the yeast in a 1L jar with about 500ml of wort (or I guess it's beer now) after being cold crashed overnight.

Is this enough to pitch? I am doing BierMuncher's Captain Hooked on Bitters and thought Pacman would be great in this.

Thoughts?

http://i969.photobucket.com/albums/ae180/johngie/Beer/0305004.jpg

 

[bknifefight]

What is the OG of the beer you want to brew with it? That is an important part of the equation.

 

[johngie]

1.052

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f64/captain-hooked-bitters-red-hook-clone-award-winner-29740/

Thx

 

[bknifefight]

Mr. Malty says for a 1.052 beer you would need a starter about 1.58 liters. You said you have stepped it several times, what was the largest size? Here is a great link for figuring out these things:
http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/calc.html

 

[johngie]

Last step up was 4oz of DME in 500ml in water
Do I just make a starter of 8-10oz of DME and 1.5L of water at this point?

First time harvesting yeast and making a starter.

Thx

 

[Brew-boy]

Use 10g of DME per 100ml of water. For 1.054 I would think you want to been in the 1200-1500ml range starter. So use 150g of DME to 1500ml of water.

 

[johngie]

Yeah, that's what I've done now.

Next question... I am chilling the starter wort now and will add the yeast shortly. Is it enough time for the yeasts to do their thing if I want to brew tomorrow afternoon?

Thanks for the help guys!

 

[bknifefight]

People say that the reproduction phase in a starter has hit it's max in 12 - 18 hours but I always give mine more time. It might not be a bad idea to wait until Sunday but that is just me and my paranoid self's advise

 

[MBasile]

From what I've heard (not read on here) is that in order to do a proper step up you must remove a portion of the yeast after each step. If you keep adding 1L of wort they aren't really multiplying after the first step because (for the most part) there is already enough yeast to ferment that 1L. Everyone has their own opinions though.

At 1.58L suggested by MrMalty I think you'll be close enough with what you've done so far. For anything 2L+ I put the full amount in the carboy I'll be fermenting in. Cool that (since I ferment in a minifridge anyway), decant off the liquid, and then pitch the cooled wort onto that.

 

[johngie]

My 3 year old is having her birthday party Sunday, I doubt SWMBO would like her to have a "Let's learn to brew with Daddy Party" instead of the Princess Dress-up party planned

Time to test the 12-18 hour theory I guess

 

[MBasile]

My 3 year old is having her birthday party Sunday, I doubt SWMBO would like her to have a "Let's learn to brew with Daddy Party" instead of the Princess Dress-up party planned

Time to test the 12-18 hour theory I guess

Once the aggressive fermentation stage is done (yeah, some people say they never notice any krausen or aggressive fermentation with starter, but I always have it) you can stick it in the fridge, this should help keep it at a better energy state for pitching.

 

[johngie]

Just an update, the brew went great. Hit all the numbers and it's been in the fermenter for almost 12h.

I pitched the entire 1L starter and it took off within hours

Here is what it looks like now
http://i969.photobucket.com/albums/ae180/johngie/001.jpg

Thanks everyone!

 

[bknifefight]

Looks like you're off to a good start