My yeast starter seems to suck...help!

[BubbaMan]

Hello all,
I'm a newb and doing my second yeast start.
I'm working with the yeast that came with my Brewer's Best Mexican Cerveza 5 gal. kit.
It is a packet of dry Nottingham yeast, exp. 2/19.
My first yeast start was with Saflager S-23 and it was VERY active, this Nottingham seems pretty lame with very minimal activity after 24 hours.
I did my yeast start with 1500 ml water, boiled with 1 cup light DME...same as the first time. I am fairly certain that the wort was sufficiently cooled before I pitched the yeast to it, but that's the only thing I can think of that I could have done to cause this (???).

Should I use this yeast or ditch it and go with something else for my kit?
I'd welcome your recommendations for an alternative for this style of beer...
Thanks!

ETA: Local shop only stocks Munton's dry yeast...would that be appropriate for this style of beer?

 

[Kent88]

Are you swirling the starter up frequently? Is there any degassing occurring?

1 cup for 1500ml seems a little strong for a starter, but I'm not sure what kind of gravity that would yield.

 

[BubbaMan]

@Kent88

I swirled the starter maybe a dozen times over a day, I'm not sure what you mean by degassing but I'm assuming you are asking if the airlock was aggressive when I agitated the flask...and yes it was.

The water & DME amounts came from a YouTube video made by Northern Brewer.

Thx.

 

[bpgreen]

For future reference, starters are usually only recommended for liquid yeasts. In fact, if I remember correctly, Danstar specifically recommends against making a starter.

 

[flars]

@Kent88

I swirled the starter maybe a dozen times over a day, I'm not sure what you mean by degassing but I'm assuming you are asking if the airlock was aggressive when I agitated the flask...and yes it was.

The water & DME amounts came from a YouTube video made by Northern Brewer.

Thx.

Bubbling through the airlock when you aerate the starter means CO2 is being released. Fermentation is occurring. Making a starter with dry yeast can be done if you rehydrate the yeast first. Adding dry yeast to a starter wort is the same as adding dry yeast to the wort in the fermentor. There will be some cell damage from the osmotic pressure on the cell walls.

You will get better CO2 release and air exchange with sanitized foil covering the flask rather than an air lock. Sanitized foam plugs are also used.

 

[Kent88]

If you have plenty of airlock activity, that is a good thing.

What exactly don't you like about your starter?

 

[catdaddy66]

While I agree that you don't need a starter when using dry yeast, it sounds as if it is active.

I say pitch away!

 

[kh54s10]

You also don't want an airlock on a starter. The object is to propagate yeast cells. They need oxygen. An airlock is to prevent contaminates and oxygen when you are brewing a beer. You don't care about oxygen in a starter especially if you cold crash it and decant the liquid.

 

[kh54s10]

Use an online calculator to determine the size starter you need. It varies with the size batch, gravity of the wort and style of beer. Lagers need a lot more yeast than ales.

Here are a few:

http://www.yeastcalculator.com/
https://www.brewersfriend.com/yeast-pitch-rate-and-starter-calculator/
http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/calc.html
http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/calc.html

Using DME to make the starter use a 1:10 ratio. 1 liter gets 100 grams of DME 1.25 liters gets 125 grams etc.

 

[kh54s10]

BTW the pack of Nottingham contained plenty of yeast for that kit without the starter. Reydrating would have been best.

 

[BubbaMan]

@flars -Thank you. What you said about cell wall damage was interesting. I will certainly rehydrate my dry yeast before doing another starter, I'll also take your advice about using foil.

@Kent88 -Thanks. My concern was that the airlock is ONLY active while I was swirling the flask. This is quite a bit different from the S23 I did my last yeast start with.


@catdaddy66 -Agreed, thanks.


@kh54s10 -Thank you for the links! Will use!

 

[TheHopfather]

@BubbaMan you don't need to make a starter when using dry yeast. You simply rehydrate the yeast and pitch it, you make starters when you are using liquid yeast. A dry yeast package will have 200 billion yeast cells in it, that should be plenty of yeast for most beers. A liquid yeast package has 100 billion yeast cells in it, that is not enough for most beers, hence the starter to create more cells.