My yeast starter...

[redwing_al]

Hi, on my last brew, I wanted to do a starter or rehydrate my yeast.. But I forgot... So.. during the mash BOIL, I pulled 1L of 1.040 wort into my sanitized flask, dumped my yeast and put it on the stir plate. After finishing the mash, boil and chill, I chilled the flask and aded to a aerated fermenter.

I'm not sure why I never thought of that before or seen it discussed (or looked for thread discussios). I just wanted to share this method because I had well hydrated, healthy yeast. And the couple hours it was on the stir plate, I have to imagine I increased my cell count. By how much, I am not sure how to find out.

Nevertheless, I had a quick and steady bubbles going mere 6 hours after pitch.

I know Brulosphy has done xBeerments on pitching yeast, but the advantage I see is when you need a bit more yeast cells created OVER what the Yeast pack is rated for, this method could get you to produe MORE yeast cells without over-pitching. Like I said, I'm pretty sure that I grew my yeast cell count in the few hours it was on the stir plate since the environment was perfect.

Anyone have any suggestions or feedback to this process?

Heck, maybe nothing happened, but as long as I 'thought' it did, then that is all that counts.

 

[krackin]

I just pitch a slurry from a similar batch. I may get a little lag, never more than 4 hrs. The best part is that it is always ready, no debate needed.

 

[ericwilson9]

You mentioned that you pulled the sample out of the mash. I would be concerned with possible contamination because the wort has not yet been boiled and may have some living bacteria in it.

Other than that, I have pulled samples from the beginning of the boil and used this method relatively frequently with great results

 

[redwing_al]

You mentioned that you pulled the sample out of the mash. I would be concerned with possible contamination because the wort has not yet been boiled and may have some living bacteria in it.

Other than that, I have pulled samples from the beginning of the boil and used this method relatively frequently with great results

Big Ooops here... it was during the early BOIL stage I took the wort - or whenever it hit 1.040... NOT mash..

thank you for pointing that out.. I wouldn't want anyone to make yeast from mash...

 

[RM-MN]

What yeast did you use? If it was liquid yeast you might have increased the cell count but not by much but if it was dry yeast you may have lost cells as it wants to be rehydrated with water, not wort as the dry cells cannot regulate the intake of wort and up to half of them will die.

 

[kombat]

As RM-MN said, you basically just rehydrated your yeast in wort, which is not recommended as it shocks the yeast cells and decreases viability. When waking up, they lack the ability to regulate the fluids passing over their cell membranes, and the sugars in wort can kill the cells. That's why you're supposed to rehydrate dry yeast in plain water.

 

[redwing_al]

As RM-MN said, you basically just rehydrated your yeast in wort, which is not recommended as it shocks the yeast cells and decreases viability. When waking up, they lack the ability to regulate the fluids passing over their cell membranes, and the sugars in wort can kill the cells. That's why you're supposed to rehydrate dry yeast in plain water.

ahhh... okay.. that makes sense... yes, it was dry yeast.. I did have good fermentation, but I supposed i put the beer at risk.. I just learned something.. my one thing today.