New yeast or starter?

[esocid]

I have a belgian wit ready to brew soon since I have available bottles, but my yeast had a "best by" date of 03/28/11 . I have some wheat DME, and a 1L flask for a starter. Mr. Malty however says I would need 2 packs of yeast this old to make a viable starter. Since I got it, it has been sitting in the fridge, wrapped in a brown paper towel to keep out light.

Should I try making a starter with just one vial of liquid yeast, or just get a new vial to ensure a brew? It's White Labs WLP400 yeast, if it matters, and going into a partial mash.

 

[jaycount]

Try making the starter, the worst that can happen is it doesn't take off.

Either it'll take off or it won't, you don't have much to lose, might as well try it.

I'm assuming that you didn't just buy this yeast, if you just got it from the HBS I'd be calling em up to get that exchanged.

Good luck.

 

[Daybis]

If it were me and I had the DME and the time to do it, here is what I would do. I would do a 1L low gravity wort (1.020) starter. Let the yeast completely ferment out. Then cool the starter in a fridge for 24 - 48 hours. I would then make a 1L 1.040 gravity starter, decant the wort off the yeast from the first low gravity starter.Then I would repitch the yeast from the first starter into the second starter and pitch this into your brew at high krausen.

 

[esocid]

Try making the starter, the worst that can happen is it doesn't take off.

Either it'll take off or it won't, you don't have much to lose, might as well try it.

I'm assuming that you didn't just buy this yeast, if you just got it from the HBS I'd be calling em up to get that exchanged.

Good luck.

No no, I would have too, but I've been hanging on to it until I had bottles to fill.

If it were me and I had the DME and the time to do it, here is what I would do. I would do a 1L low gravity wort (1.020) starter. Let the yeast completely ferment out. Then cool the starter in a fridge for 24 - 48 hours. I would then make a 1L 1.040 gravity starter, decant the wort off the yeast from the first low gravity starter.Then I would repitch the yeast from the first starter into the second starter and pitch this into your brew at high krausen.

That sounds like a good idea. I'm relatively new to brewing. This will be #4, and I've never done a starter. How do you determine the gravity of the starter? More DME per water, or just a larger starter, say 1.2L? I've seen people say the rule is 100g per liter, but not what gravity that ratio roughly gets you.

 

[jaycount]

No no, I would have too, but I've been hanging on to it until I had bottles to fill.



That sounds like a good idea. I'm relatively new to brewing. This will be #4, and I've never done a starter. How do you determine the gravity of the starter? More DME per water, or just a larger starter, say 1.2L? I've seen people say the rule is 100g per liter, but not what gravity that ratio roughly gets you.

Dang you need some more buddies to come over and drink your beer?

1.040 OG is a pretty commonly suggested starter OG.

 

[esocid]

Dang you need some more buddies to come over and drink your beer?

1.040 OG is a pretty commonly suggested starter OG.

Ha, I gave a case of my last brew to my friend and his wife. It was a Schneider Aventinus clone, which was excellent btw.

Sounds good. Looks like I'll be brewing on sunday if I can get a starter done tonight, and another one tomorrow. Thanks for the help.

 

[Daybis]

That sounds like a good idea. I'm relatively new to brewing. This will be #4, and I've never done a starter. How do you determine the gravity of the starter? More DME per water, or just a larger starter, say 1.2L? I've seen people say the rule is 100g per liter, but not what gravity that ratio roughly gets you.

For a 1.040 starter, you would use 100g of DME per liter. To do a starter with half the gravity (1.020), you would just reduce the DME by half, so you would only use 50g of DME. Doing the low gravity starter first just puts less stress on what little yeast are still viable and kind of wakes them up out of hibernation and it starts to promote growth. The goal of the 1.040 is strictly to promote healthy growth of the yeast.

Edit: I found this handy little calculator: http://brew.stderr.net/starter_wort_calc.html