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No starter or stale grains?

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spiffcow

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 4, 2010
Messages
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Location
Oklahoma
So I have plans to brew a hefeweizen today, and I forgot to make a starter last night.. the next brew day I'll have available is this weekend, and my grains are already pretty old (i've had them in the freezer most of that time, but they've spent at least a week out of the freezer). Am I better off to brew today and have less yeast but better grains, or to wait until this weekend and have stale grains but a good sized starter?
 
i say wait till the weekend. the freshness of the gains are not going to change that much in 3-4 days.
 
I'm assuming they are milled already, correct? If not, there is not problem. If they are, keeping them in the freezer should still mitigate any decline.
 
I thought I read somewhere that it's OK to underpitch with hefeweizen style yeast, since the off-flavors produced would be desirable in that style. I made a dunkelweizen a couple of weekends ago and pitched straight from the Wyeast smack pack, and from what I can tell from an early sample it turned out great. If you're using White Labs then maybe go with a starter.

Where are you at in Oklahoma? If you're in Tulsa and brewing from a High Gravity kit, I think most of their kits come with Wyeast packs.
 
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