Noob yeast questions

[barthautala]

Alright, so here are some questions I dug up from the noob files. DOnt laugh but if you do, I wont take it personally.

Yeast pitching - do I pour my rehydrated dry yeast into the wort and shake the whole bucket? Or do I just pour it in and call it good?

Yeast starters - how far ahead of brewing should I make my starter?
If Im making a starter for a lager - what temp should I start/keep my starter at?

Stir plates / oxygenation - so I thought that you didnt want to oxygenate the beer i.e. disturb it or get air bubbles in it during / after the fermentation process so why would you want to do this when making a starter?

 

[ekranzusch]

1) I find it is best if ya get it mixed in there a bit. Just dumping works too, but may give you a little more lag.

2) A few days. Depends how many times you want to ramp it up I guess.

3) You don't want to oxygenate the beer you drink as that is an off flavor (wet cardboard ish). The beer you make in your starter for raising yeast cell count, you want to decant it off and not pitch it in to your main batch.

I doubt anyone will laugh at you, having strong yeast is a great step in strong brewing IMO.

 

[mattmcl]

Shake the hell out of your fermenter, then pour in the rehydrated yeast. Then shake the hell out of it again. Yeast needs oxygen to get going- this is the only time you want to shake up your brew.

I make my starters 48 hours before pitching, but I've done it in 24 and 48 with no apparent problems.

Good question on the lager yeast, I dunno.

 

[beersydoesit]

You can just pour in your yeast and call it good, assuming you've aerated the wort.

I usually make starters a couple of days ahead to give the yeast a few days to reproduce.
I think some use shorter times, but the charts I've seen suggest yeast reproduction goes on for a couple days.

I don't worry about the temp of my starters, I leave them on the counter.

The yeast store oxygen for reproduction, which is what goes in in the starter and right after you pitch it. Once reproduction starts it doesn't take up new oxygen it has to live off what it has. So while you are growing the population you want oxygen. You don't want oxygen after that growth phase.

Then when the actual fermentation starts and any excess oxygen will be pushed out of the beer. You don't want to reintroduce oxygen once this happens.

 

[barthautala]

1) I find it is best if ya get it mixed in there a bit. Just dumping works too, but may give you a little more lag.

2) A few days. Depends how many times you want to ramp it up I guess.

3) You don't want to oxygenate the beer you drink as that is an off flavor (wet cardboard ish). The beer you make in your starter for raising yeast cell count, you want to decant it off and not pitch it in to your main batch.

I doubt anyone will laugh at you, having strong yeast is a great step in strong brewing IMO.

Decant? What is this decant you speak of? You mean pour out the beer part but dump in the rest right?

 

[ekranzusch]

Decant? What is this decant you speak of? You mean pour out the beer part but dump in the rest right?

yes. you don't want the crappy yeast food beer to wind up in your good people beer.