Question regarding yeast

[VoodooDoc]

I just finished up my first batch, turned out pretty nice. It was a simple pale ale. I'm getting ready to I batch number two, and I've been looking at one different recipes, and some people mention preparing a yeast starter. Can anyone explain what that is?

 

[Jon73]

http://www.mrmalty.com/article.php

This is a pretty good link to read up on.

 

[Pratzie]

At its basic form, its a small batch of beer using lower gravity wort to get the yeasties to increase their numbers/viablity before pitching into a full 5 gallon batch of brew.

These aren't normally needed for most brews if ur using dry yeast, or if ur OG is low. For any higher OG brews or if ur yeast weren't packaged recently, and u wanna invest in the time/effort/money for equipment, they can help turn a good batch of brew into a great one. There are lots of arguments for and against using starters, specifically the yeast pitch rates, but for most people who use them, they find they don't want to risk underpitching a batch of brew.

If ur curious how to go about it, check out youtube, there are ton of videos on how to make a yeast starter.

 

[Jayslay]

100g Dried malt extract per litre, boil for 5-15 minutes and then cool quickly and inoculate with yeast at pitching temp. Several hours to a day or two later you can pitch the whole thing into a beer with average to higher gravity to ensure your yeast have a big enough army.

 

[BigFloyd]

If you decide to use liquid yeast, follow the advice above and get used to making yeast starters. You also need to pay closer attention to aerating/oxygenating your wort when using liquid yeast.

You don't need a starter when using dry yeast. In fact, it's counterproductive to the cell count. To get it ready to pitch, all you need to do is rehydrate it and attemperate the yeast slurry to the wort.

For many styles (like the pale you just made), dry yeast is a much better option for newer brewers due to the large number of cells contained in an 11 gram packet. There's enough to handle any 5-gallon ale up to 1.060. The sterols contained in dry yeast also provide the O2 that the cells need during the early stages of fermentation.

 

[VoodooDoc]

Thanks! Is there any benefit to using liquid over dry?

 

[kombat]

There are more strains of liquid yeast available than dry yeast. Liquid yeast also makes it easier to verify that the yeast is healthy and viable. Also it looks cooler to have yeast spinning away in an Erlenmeyer flask on a stir plate. People will think you actually know what you're doing!

 

[VoodooDoc]

Good to know thanks! Is there any benefit to using dry or liquid in terms of outcome if you're brewing higher gravity beers? I mean, if you were to brew say an imperialIPA, do you find you get a better beer using liquid over just using say two packages of dry yeast?

 

[BigFloyd]

Good to know thanks! Is there any benefit to using dry or liquid in terms of outcome if you're brewing higher gravity beers? I mean, if you were to brew say an imperialIPA, do you find you get a better beer using liquid over just using say two packages of dry yeast?

For uber-high gravity brews like an RIS or IIPA using dry yeast, you can either:

-pitch 2-3 packets of rehydrated dry yeast, depending on the gravity

-brew a lighter gravity brew (like a 1.045 or so) using the same dry yeast strain and then, shortly after racking the first beer off the cake, put the high grav wort atop the existing yeast cake.