Room temp. yeast?

[PenPen]

Tomorrow's my first big brew day and I'm pretty excited. Got my equipment, ingredients, etc and I'm all set except for one yeast question that I can't find an answer for on this board or anywhere else.

I ordered the Irish Ale kit from AHB. I specified the wyeast pack and instead got the white labs vial. Fine. The yeast was still cold on an ice-pack when it arrived and I put it in the fridge. On the AHB instruction sheet, it states, "When using pitchable liquid yeast, let the yeast warm up to room temperature. The longer the yeast sets at room temperature, up to 24 hours, the faster the beer will start fermenting." (White labs instructions say to take it out of the fridge 2-6 hours before pitching.)

So I'm thinking AHB should know, right? I'll take it out and pitch it tomorrow at 2 p.m. and I'll have a good fermentation. So I take the yeast vial out of the fridge at 7:30 p.m. est and it's been out since. I got on the web to try to confirm these instructions just to put myself at ease, but can't find anyone else recommending letting white labs yeast sit out overnight. It's room temperaturish now and it will be pitched around 2 p.m. tomorrow.

Good idea? Bad idea? I think I'll be doing starters now just to alleviate the worry.

 

[Ó Flannagáin]

You should make a starter today. With liquid yeast this is important. This is how I do it and its simple: You should boil 1 pint of water withe 1 cup of dry malt extract, cool that to room temperature and put into a sterilized container and cover lightly with aluminum foil. Pour your yeast in there and let it sit for a day, covered with the aluminum. This way your yeast cells can reproduce and give a quick starting, healthy fermintation. or you can just let it get up to room temp and pitch it, this works too but the fermintation will be slow and might not get as high attenuation as if you made a starter.

All of my white labs yeasts have been shipped overseeas... 8 days at room temperature (no ice packs) and they have worked fine.

 

[david_42]

For a smack pack 24 hours is reasonable. It is basically a mini-starter. A vial is just yeast and only needs enough time for the yeast to adjust to the temperature change. A couple days at room temperature won't kill it, but it doesn't help.

 

[Ivan Lendl]

That vial is a 1-2 pint starter. Making a another 1 pint starter from a 1 pint starter wont do much but wake them up. It may even damage the yeast because 1 pint of water to 1 Cup dme is going to have a really big OG making the yeast struggle.
You are better off using 1.5 qts h20 to 1/2 Cup DME. This will get you around 1.040. If you want to use 1 cup dme your gonna need 3 qts h20 to keep the gravity around 1.040 (which is what you want for a starter)

 

[Ó Flannagáin]

That vial is a 1-2 pint starter. Making a another 1 pint starter from a 1 pint starter wont do much but wake them up. It may even damage the yeast because 1 pint of water to 1 Cup dme is going to have a really big OG making the yeast struggle.
You are better off using 1.5 qts h20 to 1/2 Cup DME. This will get you around 1.040. If you want to use 1 cup dme your gonna need 3 qts h20 to keep the gravity around 1.040 (which is what you want for a starter)

That's wierd. I followed exactly as the wiki describe. I was using a vial of white labs yeast.. 1 pint to 1/2 cup DME... worked fine for me and fermentation has gone extremely well.

Just realized a typo, meant 1/2 cup dme, not 1 cup.