Starter Experimentation

[BigB]

Since I had my issue with my Wyeast 1762 Belgian Abbey II the other day, I've done some extensive scouring of threads and of Revvy's preaching and of general fermentation. Well since I promised I would do a starter to verify the viability of my yeast, this is what I am checking:

1. Color/appearance of the yeast band
2. Signs of any activity such as Krausen or bubbling
I know that these two aren't reliable/scientific indicators, but I'm looking at all of the angles remember.
3. Temperature- to include beginning temperature, temperature during, and ambient air temperature.
4. Starting gravity vs. Final Gravity.

Here was my technique. Due to vessel constraints, I am making a one quart starter with 3 oz of Extra Light DME. My OG was 1.042 (must have boiled off more than I thought). Pitched yeast into the mini wort at 64f. Shook the mixture well to thouroughly integrate and aerate. Placed loose fitting foil over the lid.

Can you guys think of other indicators I should be looking for? See any error in my methods? Also, what do you think would be a good FG to pitch into a 5g batch.

 

[PT Ray]

I know you don't have to wait for a Wyeast to swell before pitching in a starter however I can't do anything better for it than what is already in the pack. Once it swells you know you can move on. If it doesn't then you either didn't burst the nutrient, it's not viable or it just hasn't kicked in. It's not always a one day process for it to swell, I've had some take several.

Once it is obviously active than I would pitch it in a starter. Even if there is little activity on top of the starter it's not too difficult to spot the co2 bubbles being produced. Once everything slows down after a couple days the starter will start to clear as the yeast drops out.

It sounds like you have a grasp on things, just don't get caught trying to rush things. I just started building an English ale and a German lager starter. I've started them at 75ml, I'll build the ale to a gallon and the lager to 2 gallons for 10 gallon batches. Whenever they're ready is when I'll plan the brew.

 

[BigB]

Follow up: It's been about 20 hours since I made my starter. Here is the progress:

1. Color/appearance of yeast band: After pitching it settled out in about 1 hour. The cake at the bottom was kind of peanut butter looking with maybe a paper thin band of cream at the very bottom. 20 hours into it, still same color, except that no sign of cream at the bottom. There are however bubble channels in the peanut butter mass.

2. Signs of activity: There was no activity at all for at least the first 12 hours. At hour 12 I noticed what is similar to a yeast raft on top of the wort. 20 hours into it there is definitely bubbling, but no krausen (as a side note, based on many threads, I didn't expect any krausen).

3. Temperature: Ambient air temp in the house is approximately 68f. In the first area I kept it, the air temp is about 65f. At hour 10 I moved the starter to another room where the temp stays 68f. The temperature of the wort was exactly at ambient air temp through hour 12. At hour 20 I noticed that the temp in the starter has ramped up to 72f, ambient air temp still at 68f.

4. Specific Gravity: I haven't taken any readings since pitching... There is enough activity at this point to verify viability. I will follow up before I pitch and post an edit.

In general, although Revvy and the other posters were right (as usual), it still makes me a bit miffed that the product didn't work as advertised (swell in three-5 hours). However, the good thing about this so far, is that it has been an excellent learning tool. Granted I planned on brewing beer last week, but the lesson value was worth it.

 

[BigB]

EDIT: Ok, here are the final results at 28 hours:

1. I swirled the starter again at 20 hours. The peanut butter color band was mixed into the solution. Interesting thing was that at hour 28 it still had not reformed. Now this is completely different than hour 12 where it settled right out. Further at hour 28, there was a very small (1mm or so) band of creamy cake. at hour 20, before swirling, it was at least 1/2 inch thick and darker.

2. Signs of activity: Considerable bubbling at hour 28, to include a very minor Krausen (maybe 1 mm).

3. Temperature: Temperature at hour 28 was 73f vs. the 68f ambient air.

4. Gravity: FG was 1.028. This is a .014 drop since pitching.

In sum: This yeast took off like crazy. I brewed and pitched at hour 28 mostly on my evaluation of various threads. The kicker was one of Revvy's comments in a thread that said something to the effect of pitching the whole starter at high krausen. I didn't think I was going to improve on what I had, so I thought I would pitch it. Finally, i think my issue with my yeast overall was that they were a bit old. They had used up a lot of glycogen stores and it took a while for them to wake. Once they did, they went crazy.

Lesson Learned: Yeasts are some hardy little bastards. Further, I will check the manufacture date before I buy. Not sure if it will matter for this strain, but it can't hurt.

 

[jescholler]

You probably already know this, but you usually need a starter larger than 1 quart. I find that only for my lowest gravity beers with very fresh yeast is a 1 quart starter sufficient. I use a 1 gallon jar that originally had pickles in it. Just soak it in a baking soda solution to get the scent out.

Edit: Everything else looks good though.

 

[BigB]

You probably already know this, but you usually need a starter larger than 1 quart. I find that only for my lowest gravity beers with very fresh yeast is a 1 quart starter sufficient. I use a 1 gallon jar that originally had pickles in it. Just soak it in a baking soda solution to get the scent out.

Edit: Everything else looks good though.

Yes, I realize that the 1 qt was a bit small, but I did it mostly because of equipment constraints. Futher the purpose of the experiment was more to test viability. Finally, I viewed many threads that said that under pitching is not bad...just longer lag time. I'm not concerned about lag time... This brew is going to be sitting for a while before bottling. Also, although I didn't state this in the post, for the brew I used this for, I decided to ferment into a 6.5g carboy so I could watch the evolution of the beer and continue the learning process.