Starter needed?

[mmonacel]

I'm planning on brewing my first batch soon which will likely be a DFH 60 min. clone. The recipe I have has it at 70 OG. I plan to use one pack of PacMan for a 5 gal batch. Given this is my first batch, I'm not looking to over-complicate things by making a starter (which I've never done before). Am I on the verge of risking a bad or stuck fermentation if I don't use a starter here? Should I just shake the hell out of the wort, pitch, and hope for the best?

 

[MachineShopBrewing]

If you don't want to make a starter, you could always pitch more than one pack.

go to mrmalty.com and use the yeast pitching calc.

 

[rwinzing]

Making a starter if fairly easy. You need to either pitch more than one pack of yeast or a starter.

 

[kryolla]

I'm not looking to over-complicate things by making a starter (which I've never done before).

you're not making things complicated by making a starter you are actually making better beer so I would make a starter especially with that OG and the potential issue of stuck ferm or off flavors due to under pitching

 

[andrewp]

+1 to a starter or double pitching. one of my early batches i underpitched trying to do a tripel with a OG of 1.084 and it got stuck at 1.026 after being in the primary for two months. WWAAAYYY too sweet.

make your efforts worth your while and double pitch at the very least. starter would be better.

 

[smmcdermott]

I agree, especially with an OG like that. If it were 1.040 then you could get away with it, but should still make a starter to help with lag time. Like the above post states, don't want to waste 2 months of waiting for a decent beer when you could have spent 30 mins extra and made a great beer.

 

[Arkador]

+1 for a starter, far cheaper than 2 packs of liquid yeast. If you are using dry, just pitch a second pack.

1L water, 100g DME, boil 10 min, cool to 70deg, pitch the yeast, and cover with a piece of sanitized foil. swirl it up really good every time you walk past it for 2 days

 

[mmonacel]

Thanks for the insight guys. I've got two smack packs to use although was thinking of saving one of them for my second batch rather than reordering. Maybe I'll just pitch both packs and when I reorder for more yeast I'll pick up an Erlenmeyer flask. Would you guys recommend a 1000 ml or 2000 ml flask? I have a feeling my current hip flask isn't up for the job...

 

[ChshreCat]

I haven't bothered with a starter even when brewing things up to 1.070, but I know that I SHOULD and I'm a bad, bad boy for not doing it and should be spanked. Preferably by a Lucy Liu look alike in black leather. But I digress...

Just saying that you SHOULD use the starter, but if you really wanted or needed to you can just make sure you aerate VERY well and pitch the pack as it is. So long as it's an activator and not a propagator pack.

 

[MachineShopBrewing]

Thanks for the insight guys. I've got two smack packs to use although was thinking of saving one of them for my second batch rather than reordering. Maybe I'll just pitch both packs and when I reorder for more yeast I'll pick up an Erlenmeyer flask. Would you guys recommend a 1000 ml or 2000 ml flask? I have a feeling my current hip flask isn't up for the job...

I would recommend the 2000 ml for sure. Pitching enough yeast is VERY important to good beer.