Starter Needed

[Mike Robertson]

Getting ready to brew up a RIS, OG around 1.10. I have a white labs liquid yeast wp007, dry English ale. I dont have anything to make a starter. Think I’ll be okay just to pure pitch? I do have yeast nutrient I can add.

 

[mongoose33]

How about taking some of that wort, about a half-liter, put in sanitized flask, add a bit more of a half-liter of RO water, and use that? You'll have to wait for the starter to finish, but I think your wort is much too high in OG to have just a single pack of yeast going.

You need a starter wort of about 1.040, so about 2/5 of a liter of wort, 3/5 of a liter of RO water. You could draw that wort off first and get your starter going after giving it a quick boil to sanitize it.

BTW, I always oxygenate my starters, and I'd suggest you do that too. About 30 seconds of bubbling should do it, after you boil and then cool.

And FWIW: When I do a starter, I always just pitch the starter, no crashing in the fridge, no decanting of the beer off the yeast, just right in. I usually try to time it so it goes in at 12-18 hours after beginning it.

 

[Mike Robertson]

So if I understand you correctly, because I need to wait 12-18 with the starter, get the wort ready (so I can pull some) and just delay going forward with boil until starter is ready?

 

[mongoose33]

So if I understand you correctly, because I need to wait 12-18 with the starter, get the wort ready (so I can pull some) and just delay going forward with boil until starter is ready?

Yes, that's what I'm saying. I don't tend to brew really high gravity beers, but what I've read about that is you need a really good pitch for that. Double-size, generally, similar to what you'd have for a lager.

 

[Mike Robertson]

Perfect, thanks for the suggestion.