Starter Question.

[Reverend JC]

I just made a starter for my american wheat using white labs 29 which is a kolsch and Jamil said in a brew cast that would make a great wheat yeast.

This starter seems different to me and for the first time while making a starter it would appear that inside my mason jars as the wort cools before i add the yeast there is a cold break happening.

Is that possible? It has never happend on the dozen or so starters i have made and the odd thing is this is the same 3lb bag of DME i have used for all of them.

Did i just use more this time? I dont think so but it is possible.

 

[cheezydemon]

Hey, I have no idea how to answer your question, but I feel like sharing. I make my starters directly in my primary. I never look at them too much so that I don't see somthing that would raise questions(like yours, no disrespect intended) and I cool the wort and pitch it onto the yeast. I have never had a stuck fermentation, I don't have to clean out a jar, and I have never had to wait more than 15 minutes to see visible fermentation(at 74 degrees or so). Different yeast does vastly different things, I would not worry. Sorry to not have at all addressed your question. Hope this makes you think.( I also pitch at least 4 subsequent batches on the yeast left when I rack to the secondary. A good yeast is good for 7 or so batches and it is fun to see what the last inch or so of the last beer does to the new one) Cheers!

 

[Yooper]

I just made a starter for my american wheat using white labs 29 which is a kolsch and Jamil said in a brew cast that would make a great wheat yeast.

This starter seems different to me and for the first time while making a starter it would appear that inside my mason jars as the wort cools before i add the yeast there is a cold break happening.

Is that possible? It has never happend on the dozen or so starters i have made and the odd thing is this is the same 3lb bag of DME i have used for all of them.

Did i just use more this time? I dont think so but it is possible.

It seems to me that in some of my starters that I've had some break material, too. I just went ahead and pitched the yeast in there and didn't think too much about it, though. Since you're using Kolsch yeast, I'm assuming it's colder than the other starters? Maybe that's why you're seeing different activity.

When I make a starter, I usually start quite a bit in advance and then decant the spent wort before pitching the yeast. I do have the yeast just slightly under the wort temperature, whatever that is. If it's a lager, the starter is 50 degrees, and the wort is 52-55 (or whatever the fermenting temperature is) and if it's an ale, I usually have my starter at 64 degrees, for 68 degree wort. This seems to help it really take off.

I also use dry yeast alot and don't make a starter- it sure seems easier sometimes!

 

[Reverend JC]

I also use dry yeast alot and don't make a starter- it sure seems easier sometimes!

Agreed. I use dry yeast alot for the ease of it as well, but i am trying to make the best damn American wheat i can make so that i can eventually F^#k it up and add fruit to it so perhaps once in my brewing career SWMBO will actaully request a beer i have made.

 

[Yooper]

Agreed. I use dry yeast alot for the ease of it as well, but i am trying to make the best damn American wheat i can make so that i can eventually F^#k it up and add fruit to it so perhaps once in my brewing career SWMBO will actaully request a beer i have made.

Sorry- I didn't mean to laugh, but you just cracked me up.

You'll make it perfect for her, and then she'll ask you to recreate it- and you won't be able to!

Let us know how this turns out- it sounds like it could be a real winner!

 

[Beer:30]

Hey, I have no idea how to answer your question, but I feel like sharing. I make my starters directly in my primary. I never look at them too much so that I don't see somthing that would raise questions(like yours, no disrespect intended) and I cool the wort and pitch it onto the yeast. I have never had a stuck fermentation, I don't have to clean out a jar, and I have never had to wait more than 15 minutes to see visible fermentation(at 74 degrees or so). Different yeast does vastly different things, I would not worry. Sorry to not have at all addressed your question. Hope this makes you think.( I also pitch at least 4 subsequent batches on the yeast left when I rack to the secondary. A good yeast is good for 7 or so batches and it is fun to see what the last inch or so of the last beer does to the new one) Cheers!

This sounds like a great idea. I wonder why others don't do this, is it really sounds convenient.

 

[homebrewer_99]

... have never had to wait more than 15 minutes to see visible fermentation...

While I appreciate your enthusiasm, I seriously doubt what you saw was fermentation. Your yeast needs more time than that to acclimate.

It's more likely air from the bubbles bursting due to aeration.