Starter?

[kdbentz]

I understand the benefit of doing a starter fro dry yeast, but what about smack packs, washed cakes, etc.....should I always do a starter?
And should I boil some DME with water to create the starter or is just water to hydrate good enough?

 

[Sir-Hops-A-Lot]

You don't need a starter for dry yeast. Just the liquid yeast because it's got less cells. You can use washed cakes but it's even better to make a bigger starter, save some, put it away for next time, and revive it with a starter. Don't bother saving yeast cake of dry yeast. It's 4 friggin bucks.

Making a starter will make your beer taste better. Adding oxygen is also a good idea if you have the equipment.
google "making a starter" and follow the steps.
You are now embarking on a big learning curve with lots of benefits to beer taste.

 

[RM-MN]

You don't need a starter for dry yeast. Just the liquid yeast because it's got less cells. You can use washed cakes but it's even better to make a bigger starter, save some, put it away for next time, and revive it with a starter. Don't bother saving yeast cake of dry yeast. It's 4 friggin bucks.

Making a starter will make your beer taste better. Adding oxygen is also a good idea if you have the equipment.
google "making a starter" and follow the steps.
You are now embarking on a big learning curve with lots of benefits to beer taste.

This is questionable. You need a reasonable amount of yeast to ferment you beer to get good flavor but whether you get that quantity from doing a starter or from making the conditions for the yeast to propagate in your fermenter may not make a big difference. Take a look at this experiment on pitching rates and notice the amount of yeast pitched.
http://sciencebrewer.com/2012/03/02/pitching-rate-experiment-part-deux-results/

 

[kombat]

Don't bother saving yeast cake of dry yeast.

Why on Earth not? It doesn't know it was dry yeast. After fermentation, it's the exact same yeast as if you'd pitched liquid yeast. Yeast is yeast. And if I've got a whole cake of healthy, hungry Chico yeast, why would I dump it down the drain and rehydrate another packet? I don't even bother making a starter with my yeast cakes - I just collect them in sanitized Mason jars and repitch them.

 

[TheBigLebrewsk1]

Why on Earth not? It doesn't know it was dry yeast. After fermentation, it's the exact same yeast as if you'd pitched liquid yeast. Yeast is yeast. And if I've got a whole cake of healthy, hungry Chico yeast, why would I dump it down the drain and rehydrate another packet? I don't even bother making a starter with my yeast cakes - I just collect them in sanitized Mason jars and repitch them.

Probably because it's so darn cheap to pitch brand new yeast that it's not worth the effort to salvaged yeast from a fermenter, wash it and store it properly. At least that is what I think, because I'm a lazy bastard.

 

[kh54s10]

There are different procedures for using dry vs liquid yeast.

Dry yeast should be rehydrated. in warm water = 30 minutes.
Liquid yeast should be propagated in a properly sized starter 1-10 ratio of dme. i.e. 100 grams for 1 liter of starter. This on a stirplate for 18-24 hours or intermittent shaking for 36-48 hours. Or you can just spend more money and use more yeast packs.

 

[kombat]

Probably because it's so darn cheap to pitch brand new yeast that it's not worth the effort to salvaged yeast from a fermenter, wash it and store it properly. At least that is what I think, because I'm a lazy bastard.

Heh, I suppose there's an argument to be made for that.

I don't really "wash" my yeast, I just collect it in sanitized Mason jars. My yeast cake is very pure, since I whirlpool in the kettle and virtually no trub is transferred to my fermenter. And after I've racked the beer from the carboy, I have to dump the yeast *somewhere*, so why not into 3-4 Mason jars instead of down the drain?

As far as "time" goes, I figure any extra time I spend collecting the yeast (and it's not really any) is saved on the other end when I can just pop a jar and dump the yeast in directly, instead of a) making a starter, or b) rehydrating dry yeast.