the necessity of starters (or lack thereof?)

[bvn]

I've been brewing for ~40 years. IMO under-pitching means you haven't given the yeast manufacturer enough money. Assuming you rack your brew to a secondary fermenter, you may notice the amount of cream yeast in the bottom of your primary. I am a 5 gallon brewer and there is always more than a quart of slurry (cream yeast) in the bottom of my primary. The amount of yeast remaining in the primary is more important than how much was pitched in the beginning.

If your brew Kreusens in the first 12 hours, then your pitching is just right.The brewing of ales is an incredibly forgiving process. I don't pay much attention to the numbers unless something goes wrong. I find Augie Busch's approach of tasting everything to "see" what each ingredient and each process contributes to the final result a more reliable guide to a tasty brew. Biologically, the art of brewing ales is the practice of caring and feeding of yeast. ericbw's response explains that aspect quite well. May your yeast always be happy!

PS I frequently use the cream yeast as starters for making bigas into bread.

 

[ericbw]

Just last week I decided to use a vial of hefeweizen yeast that was slightly out of date. I made a starter on Wednesday so it would have plenty of time to get going, by Friday I gave up and called a friend who had a vial I used. I would be crying now if I hadn't made a starter and found out my yeast was dead.

How far out of date was it?

I had an Irish Ale that expired in February. I did a starter, but it cranked right up.

If you ever accidentally do that and there's no activity after a couple days, just pitch then. No tears!

 

[oddsock]

I haven't been making starters, but my LHBS closed down, and I'm thinking of harvesting yeast to save some money now that I'm shipping ingredients.

I understand about potential off flavors created as the yeast reproduce, but aren't those created in the starter as well? How does the starter keep those out of the wort when we pitch the whole starter?

 

[ericbw]

The flavors are in the starter beer. I don't think they're in the yeast. Starter is small.

 

[seabass07]

I haven't been making starters, but my LHBS closed down, and I'm thinking of harvesting yeast to save some money now that I'm shipping ingredients.

I understand about potential off flavors created as the yeast reproduce, but aren't those created in the starter as well? How does the starter keep those out of the wort when we pitch the whole starter?

That's one reason a lot of people cold crash and decant the starter. Especially if it's a large starter. Don't want to dump 4L of estery starter into a 5 gallon batch. It will definitely change the final beer.

 

[ericbw]

I was tired when I typed my response last night. If you decant and have a pint or less, then it's a small amount in a 5 gallon batch. If you cold crash and get just the yeast, it's tiny. But yes, a 4L starter is 20% of the 5 gallon batch!

 

[oddsock]

Ah, decanting makes sense! Thanks!