Using Liquid Yeast right out of the vial????

[Culinarytracker]

I got all the ingredients to brew 5 gallons of Left Hand Milk Stout Clone, and am heating up my strike water as I type.

Unfortunately LHBS was (unusually) out of US-05. So I bought 2 vials of WLP001 instead.

Question is, should I just warm up to pitching temp, shake well and dump both in? Or is there something I should do to make these better to use tonight.

I figure I have about 3 hours till pitch time

I always rehydrate my dry yeasts, but have never done starters yet.

 

[MagicMatt]

The easiest thing for you to do would be to use a yeast/starter calculator to estimate how viable the yeast you have is:

Brewer's Friend Yeast Pitch Rate and Starter Calculator
YeastCalc Yeast Calculator
Mr. Malty's Pitching Rate Calculator


Each one's a little different on the calculations, but they'll all tell you if you should use a starter, and if so what size (or if not, how many vials to use).

If you have DME on hand, you can make a starter pretty easily. 3 hours isn't much though, so if you want to make a starter you should just plug the carboy/bucket with a sanitized stopper after you brew and wait at least 12 hours from making the starter. An easy ratio is 1L water to 4oz DME. Boil the water first, then add the DME and boil for 10-15 minutes. Add to a sterilized container and chill to 70°F before pitching the yeast in the starter. Swirl the container every hour or so for 20-30 seconds to help aerate, and then pitch into your wort at high krausen (12-24 hours).


Now that being said, although it's recommended to use a starter when using liquid yeast, it's not mandatory. Just direct pitching the yeast should be fine provided they're not expired. If you have yeast nutrients, you can add some to the wort as well. It may take a little longer for fermentation to begin (up to 72 hours if under pitching), but it'll get there.

 

[Culinarytracker]

Thanks for the reply,
The "Best Before Date" on these vials is May 17th and May 27th. So they should be fairly fresh.

I would consider making a small starter and waiting to pitch. I don't have any DME around, would it be fine to use some of the wort I am going to pitch it into?

 

[Punx Clever]

Thanks for the reply,
The "Best Before Date" on these vials is May 17th and May 27th. So they should be fairly fresh.

I would consider making a small starter and waiting to pitch. I don't have any DME around, would it be fine to use some of the wort I am going to pitch it into?

That's how I do most of my starters.

Granted, you are shooting for something like 1.040 for the starter's OG, so you might dilute as necessary if you feel the need.

 

[Culinarytracker]

Good info.

I just realized that I have a brown ale that is ready to transfer to the keg. I brewed it with US-04. Would it be a better option to just use the yeast cake from that one?

So many options!

 

[FloppyKnockers]

Let it warm up to room temperature so you don't temp shock it (3-6 hours) and throw it in.

 

[SnakeRidge]

Let it warm up to room temperature so you don't temp shock it (3-6 hours) and throw it in.

That's right. You have plenty of yeast.

 

[JonnyComet]

Let it warm up to room temperature so you don't temp shock it (3-6 hours) and throw it in.

This should be more than adequate. Two vials into 5 gallons of wort around 1.060 SG should be just fine. a starter would be more important if you only had one vial.

 

[MagicMatt]

This should be more than adequate. Two vials into 5 gallons of wort around 1.060 SG should be just fine. a starter would be more important if you only had one vial.

Very good point. I must have skipped over the part about 2 vials. That's definitely enough to just toss them both into the primary, no starter needed.

 

[BigFloyd]

Good info.

I just realized that I have a brown ale that is ready to transfer to the keg. I brewed it with US-04. Would it be a better option to just use the yeast cake from that one?

So many options!

Great idea, but don't use the whole cake.

Harvest about 25-30% of that S-04 yeast cake and pitch it on the stout. It's a more appropriate strain for a stout than is WLP001 anyway.

 

[Culinarytracker]

Wonderful. Thanks so much for the quick answers.

I am just starting the boil. Pre-Boil gravity 1.050.
This looks like it's gonna be a good one.

Thanks again

 

[Culinarytracker]

Great idea, but don't use the whole cake.

Harvest about 25-30% of that S-04 yeast cake and pitch it on the stout. It's a more appropriate strain for a stout than is WLP001 anyway.

I went this route.

I used about a quart or so of water to swirl up with the cake so that I could pour it out of the carboy.

Put most of it into a sanitized gallon jug. (from the distilled water I just used)
It filled it. There was another quart or so that went down the drain.

Let the jug sit until I was ready to pitch.

Poured off the more clear liquid on the very top (1")

Pitched the rest into the beer, leaving the inch or two of sediment in the bottom of the jug.

I felt like I was over pitching like crazy, but when I really thought about the amount of water I added, and what didn't fit in the jug, I figured I probably had 1/3 or less of the yeast cake.

The OG was a point or two higher than planned, so I didn't mind the extra water content either.

Sound about right?

 

[nthammer]

That is more than I've used but I imagine it's fine. There are yeast pitching calculators that can account for slurry numbers. I think the important thing is that you didnt under-pitch.

 

[unionrdr]

Us-04 is definitely the better choice imo. An English witbred strain, combined with the fact that stout porters started in old England makes it a great choice.

 

[fimpster]

I know this is heresy on these forums, but for over a decade I would always just pitch a single vial of yeast in all my batches. I'd set it on the counter to come to room temp while I was brewing and then just pitch straight from the vial (or pouch if Wyeast) into the carboy. I never never noticed problems with underpitching.

As of a year ago, I do make starters now, and it really is quite easy to do, if you plan ahead. In your case pitching two vials will be plenty for a 5 gal 6%ABV batch.