I am some what new to home brewing - started about 4 months ago and have made 5 batches - 3 AG. It's been very tasty so far. I have made some higher gravity beers - in fact most are high gravity - the lowest is 1.050.
I have only used the wyeast smack packs and the WL vials. I have smacked the pack and watch it expand over 3 - 12 hours. I have taken out the WL vials from the fridge and let it warm up for 3 or 4 hours. I then have added the contents of the smack pack / vial to the cooled wort.
I have never made a starter. I went to a brewing lesson at the LHBS and was shown at that point - don't even worry about the doing the smack pack thing - just let it warm to room temperature and add it to wort.
I'm not say that making a starter is a waste of time, but my beer has turned out pretty good - certainly very drinkable and some of it very high avb (10.25% for my aventinus clone).
Am I missing something here? Have I just gotten lucky?
I have only used the wyeast smack packs and the WL vials. I have smacked the pack and watch it expand over 3 - 12 hours. I have taken out the WL vials from the fridge and let it warm up for 3 or 4 hours. I then have added the contents of the smack pack / vial to the cooled wort.
I have never made a starter. I went to a brewing lesson at the LHBS and was shown at that point - don't even worry about the doing the smack pack thing - just let it warm to room temperature and add it to wort.
I'm not say that making a starter is a waste of time, but my beer has turned out pretty good - certainly very drinkable and some of it very high avb (10.25% for my aventinus clone).
Am I missing something here? Have I just gotten lucky?