What's the deal with Yeast Starters?

[CowboyShootist]

Greetings,

I see people talking about yeast starters and propogating yeast from one batch to another. When I am at the LHBS I see about a million variations of yeast from dry to liquid, ale, lager, wheat, bavarian, american, and so on.

First, does the yeast variant make that much difference? I don't mean using a lager yeast in an ale (or vice versa) which I know some people do. Rather does it make that much difference if I use American Wheat yeast instead of Bavarian Wheat yeast in a wheat brew?

When people talk about maintaining a strain of yeast for years I understand that because my wife's family has a yeast starter for making sour-dough pancakes that they have propogated for a couple generations now. If I am harvesting yeast from a previous brew wouldn't that yeast need to be used in the same style of beer? In other words if the yeast variants make a difference do I need to have multiple yeast starters going?

I don't think the wife is going to like me filling up the fridge with multiple bottles of yeast sludge.

 

[Laughing_Gnome_Invisible]

Greetings,

I see people talking about yeast starters and propogating yeast from one batch to another. When I am at the LHBS I see about a million variations of yeast from dry to liquid, ale, lager, wheat, bavarian, american, and so on.

First, does the yeast variant make that much difference? I don't mean using a lager yeast in an ale (or vice versa) which I know some people do. Rather does it make that much difference if I use American Wheat yeast instead of Bavarian Wheat yeast in a wheat brew?

When people talk about maintaining a strain of yeast for years I understand that because my wife's family has a yeast starter for making sour-dough pancakes that they have propogated for a couple generations now. If I am harvesting yeast from a previous brew wouldn't that yeast need to be used in the same style of beer? In other words if the yeast variants make a difference do I need to have multiple yeast starters going?

I don't think the wife is going to like me filling up the fridge with multiple bottles of yeast sludge.

It sounds to me (Especially with your understanding of generations of bread yeast) That you already know the answer......You just need your own dedicated brewing fridge.

 

[944play]

Rather does it make that much difference if I use American Wheat yeast instead of Bavarian Wheat yeast in a wheat brew?

Go out and get yourself a bottle of Paulaner or Weihenstephaner, and also a bottle of Pyramid or Widmer. THAT'S the kind of difference the yeast strain makes! I'm willing to bet that the wort from all four of the aforementioned beers would be indistinguishable from each other.

 

[Saccharomyces]

Unless you are building an insanely hoppy IPA or IIPA the majority of the beer's flavor will come from the yeast. It's always surprising to taste the same wort fermented with two different strains (several examples have been brought to the local homebrew club, and I just tried this myself with an Imperial Stout). Most of the time they taste like two completely different beers, even though it's the same wort that came from the same kettle!

 

[mcmidc]

Not only does the strain matter (in some styles more than others), but also the temperature of fermentation, and yeast pitching rates can play a large role in the final product.

 

[pompeiisneaks]

But you can simplify it a bit... if you know you prefer say 3 or 4 types of beer, then you could just keep those strains around, OR if you have a specific favorite that uses a liquid yeast (which are more expensive than dry) you could just keep that one on hand... I use dry yeast myself a lot, but do use liquid from time to time and I'm trying to reuse a few of those types of yeasts... I've only done one so far though it worked great in reuse.

 

[CowboyShootist]

Not only does the strain matter (in some styles more than others), but also the temperature of fermentation, and yeast pitching rates can play a large role in the final product.

What do you mean by yeast pitching rates? I always dump the entire dose in all at once. Is there a different recommendation?

 

[Clonefarmer]

What do you mean by yeast pitching rates? I always dump the entire dose in all at once. Is there a different recommendation?

pitching rate

 

[mcmidc]

What do you mean by yeast pitching rates? I always dump the entire dose in all at once. Is there a different recommendation?

For most beers that will work just fine. But if you are using liquid yeast or reusing slurry you "should" use the pitching rate calculator. Not to say that over pitching or under pitching won't work. You will still end up with beer, but you will end up with better beer if you pitch the right amount of healthy yeast and keep you fermentation temps in the right range.

 

[CowboyShootist]

Wow and I thought I already knew everything about making beer...LOL...just kidding.

What's interesting here is that I actually asked a question about the amount of yeast needed for a batch of beer when I first started some 6 months ago and no one pointed me to this calculator.


Thanks