White Labs-NO Fermentation?!

[agroff383]

+1 on the wine thief. I never could use a turkey baster without getting it everywhere and/or squirting a bunch of it back out of the baster and into the beer.

With my wine thief I just sanitize it (inside and out), dip it in, put my thumb over the hole and I get a bunch of beer to transfer to my sample tube. Usually takes a few dips to get a full sample, but it works great!

They're also usually longer than a turkey baster, so if you move to a carboy or better bottle as a fermenter or secondary it's easier to get the sample with a wine thief.

Good deal I am going to buy one right now. Thanks again everyone for the advice.

 

[agroff383]

The starter is your friend with liquid yeast, repeat after me, the starter is your friend. It's not difficult and once you make one and see the difference, you will be hooked.

I can taste a clear difference between beers that I just pitched a single vial of liquid and left to reproduce on their own, and beers that I pitched a big starter at high krausen. The fermentation is cleaner and quicker, and best of all, the lag time on a liquid starter can be almost immediate. Fusels and esters have almost no chance if you pitch a proper liquid starter at the right temp and then maintain that temp for the first 3-5 days.

After a long afternoon or evening of all-grain brewing, it's way more satisfying to pitch a starter and watch it take off like a rocket, versus watching the airlock for multiple days afterward looking for any sign of life and worrying about needing to re-pitch. I can go to bed on brew night knowing that my fermentation is already under way and will be done quickly and cleanly.

Yes I will definitely be making starters from here on out, I guess even with dry yeast if it would make a difference.

 

[Pappers_]

Yes I will definitely be making starters from here on out, I guess even with dry yeast if it would make a difference.

Dry yeast already has a huge cell count - no need to make a starter. The reason to make a starter with liquid yeast is to increase the cell count. Now, if you wish, you can make a "proof" with dry yeast - just a little warm water and sugar, to make sure the yeast is alive. Personally, I never do that - just sprinkle the dry yeast on.

 

[Revvy]

+1 on the wine thief. I never could use a turkey baster without getting it everywhere and/or squirting a bunch of it back out of the baster and into the beer.

With my wine thief I just sanitize it (inside and out), dip it in, put my thumb over the hole and I get a bunch of beer to transfer to my sample tube. Usually takes a few dips to get a full sample, but it works great!

They're also usually longer than a turkey baster, so if you move to a carboy or better bottle as a fermenter or secondary it's easier to get the sample with a wine thief.

I had just the opposite...I started with the theif, and hated it...I personally found that a long turkey baster works easier for me....With the theif I ended up dripping all over the place....

 

[ChshreCat]

With the theif I ended up dripping all over the place....

See your doctor, a little penicillin should clear that right up for ya.

If you hold the top of your sample container over the opening of your fermenter, you can transfer right into it from the wine thief.