Yeast Starter Process Help

[EyePeeA]

I used Mrmalty's yeast pitch rate calculator to determine how much Gigayeast Vermont Ale yeast I would need for a 1.074 IPA. I hope this attenuates down to 1.012-ish.

The calculator suggested 1.2 liters of starter with the 2 packs, dated 12/29/15. Each pack says it contains 200 billion cells, but I think the viability because of the date was cut back to 72%.

I added 118 grams of DME to 1.2 liters of boiling water. After the quick boil, I cooled down to 64F and pitched the 2 packs of yeast. This brought the volume up to 1.5 liters.

I made the starter on Saturday night and will be intermittently shaking it until Sunday night. Will cold crash in Monday and brew on Tuesday.

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Please pick apart this process and let me know where I could have done better, as well as any other tips you can think to aid my attenuation without pure O2 access.

I plan to ferment my 5.5 gallon batch at 63-64F and then bump it up to 68-70F when fermentation slows.

Should I rouse the carboy at any point, or leave it be? Thoughts on using gelatin and cold crashing? What happens if I overpitch?

 

[whoaru99]

I came up with ~3L starter in a single step, by shaking.

 

[EyePeeA]

I came up with ~3L starter in a single step, by shaking.

With one pack of yeast or two?

I have a 2000ml flask.

 

[flars]

According to the Brew United yeast starter/pitch rate calculator, for a 5.5 gallon brew, the two packs of yeast would have been sufficient unless you were going for the one million cell/ml per degree plato pitching rate. 75 million cells/ml is the default pitch rate.

Edit: New edit: Your starter will result in approximately 147 billion cells of the 281 needed. A second 1.2 liter starter will result in 317 billion cells. Not ideal with the second step being the same size but it will get the yeast cells propagated that you need.

I usually hold the fermentation temperature steady until the fermentation is done. I'll let the temp rise to ambient to clear the beer.

 

[whoaru99]

With one pack of yeast or two?

I have a 2000ml flask.

That was with two packs of the date provided.

I used the Pro Ale 1.0 pitch rate in this calculator: http://www.brewersfriend.com/yeast-pitch-rate-and-starter-calculator/

With 2L flask, which is what I use too, I'd probably have done something like a 1L first stage and a 1.5L 2nd stage. That would get you to est. 429B against a target of 374B. It would do nicely, ending between the 1.0 and 1.25 pitch rates.

 

[EyePeeA]

The difference about these Gigayeast Vermont Ale yeast packs is they supposedly contain 200 billion cells per pack, which is twice the amount of Wyeast 1056.

Estimating 72% viability because of the date, I would be around 300 billion cells without the starter.

So with a starter, there should be over 400 billion. Correct?

 

[whoaru99]

Correct.