Yeast starter questions

[NYShooterGuy]

BRY-97 American West Coast Beer Yeast was started in 1400 ml of 1.040 OG wort or light briess DME.

2 lbs. With 2L of H2O boiled and cooled. Then bottled 32 oz of the cooled wort in a sterilized Mason jar because I didn't expect the tinny 1 inch bar to effectively aerate over 2L of wort and yeast.

The reason for such a big yeast starter is because I plan to make a 1.087 OG imperial IPA soon and figured I'd need close to 400 billion yeast cells.

It seems like A LOT of DME and wort to make the starter, but I'm using brewer's friend's yeast starter calculator and it still looks like I will fall short of the needed yeast cells!

Is this right or as a rookie home brewer, did I make a probable mistake?

Thanks for the help!

 

[NYShooterGuy]

Update: was able to see a nice vortex with the 1400 ml, so I added the 32oz. of wort to make 2.35 L for the yeast starter and I can see the beginning of a vortex start.

Added the calculation into brewer's friend yeast starter calculator and was able to get over 400 billion cells! Yay!

Sorry for the confusion. "New guy mistakes" I guess.

View attachment 1417048575166.jpg

 

[Beer-lord]

Just curious why you made a starter with dry yeast. You could have just used 2 packs.

 

[dkeller12]

Dry yeast doesn't need a starter, normally that is just for liquid yeast since it would be so much more expensive to buy multiple packages. If I remember correctly, using a starter with dry yeast may cause them to rupture their cell walls causing issues with viability, I could be wrong but I do recall something of that sort. Maybe somebody else can confirm this or not. Dry yeast only needs to be rehydrated in water per the manufacturers directions.


Sent from my iPad using Home Brew

 

[flars]

You can make a starter with dry yeast. The dry yeast must be properly rehydrated before adding to the starter wort. When dry yeast is rehydrated it is essentially the same as liquid yeast.

 

[NYShooterGuy]

Didn't rehydrate the dry yeast. Didn't have two dry packets.

 

[myerstyson]

So I can rehydrate the dry yeast, then pitch it into a starter, yes?

 

[flars]

So I can rehydrate the dry yeast, then pitch it into a starter, yes?

Yes. Don't use RO or distilled water though. Bottled spring water or well water is the best for yeast cell health. Mineral content of the water prevents cell wall damage from osmotic pressure.
Rehydrate the yeast in 10 times its weight of water. Gently stir. Allow a 30 minutes rest.

 

[NYShooterGuy]

Update: 9 hours into the starter, a layer of foam and steady gas bubbles climbing up the flask alerted me that fermentation was occurring and cell reproduction stopped.

I poured 32 oz of the contents into a sterilized container and uncapped the stopper. Swirled and reset the spin bar. I now have a vortex and hopefully cell reproduction.

Will pour this (hopefully finished) yeast in 38 hours into sterile containers and then restart the 32 oz I removed earlier.

I'm hoping this will be enough yeast for the double IPA with a OG of 1.087

 

[NYShooterGuy]

I hope this works

View attachment 1417090900602.jpg

 

[dkeller12]

Did it work?

 

[andy6026]

Just so you know for the future - it's not essential to get a vortex going with your stir plate to get a healthy starter, and quite often spinning the bar with that much force can throw it. Enough spinning to keep the yeast from settling will also aerate it plenty and multiply it as desired. I admit though, a vortex is pretty to look at.


Sent from my iPad using Home Brew

 

[NYShooterGuy]

I pitched the 1400 ml into the aerated wort and then the remaining 720 ml after it had spun with yeast nutrient for 24 hours. (I lost about 8oz. due to the overflow of a Mason jar full of starter fermenting and being confined with the closed container. Once opened, it spilled all over)