Yeast starter temperature

[BernhardBrauer]

Hello. Posted a few times here. I have a question. I have a yeast starter made with dme and 1056. I let the wort cool but my thermometer was off so I probably pitched the yeast at around 78*. How will this effect my starter? Thanks in advance.

 

[McKnuckle]

It should kick-start that yeast rather nicely. That temp is fine for a starter. You should make sure to let the yeast settle, then pour off the starter beer before pitching the yeast into your wort. But other than that, all is good.

 

[BernhardBrauer]

Thanks. I do usually decant my starter. This is the first time I’ve not started at recommended pitching temp. I am trying the snpa clone so I want it to turn out right.

 

[Golddiggie]

This is why I've gone over to using the canned starter wort. No more issues with chilling down the cooked starter wort made from DME before pitching the yeast in. Besides, I'm not really setup where I'm living now to chill a cooked starter wort before pitching the yeast.

As mentioned already, the temperature the starter ferments at isn't as important as the beer the resulting yeast will go into. I don't do any temperature control of my starter as it's spinning on the stirplate. I've seen it get into the high 70's and low 80's before. Cold crash for 24-48 hours (longer if possible) and decant as much of the spent starter as possible.

I'd suggest looking into getting some canned starter (the cans are concentrate, so you add water to those) for the next starter you want to make. You are locked into 1L increments with this. I have yet to really have any issue with that though. I often do two starter steps, unless I've gotten lucky and managed to get to the LHBS close enough to brew day and the yeast they have on hand is fresh enough to only need a single step. With all the insanity in the world right now, I don't go as often as I otherwise would. If we have brew dates set a couple of months into the future, I'll often pick up the yeast packs for those batches.

 

[BernhardBrauer]

Thanks I will look into that. I have been generally using 2 L starters according to John palmers book. They work I have never missed the temp before. This all depends on the style lagers I use 3 L. Or I’ll use two packs of dry for ale.

 

[Golddiggie]

I've been using either one of the online starter calculation tools, or BeerSmith, for my starters. Rather than a book. Since yeast age plays a factor, as well as if you use a stirplate, and which algorithm you use (there are two choices there last time I checked).

Using the calculation sites/tools, I've been able to make starters for aged yeasts that give me what I need to pitch. I typically use my 3L flask and don't add more than 2L of starter wort. The last set I did was a 2L followed by a 1L starter for a 9 gallon batch (final, into keg, volume). Using mentioned tools really does help optimize starters for your batch size and OG. While I don't try to get the pitch count dead on (if it is, great). If anything I typically aim to get a bit more yeast going into the batch. A few billion more yeast cells to the party won't be an issue.

 

[BernhardBrauer]

Thanks

 

[RM-MN]

The point of making a starter is to grow more yeast cells. Yeast grows best at about 100-110F. Yes that will make your starter beer taste bad. Don't drink it. If you pour one liter into 20 liters of beer you won't notice the flavor. If you decant you won't either.

 

[JohnDBrewer]

I do my starters at room temp rarely ever decant usually no more then 24 hrs before pitching. If I decant it usually because my brew day was delayed and I have time to chill for 24-36 hours. On my big lagers sometimes the starters are 6 liters, so just extra beer.