Yeast Starter

[finny13]

I've made yeast starters before with vials of White Labs yeast. They instruct you for small/mid strength beers to make a starter with a pint of water, 1/2 cup of DME.

I made a starter last night with a wyeast 1056 smack pack, using the same formula. I looked on their site and they recommend making a bigger starter. Full cup of DME, 2 pints of water.

This shouldn't be a big deal right? I'm not seeing any airlock activity, but its only been 12 hours, and I don't expect to see much if any activity. My beer isn't huge by any means. It's an IPA that should have a starting gravity around 1.062. I should probably just relax right?

 

[Teaman]

Yep. You still multiplied the yeast just not as much as you would have liked but it is close. Wyeast and White Labs yeast counts in the package are probably about the same. I always use 1 qt starters now but have done pints in the past and they worked fine.

 

[mojotele]

You're fine.

Just to be helpful, though, I prefer to use Mr. Malty's Pitching Rate Calculator when determining the size of my yeast starters. There are a lot of variables that should go into figuring out the size of your yeast starter. That's not to say that the calculator is the final authority on starter size. But, it is very good for 90% of your brews.

I also recommend measuring your DME by weight instead of volume. It's just a good habit to form when it comes to measuring solids. Trying to measure solids by volume leads to inconsistent measurements. Plus, it makes the math easy. 1 liter starter to 4 oz. of DME!

Anyway, you'll be fine. But there's some stuff to consider for future brews.

 

[osagedr]

+1 on the Mr. Malty

 

[mr_bell]

I give Mr. Malty's pitching rate calc a +100. Use it all the time.

I use 1 gram dme for every 10 ml of final volume for yeast starters, which I read in Brewing Classic Styles by Jamil Zainasheff (Mr. Malty). I'm sure that rule can be found in other sources too.

 

[rjwhite41]

I always use Mr. Malty. Making the same size starter regardless of gravity, age of yeast, etc. just doesn't make much sense to me. Relax though, your beer will be fine.