Yeast starters

[olcurt]

If I want to make a yeast starter by using one of the wyeast starter packs can I just smack it then pour it into some pre made wort or should I smack it, leave overbite and then put into a wort?

 

[olcurt]

Leave it over night that is.

 

[ridnpowder]

Read the directions on the pack... I believe that it should be around 4 hours

 

[Revvy]

From the horse's mouth.

From the Wyeast FAQ website:

3. Does the package need to be fully swollen before pitching?

No, The package can be pitched before activating, or at anytime during the activation process. The activation process "jump starts" the culture's metabolism, minimizing the lag phase.

You don't even really have to smack if you don't want to if you are making a starter, but you definitely don't need to wait for it to inflate.

 

[ToastedPenguin]

I use the Wyeast smack packs and do starters for all my brews and have had excellent results. IMO it is worth the extra effort even with the smack packs helping increase the cell count.

Since I brew on Saturdays I smack the pack on Tuesday and let it sit overnight in my home office that has just a few running computers in it (aka its the warmest place in the house besides the gateway to hell down in my basement). Twenty four hours later on Wednesday I create my starter using the pretty standard method of DME + water + boiling = wort, which I then place in my 2000mL flask, cool down to around 70 and then aerate the wort.

Once aerated I then sanitize the outside of the smack pack that has blown up like a balloon, sanitize the scissors and cut a corner of the pack and pour the yeast into the flask. Once the yeast is in the wort in the flask I put a stopper on it and an airlock and move it to the basement until Friday. Friday evening I put the flask in the fridge overnight so the yeast will settle to the bottom. The next morning prior to brewing I pull the flask out of the fridge and decant as much of the wort off the top of the yeast as I can but still leaving enough wort behind so I can swirl the yeast prior to pitching it. I leave the flask covered in my kitchen to warm up to room temp so by the time I go to pitch it; about 3 hours later, it will be close to the temp of the wort.

Probably more info than you were looking for but if you hadn't thought about doing yeast starters with a Wyeast smack pack you should give it a try sometime.

David

 

[olcurt]

Probably more info than you were looking for but if you hadn't thought about doing yeast starters with a Wyeast smack pack you should give it a try sometime.

David[/QUOTE]

Heck no....that's EXACTLY the kind of answer I was looking for!
Thanks guys!

 

[ridnpowder]

From the Wyeast website...

4. Does the cell count increase when the package is activated?

The cell count does not increase significantly when the package is activated.. The smack-pack is not designed to dramatically increase the cell count, it simply “activates” the yeast metabolism.

 

[laterholmes]

Yeast starters are scary to me.