Another newbie question for you guys. Will using a yeast starter just make a more active fermentation or will it also speed of the process? If I use a yeast starter will I not have to let it ferment for as long? FYI I'm still on my 1st batch and this Friday it will have been in the primary fermenter for 3 weeks.
Yeast Starters?
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WoodlandBrew
Well-Known Member
Fermentation can be thought of as a bio chemical reaction between yeast and sugar. So, yes it does ferment faster, but not as much as you might think. Every gram of extract produces about 1 billion new yeast cells, so a typical 20L (5 gallon) batch with 3kg (7 lbs) of extract there are 3 Trillion cells produced. That's six times the typical number of cells pitched. There are some charts in my book that show this. If you are interested I have the spread sheet that generated the plots.
... Although, when fermentation is complete the beer still needs a couple of weeks to condition before it really taste like beer.
... Although, when fermentation is complete the beer still needs a couple of weeks to condition before it really taste like beer.
Beernik
Well-Known Member
There are three main things that put stress on yeast in beer fermentation: too little oxygen in the wort, too low of a pitch rate, and fermentation temperature. Having stressed yeast increases the risk of off flavors and underattenuation.
Making a starter increases the pitch rate. Your pitching a fresh, healthy, and large population of yeast into your wort. So once they are in there, they don't have to put as much energy into reproduction as they do in eating sugars.
The beer I'm brewing this weekend:
The yeast vial I purchased had an estimated 91 billion yeast cells. I made a starter and used a stir plate to turn it into 323 billion yeast cells that I will split between two 5.5 gallon batches. So, about 161 billion yeast cells each. This is 75% of my normal pitch rate for these beers because I want to stress the yeast a little to get some esters and phenols (banana and clove) production out of the hefeweizen yeast.
Making a starter increases the pitch rate. Your pitching a fresh, healthy, and large population of yeast into your wort. So once they are in there, they don't have to put as much energy into reproduction as they do in eating sugars.
The beer I'm brewing this weekend:
The yeast vial I purchased had an estimated 91 billion yeast cells. I made a starter and used a stir plate to turn it into 323 billion yeast cells that I will split between two 5.5 gallon batches. So, about 161 billion yeast cells each. This is 75% of my normal pitch rate for these beers because I want to stress the yeast a little to get some esters and phenols (banana and clove) production out of the hefeweizen yeast.
IvanTheTerribrew
Well-Known Member
Use this website to calculate your yeast starters and how much your beer needs.
http://www.brewersfriend.com/yeast-pitch-rate-and-starter-calculator/
A yeast starter will make your wort ferment better and maybe a little quicker but you still want to dedicate at least 2-3 weeks for them to do all of their work. Even if they are done within one week, they still need time to clean up byproducts they made during fermentation that would otherwise show up as off flavors and possibly even cloudier beer.
- ISM NRP
http://www.brewersfriend.com/yeast-pitch-rate-and-starter-calculator/
A yeast starter will make your wort ferment better and maybe a little quicker but you still want to dedicate at least 2-3 weeks for them to do all of their work. Even if they are done within one week, they still need time to clean up byproducts they made during fermentation that would otherwise show up as off flavors and possibly even cloudier beer.
- ISM NRP
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