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Yeast starter

mpizzurro

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Just a quick question about making a yeast starter.  Under the fermentation tab where it says yeast packs with starter, does that mean adding that many yeast packs to the wort PLUS a yeast starter ?  Or are those the amount of packs to use to make a yeast starter ?
 
I know what your saying. The yeast starter tool is a bit confusing. The best thing to do is just take a 1/2 cup of DME and boil it in a qt. of water for 15 or 20 mins. This should give you about a 1.040 gravity. If it is a bit high because of the boil off, don't worry. You could add some water to it (not too much though) or just start with more the next time. If the gravity is a few points high it wont matter. Let it cool down to 70-90 and add your vial or packet of yeast. It will be just fine. Shake the crap out of it to introduce plenty of oxygen. Put some foil over the top of whatever you are holding it in. In 24-36 hours just stick it in the fridge. Do this about a week in advance to your brew date. You should also look at the recommendations on the yeast company web site. They will likely be close to what I just said but, check first.
 
I should also say that it is much easier to check the gravity with a refractometer than a hydrometer. However, if you follow my instructions it will be close enough. You will have nothing to worry about.
 
mpizzurro said:
Just a quick question about making a yeast starter.  Under the fermentation tab where it says yeast packs with starter, does that mean adding that many yeast packs to the wort PLUS a yeast starter ?  Or are those the amount of packs to use to make a yeast starter ?

Those are the packs used to make the starter. Generally, you an expect a 3x increase in cell count, per generation of starter. A little bit of yeast nutrient helps, too.

Pitching the starter at high krausen is going to give you the shortest lag time. So, starting the yeast the Wednesday before a Saturday brewing session is probably going to give you the best results.

Often a starter will smell like green apples. This is acetaldehyde, which is what yeast create before turning it into ethanol. It may also smell like popcorn butter. Both of these will be gone after fermentation. In a starter, their presence indicates yeast are spending energy on budding, rather than completing fermentation, which is exactly what you want.

If your brewday is going to be delayed by a week, then refrigerating as stated by Freak is a good option. Longer and I'd recommend another starter just to wake them up and rebuild the viable population.
 
Freak said:
I know what your saying. The yeast starter tool is a bit confusing. The best thing to do is just take a 1/2 cup of DME and boil it in a qt. of water for 15 or 20 mins. This should give you about a 1.040 gravity. If it is a bit high because of the boil off, don't worry. You could add some water to it (not too much though) or just start with more the next time. If the gravity is a few points high it wont matter. Let it cool down to 70-90 and add your vial or packet of yeast. It will be just fine. Shake the crap out of it to introduce plenty of oxygen. Put some foil over the top of whatever you are holding it in. In 24-36 hours just stick it in the fridge. Do this about a week in advance to your brew date. You should also look at the recommendations on the yeast company web site. They will likely be close to what I just said but, check first.

The ratio of water to DME for 1.040 gravity is 1/2 cup DME to 1/2 a quart of water.  The ratio you suggested is 1.020 gravity, not 1.040 gravity.

http://www.howtobrew.com/section1/chapter6-5.html

 
I've had better/more reasonable results using      http://www.yeastcalc.co/    than BeerSmith's pitching calculator. It gives you the option for a multi-step starter.
 
Scott Ickes said:
Freak said:
I know what your saying. The yeast starter tool is a bit confusing. The best thing to do is just take a 1/2 cup of DME and boil it in a qt. of water for 15 or 20 mins. This should give you about a 1.040 gravity. If it is a bit high because of the boil off, don't worry. You could add some water to it (not too much though) or just start with more the next time. If the gravity is a few points high it wont matter. Let it cool down to 70-90 and add your vial or packet of yeast. It will be just fine. Shake the crap out of it to introduce plenty of oxygen. Put some foil over the top of whatever you are holding it in. In 24-36 hours just stick it in the fridge. Do this about a week in advance to your brew date. You should also look at the recommendations on the yeast company web site. They will likely be close to what I just said but, check first.

The ratio of water to DME for 1.040 gravity is 1/2 cup DME to 1/2 a quart of water.  The ratio you suggested is 1.020 gravity, not 1.040 gravity.

http://www.howtobrew.com/section1/chapter6-5.html

that's actually a typo in the online version. that makes closer to a 1.080 starter. It's easier to use metric weights. 100 grams DME to 1000 ml (grams) water which is about 3.5 ounces (about .5 cups) per quart.

durrettd said:
I've had better/more reasonable results using      http://www.yeastcalc.co/    than BeerSmith's pitching calculator. It gives you the option for a multi-step starter.

this is by far the easiest and best tool I have found for making starters, especially stepped starters.
 
durrettd said:
I've had better/more reasonable results using      http://www.yeastcalc.co/    than BeerSmith's pitching calculator. It gives you the option for a multi-step starter.

Thanks Durettd, great internet site!
 
This is off of the Wyeast web site. Do with it what you will.

Starter Recipe:
The optimal media for cell growth and health require using a malt based media (DME) fortified with nutrients. Gravity should be kept near 1.040 and cultures should be grown at 70°F.
Recipe 0.5 cup DME (100g, 3.5oz) ½ tsp Wyeast Nutrient 1qt.(1L) H2OMix DME, nutrient, and water. Boil 20 minutes to sterilize. Pour into a sanitized flask or jar with loose lid or foil. Allow to cool to 70°F. Shake well and add yeast culture.

This is what I have done for more than 20 years and it works just fine.
 
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