Welcome to BeerSmith! > Options

The yeast starter options are used internally for both the Yeast Starter Tool and Yeast Starter Tab within the recipe designer to calculate the appropriate size and viability for yeast samples and starters. Changing these options will affect both the tool and recipe yeast starter calculations.

New Feature: The yeast starter is entirely new in BeerSmith 2.0

Online Articles: Yeast Starters Part 1, Yeast Starters Part 2, Making a Yeast Starter, Chris White Podcast, Chris White Interview

Mac Note: On the Macintosh version of BeerSmith, the options dialog is listed as Preferences under the BeerSmith2 menu and toolbar rather than options

Setting the Yeast Starter Options

o	Select Options from the Tools menu or toolbar (Preferences on the BeerSmith 2 menu for the Macintosh version). Select the Yeast icon on the toolbar in the options dialog.

o	In the desired yeast pitching rate section, you can set the desired (target) pitching rate for various types of beer. These are measured in millions of cells per milliliter per degree plato of specific gravity. The default values are recommended.

o	The yeast growth limits set limits on the highest yeast growth when using a starter for liquid yeast. If you increase this value it effectively results in larger yeast starters needing fewer packets of yeast, while lowering the number results in smaller starters but more packets required up front.

o	The stir plate factor represents the increase in growth of yeast when using a stir plate. Using a stir plate can significantly reduce the size of starter needed, so they are recommended.

o	In the dry yeast options, you can set the number of dry yeast cells per gram and water to use when hydrating dry yeast (in milliliters per gram). The default values are recommended.

The yeast viability and aging section lets you adjust the starting viability (percent of cells) for new yeast and loss of yeast viability per month for each of the three major yeast types. Slurry ages the fastest, liquid yeast within a few months, and dry yeast can actually last several years if properly stored.

o	The final section for yeast slurry concentration allows you to adjust the number of cells in the slurry as well as the non-slurry percent for slurry collected from a previous batch of beer.