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The yeast starter tab is primarily designed to help you calculate the proper size of a yeast starter needed if using liquid yeast. Note that yeast starters are rarely needed with dry yeast as it merely needs to be hydrated before use. See the online articles below for additional details.

Generally a yeast starter is created 12-24 hours before brewing, and is made from dry malt extract boiled with water and then cooled to room temperature. The recommended target gravity for a yeast starter is 1.036 SG.

The top right section shows the yeast packages currently in your recipe. This list shows the viability of each yeast package and estimated number of viable cells in that package. The average large smack pack/vial of liquid yeast has approximately 100 billion viable cells when new and the small smack packs contain only about 20 billion cells.

To get an accurate viability reading, be sure to edit each yeast and enter the production date for the yeast packet.

On the left side, the tool shows an estimate of the yeast cells needed. This is based on the type of recipe, batch size and pitch rate setting which can be adjusted in the Yeast Options dialog if desired. Below that is the estimated number of yeast cells in your recipe if you use no starter at all.

Under the "Yeast Starter Used" section, you can enter the size of starter you intend to use and check the box if you are using a stir plate. Note that stir plates significantly increase growth rates for your yeast starter, and are recommended. Once you have entered a yeast starter size, the tool will show the estimate of how many cells you have using the starter. If it is too few you can either increase the starter size or the number of packages of yeast.

Along the bottom of the tool is the recommended number of packages and starter size. Note that the starter size may be different than your starter size if you are not using the recommended number of yeast packs shown.

Finally on the bottom right the calculator will estimate the number of dry yeast packets (large 11.5 gram ones) to use and hydration needed for those yeast packets.

Note: The recommended liquid starter and yeast starter used numbers will not match up with the actuals unless you use the recommended number of yeast packets and recommended yeast starter size.

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

Displaying the Yeast StarterTab

o	Open a recipe by double clicking on it

o	Click on the Yeast Starter tab a the top of the recipe window to view/edit your recipe yeast starter details