Should starter be made from pitchable yeast tube?

[corysdad]

Getting ready to make my third batch. Since my first two did not start fermenting like they should have, I was wondering if I should make a starter with the tube of yeast? Has anyone done this before? Thanks...

[DreamWeaver]

IMO, It's not absolutly necessary to do a starter with your yeast but if you want to get serious, cut your lag times and have sufficient yeast, do a small starter (doing 5gallon batch?) If you pitch your tube it may take 5-15 hrs to start. And if you are buying these everytime you brew, you are spending $5+ for each tube. Do a starter and it will shorten lag times.

A small starter is what I do... Buy/keep a small amount of X-Light Dried Malt Extract (DME) handy. Heat 1 pint of water for a few minutes and then add about 1/4 cup DME and boil a few more minutes, some guys add a few (2-4) hop pellets to the mix. Cool it and place it in a sanitized 1/2 or 1 gallon jug, then add the yeast, place on an airlock, swirl it every once in awhile and watch it go. I do this 2-3 days before brewday. Pitch it on brewday or fridge it.

Then if you are going to do that, you can save back a quart or so of the yeast from when you rack it out of your primary fermentor and refridgerate it right away. That will take care of your yeast for your next batch. I do this 4-5-6 times before I buy a new vial of yeast.

Watch your sanitation and the reused yeast will start fast and save ya ka-ching! :cool:

Hope that helped.

[O2 Mash]

The yeast tubes are pitchable, but I always use a yeast starter.

What are your lag times? Are you getting enough oxygen in your wort? I usually shake my carboy for about ten minutes to make sure the yeast has enought oxygen to do its job. I get a vigorous fermentation, and with a starter, it's rockin' and rollin' in 8 hours or so.

[toneyc]

I use a whisk to aerate my wort after it cools. Without a starter, I have seen lag times over 24 hours. With a starter, I have seen lag times of an hour and a half. I'm sold on the starter. Dreamweaver has it outlined above, I would only add that Palmer's site recommends 1/2 cup DME per pint of water to get a starter that is about 1.040. I like big starters, I use 1.5 cups DME and 3 pints water and a little yeast nutrient. I have never put hops in mine, but lots of folks do.

:D
Toney.

[corysdad]

So is there an advantage to using a pitchable tube for a starter or should you use the dried yeast?
PS. Thanks for helping. I want to get this fermentation right, sounds like a starter is the way to go.

[fretlessman71]

Beating a dead horse here...

Another great reason for using a starter is the fact that there are all sorts of wild yeastybeasties floating around that think your beer tastes really good. Using a starter helps to ensure that YOUR yeast wins the battle and gets going before anything else has a chance to get a toehold. This, I think, is a large part of my failings to get exactly the flavors I wanted in my 3 batches so far. DEFINITELY going with a starter next time.

[Fast_Eddy]

Like fret said - "Beating a dead horse"

Making a starter is always suggested as one of the easiest measures for improving your beer. It works and it's true - try it and see.

Just search for the word starter - you'll get quite a few hits.

[DreamWeaver]

Originally posted by corysdad
So is there an advantage to using a pitchable tube for a starter or should you use the dried yeast?
PS. Thanks for helping. I want to get this fermentation right, sounds like a starter is the way to go.

Starters for liquid yeast are pretty easy to do.

As for dry yeast, I sometimes use Nottingham by Danstar and they don't recommend doing a starter because they say they somehow treat their dry yeast with an energizer that helps to get cell walls ready for sugar after rehydration. Whatever, 18 hours is what I usually get for a lag time but have been rehydrating at a lower temp and pitching a few hours later. They recommend rehydrating it @ around 95*F in water about 15-30 minutes before pitching it. They have more info on the Danstar Yeast site. See Link below.

I've used dry yeast before with great results. The only thing I have against dry yeast is the long lag times. But may try jumpstarting Nottingham with a small starter this weekend, then doing their method on half of the 10 gallon batch I'm doing.

Danstar Website Info (http://consumer.lallemand.com/danstar-lalvin/danstar.html)

[DreamWeaver]

Thought I'd follow up on the post above. I have used dry yeast before as I said earlier and the only neg comment I had was with long lag times. Never noticing any off flavors.

I did a 10.5 gallon batch of my American Light Ale over the weekend, OG 1.051 and with reading the Summer Brewing Woe's and others concerns of trucking liquid yeast and the heat involved, I too had concerns. So when ordering my supplies last week, I opted for Nottingham Dry yeast. I followed their directions on the link (post above) by sprinkling one fermenter with the dry yeast at a warmer temp than usual. (83*F) and the other I rehydrated in a small (1/4 cup of boiled/cooled to 95*F water) and pitched that one within 20 minutes of rehydration also at 83*F. This was at 5:00pm. At midnite I thought I'd just check the fermentors and noticed airlock activity at 20 pops per minute (5 per 15 second intervals) in both. WOW! 7 hour lag that usually took me 15-24hrs! And maybe missed the very first activity. By the next morning both fermentors were 180ppm!

The moral of the story....... If all else fails, follow the manufacturers directions! :cool:

[Baker420]

Originally posted by toneyc
I have never put hops in mine, but lots of folks do.



If you do use hops in your starter, don't forget to keep it dark.