Yeast Starter.

[tomnt1]

I have a recipe that calls for WYEAST #3333... and then 1/2 gal yeast starter. Can you pitch the yeast without making the starter?

And I've read about culturing your own yeast, does anyone do that? If so how difficult is it and how does it add to the taste verses store bought yeast?

[b3s]

yes, you can pitch without a starter...i usually do. won't hurt anything except that it will take longer for you to achieve active fermentation since it takes longer for the yeast to multiply. a starter is pretty simple...just a mini-wort: gallon of water and a cup of dme, boil for fifteen minutes, then let cool. add your yeast to that and cover with an airlock for a day or so. if you want, you can add some yeast nutrient.

to culture your own yeast is pretty simple...take your yeast tube, pour some of the starter in it before pitching the yeast, cap, and put in the fridge.

[paul84043]

In the absence of a glass jar to do a starter in, a "sanitized" milk jug will take a standard bung and works very well for starters.
You can sanitize with your sanitizer of choice, or pour some 180+ Degree water into it and slosh it around. The heat and hot steam will sanitize the milk jug.

I was making a starter in a Mason Jar and had a little episode with an ice cube and alot of shattering glass...it wasn't one of my finer hours..

A Half a gallon starter? Are you making 12,000 gallons of beer?
That's a huge starter...

[b3s]

Originally posted by b3s
...just a mini-wort: gallon of water and a cup of dme...

err...i meant a quart of water. DOH!

[Redbird Fan]

....or you can buy a glass flask from a brew shop (usually less than $10) - This way you can boil your water/dme solution in the flask and be already to go, no worry about transfer - just let it set to cool (usually a couple hours) to room temp. - (cover while cooling - add your yeast culture and insert your airlock (they make stoppers to fit the flask)

Hint - do not try to boil this by turning your burner on high, walking off and waiting to remove it once it starts boiling - - the flask acts like a volcano and it's not hard to boil over - try making it with 500ml in a 1 liter flask - it takes around 7-10 minutes on a fairly high range top setting - watch it closely and prepar to move it quickly - if you see the solution start to rise up the flask it's probably too late.

You haven't cleaned a homebrew mess until you've cleaned boiled over dme solution from your stove.

[b3s]

Originally posted by Redbird Fan
You haven't cleaned a homebrew mess until you've cleaned boiled over dme solution from your stove.

now ain't THAT the truth :D

[tomnt1]

Thanks again for the info! I really enjoy this forum and the "buffet of knowledge" it offers.

Boil over is not in my vocabulary as of yet...but never say never...right?

Paul...I called my homebrew supply in Dallas this morning and asked about the amount of starter...they said they reccomended 1/2 gallon for the 5 gallon batch. This does seem like a lot of yeast to me too, but I'll do it and see...there's alot of varied ways to do starters...

[paul84043]

Well, I typically overfill to account for suspended solids and loss during transfer, so the extra volume won't be a big deal...

[shughes600]

One other tip on the flask method. If you have a flat glass top stove, place the erlemeyer flask only half way onto the burner. The liquid on the burner will boil while the rest will not. If you get it just right you can do a continuous unattended boil.

[Tweek]

The guy who runs my local homebrew shop reccomends that you do your starter in your primary. This makes sense due to the fact that there is less chance for infection due to less handling. I have not done this because I reuse my yeasts and I make 10 gallons and it is easier for me to make my starter in a seperate container then split it.

[paul84043]

You mean actually pour your yeast in, let it get going, then pour the wort right in on it?

[MmmBeer]

that sounds really good. less to sanitize. but does it work well?

[Tom C]

Originally posted by paul84043
A Half a gallon starter? Are you making 12,000 gallons of beer?
That's a huge starter...

I usually make a starter that is 3/4 gallon and then split it for a 10 gallon brew. My brews are usually bubbling away 2-3 hours after pitching this way and decreases lag time for those pesky bacteria that may be lurking around somewhere.

Durng my last brew I took a sample of about 20 oz of my starter and strored it in a grolsh bottle. Placed in the refridgerator and let the yeast go dormant. My mistake was not to place an air lock on it and sealed it. Upon reactivating the yeast and opening the bottle, I created a yeast volcano that shot up right to the ceiling of my kitchen! Talk about a mess to clean up...far worse than any boil over. I was able to save a smack pack worth of the Belgian Wit yeast and my starter is bubbling away ready to pitch for Saturday's brew of a Berry-Weizen.

So learn from my mistake. If you are going to save a portion of your starter, do so with an airlock!

Tom C

[Guzzler]

Be very careful in making your starter, it's quite easy to get an infection in the starter from airborn bacteria. Here're some tips from my local brew shop:

Make your starter in two steps, you should only grow the yeast about 10 fold in a step. Use a couple of flasks, 1 liter and 2 liter.

Start with a pint of water, 2/3 cup dme and 1/8 tsp of yeast nutrient boiled for 15 minutes. Dump that into the sanitized 1 liter flask and cover imediately. Chill it in a water bath to about 80 degrees.

When it's cool, use a propane torch to create a safe area under which you pitch the tube of yeast into the flask. The flame creates an updraft that the bacteria can't get through. Cover the flask loosely with clean tin foil, and keep it at around 70 degrees. Wait until it has a froth, about 12 hours or so.

Make another batch of wort but (double the quantities), in the 2 liter flask, cover and chill as before. Using the propane torch over the mouth of 1st stage starter carefully pour off the liquid, but retain the slurry. Swirl the flask to get the yeast into suspension, run the flame over the lip of the flasks to kill any bacteria, and pitch it into the 2 liter flask. Cover it with tin foil as before. That should grow to a little more than 20 oz of yeast, which is plenty for a 5 gal batch.

When you're ready to pitch it into your fermentor, do it under the propane flame, and pour off the excess liquid first, then swirl, flame the lip of the flask, and pitch.

The process sounds troublesome, but I'll never go back to pitching directly from a tube. Using a starter, I've cut days off my fermentation, and my high gravity batches actually ferment completely now.

[joejoe]

I pitched my last batch using a starter for the first time. I previousley pitched directly using Wyest pitchable tubes and fermentation did not start for at least 24 hours. This last batch with my starter was bubbling likecrazy after 4 hours! After 5 days in the primary I now have at least 2 inches of yeast on the bottom of my primary and am ready to rack to secondary. O.G. was 1.055 for my honey nut brown ale and after 5 days it is down to 1.015. I used Wyeast British Ale yeast.
I will never pitch again directly from the tube as making a starter is so easy.
I used 1/2 cup dme with 2 pints of water.
After 3 days I added another boiled batch of the same.
A total of 6 days gave me a huge starter to pitch in addition to a failry high gravity beer.
________
Toyota Tsusho history (http://www.toyota-wiki.com/wiki/Toyota_Tsusho)

[paul84043]

I do starters on my beers that will be over about 1.055, or when using Wyeast (I've had a few marginal batches I think).
Lately I have started pulling out the White labs pitchable tube the day before I brew instead of 6 hours or so, this has decreased my lag time by quite a bit.

[wortchillergoal]

I had never done a yeast starter. This past Sunday I was going to brew but my some what old Wye Yeast did not swell its bag. On Wed. it was swollen but I could not brew. I decided to try a starter. I boiled a quart of water with a cup of DME for 15 minutes. Colled it pitched the yeast and poured it into my carboy. I brewed on Fri. and dumped the wort in to the carboy. I could not beleive the strong ferment, like one of my barely wines but the OG was a mid 50. I don't know that I will do this every time but I would do it under the same conditions.