1028 Yeast Starter

[Trough Lolly]

No worries - I know the bit about making yeast starters in the future. I had initially planned on bottling the whole 3L of starter, but changed my mind last night and decided to put on a porter over the weekend and hey, why not use the 1028 in it?!

Is 300ml of this starter enough? It's a heck of a lot more than was originally in the smack pack, but will there be enough viable cells to grow in the 23L wort? Decisions, decisions!

Cheers,
TL

 

[Batz]

I have several starters in my fridge , I usually tip the whole lot into a 2Lt of DME starter , now should I be draining off the top and only adding the sediment?

 

[Trough Lolly]

It's not the end of the earth if you do tip the lot in, but as Doc states, the liquid on top is essentially unhopped beer and isn't needed in the starter. I plan on draining off most of the "beer", into a glass and then sloshing up the sediment and putting that "yeast concentrate" into the fresh starter which should re-activate the yeast production cycle.

Short answer to your question, Batz, is yes...

Cheers,
TL

 

[crackers]

sounds like ive been doing things wrong.

to start with, i "smack the pack" and wait to swell.
mix it into a 1.5L of 1.040 wort in a 2L coke bottle.
shake the bejeezus out of it, and pour 400-500 mls into i 600ml coke bottle.
put this into the fridge
then use the 1L starter and step it up to 1.5L in a couple of days.
use this starter into the wort. always starts to ferment in less than 10-12hrs.
then use the 600ml bottle as a smack pack next time.
i usally do this till i get 6-10 starters. (moneys worth)

never had any trouble.

cheers
crackers

 

[Trough Lolly]

Crackers - your method is fine, of course...The difference between your method and the one I just used is that you are making two starters and refrigerating one before it gets a chance to fully ferment - that's why you wouldn't be getting a gusher with the 600ml coke bottle - the yeast hasn't fully consumed its media.

Your 1.5L yeast starter is essentially the same as the 2 x 1.5L bottles I have fermenting right now. The difference is I have let all three bottles (2 x 1.5L and 1 x 2L) fully ferment before I bottle off and refridgerate.

You get 6-10 starters in time - I'm just making 10 stubbies of 1st generation yeast in one go. I will repeat the cycle with the last stubbie and it will be my smack pack for the 2nd generation of yeast. It should be good for about 4 generations (ie, 40 odd stubbies of yeast from one smack pack).

Cheers,
TL

 

[crackers]

ahh..thanks TL
i know that with each starter i make the yeasy will alter slightly
hence the reason i only make 6-10 starters.
once i get a keg fridge/freezer going i'll be making 6 first generation starters.
then doing the same as you for 3-4 generations from the first generation starter..

you had me worried for a minute there..

cheers
crackers