1st Go At Starter With Wyeast 2308

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ausdb

Copper kettles don't kill people....
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Hi all

I am making a starter up for a partial mash batch on the weekend. This is a wyeast 2308 munich lager pitched into 1L of 1.040 wort. I did it into 500mls of wort 1st in a PET bottle and and last night put it into this 5L demijohn I just aquired (I bought that fermenter and incubator that was on ebay recently, it was worth it just for the capper and demijohn!).

Does this look like a happy starter to you all? Its fermenting at about 15C sitting on the tiled floor of my laundry, I plan on stepping up another litre tomorrow and putting it in the fridge to bring it down to around 10C for my inaugural brew day on Sunday.

Also I will be buying an airstone this weekend, which one is best 2.0 micron or 0.5 micron?? I will be using it with an aquarium pump.

Thanks if you can help

2308_starter.jpg
 
looks good to me ausdb.
just give it a swirl every time you go by it to rouse the yeast.
your temps look fine 2308 9-13 c.wyeast can give or take a bit of temp variance.


cheers
big d
 
Heya Ausdb,
Starter looks good to me. I would go with the 2.0 um stone. 0.5 um is very small. Unless you are filtering your air through a 0.2 um filter I imagine the 0.5 um would clog with particles quickly. You are really only looking to produce bubbles so 0.5 is plenty small enough.
cheers
Darren
 
For starters you dont need to run it down at 10deg better off at 20deg or so to encourage lots of activity and growth. Once you get the fermentation started on your brew then drop the temp.
 
You are growing yeast so you can ferment the starter at 20-22C

I don't like checking the yeast by refridgerating the fermented-out starter, and it should be pitched into the lager wort at 20C or so anyway

Jovial Monk
 
I was a bit unsure I have done a hell of a lot of reading (probably 9 months worth) and not a lot of doing. I thought if I was going ot brew a lager then it was better to get the yeats working around the temp it would be fermenting at.

I was also not sure about shaking it around too much, hopefully when it comes time to bottle the brew the yeast will sink so nicely like it has. It was quite difficult to get it all off the bottom of the first bottle I started it in.

Any tips on where to get a hep filter for the air stone in Perth??

Thanks for the help so far
 
I keep my starters at the temp I'm planning to pitch the yeast. I generally pitch lager yeast at around 18C and then let is cool down to 10-14C.
 
Starter brewing temps.

Ask 10 brewers, get 20 answers.

If you ferment at the wrong temperature, the yeast will produce off flavours, so if you are following the golden rule of starters, 5% by volume for ales, 10% for lagers, you are going to have 5% or 10% of funny flavoured wort in your beers.

If you are aiming to only pitch the yeast slurry, by all means ferment at whatever temperature produces the maximum yeast.

If you are making a starter from a small amount of yeast that is old, make a small starter, say 100-200ml, ferment this warm (say 20 degC) When this is actively fermenting, then transfer the whole lot to your usual starter volume.

Aeration, nutrition, swirling to keep the yeast suspended and warm temperatures are all needed to keep the yeast in the actively growing phase.
 
I never pitch starter wort, funny flavored or otherwise into my beers

Have them fermented out by brewday then 30mins into mash (or 15 mins into boil ofr extract brewers) pull out about half a litre of the wort, boil for 15 mins to sanitise, then pour off the clear wort above the yeast flurry (use this to start another starter bottle of the yeast) and pour in the boiled cooled wort, shake like sh*t and when your maash, boil and chill has finished you can pitch an active starter using the same wort as you are making!

Jovial Monk
 
I'm a fan of pitching the whole starter...

As for the samples I prefer to rouse my starter before I take one it so I get a true sample of the yeast in each phase of its cycle...
I aim to pitch my yeast when its at high krausen. If you pour of the wort and only use the yeast cake you may be taking the yeast prone to early floculation and so after a few generations the yeast may begin to drop too early...
Just my thoughts...

I'm probably as anal about samples as some are with oxygenation :p

Asher for now... :p
 
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