Basics Of Making And Using A Yeast Starter

[Wilkensone]

If using liquid yeast, add to stir plate in multiples of 100 & build up to your desired volume until krausen is noticed (Might not be noticeable at lower volumes but look for condensation forming, usually 24 hours whatever) then turn off stir plate & let sit until finished.

Crash chill for a few days so you can get rid of most of the (fermented) wort before adding to fermenter.

Hey Pete,
Thanks for the info, when you say add in multiples of 100 is that a 100ml mix of DME and water, also how often are you adding them?

Is that crash chilling just to remove all of the likely not very nice tasting starter wort once separated??

 

[TidalPete]

Hey Pete,
Thanks for the info, when you say add in multiples of 100 is that a 100ml mix of DME and water, also how often are you adding them?

Is that crash chilling just to remove all of the likely not very nice tasting starter wort once separated??

Actually Wilkensone my "100" is a bit of a typo.

What I meant to say is that for every 10ml of yeast added to your starter there needs to be 100ml of wort. E.g.. 1:10.

Steps of 10 is what I'm all about here if you get my drift?

If using DME then I would add approx. 100g\litre max to make up to a 1.030\1.040 starter wort. Boiled & cooled of course with nutrients added pre boil.

I split a Wyeast pack into 4x 16ml tubes (Plus left-over yeast = 5 x starters) & pitch into 100ml wort & build up in multiples of 10 from there.

IMHO the longer you crash chill, the more solidified the yeast cake (Depends on what yeast is used here) will become & the easier it is for you to decant the excess "Not very nice tasting" wort before pitching to fermenter.

Hope this helps?

 

[Wilkensone]

Actually Wilkensone my "100" is a bit of a typo.

What I meant to say is that for every 10ml of yeast added to your starter there needs to be 100ml of wort. E.g.. 1:10.

Steps of 10 is what I'm all about here if you get my drift?

If using DME then I would add approx. 100g\litre max to make up to a 1.030\1.040 starter wort. Boiled & cooled of course with nutrients added pre boil.

I split a Wyeast pack into 4x 16ml tubes (Plus left-over yeast = 5 x starters) & pitch into 100ml wort & build up in multiples of 10 from there.

IMHO the longer you crash chill, the more solidified the yeast cake (Depends on what yeast is used here) will become & the easier it is for you to decant the excess "Not very nice tasting" wort before pitching to fermenter.

Hope this helps?

Sure does help thanks mate.

I couldn't think of anything other than 'not very nice tasting' okay!? h34r:

The 1:10 makes sense, just a normal yeast nutrient added to the water as you bring it to a boil?

Final question I hope when you split into 4 are you storing the 16ml tubes in a fridge/freezer until needed then making the starter?

 

[TidalPete]

Final question I hope when you split into 4 are you storing the 16ml tubes in a fridge/freezer until needed then making the starter?

Yeski!

just a normal yeast nutrient added to the water as you bring it to a boil?

Yeski!


:icon_offtopic:

Have also just read your problems with your kegging.
A shame you're so far away as I have a few spare Bronco taps on hand.
Persevere & all will be good.

 

[Camo6]

Be sure to add the nutrient well before boiling or you might be banned from making starters in the kitchen.

 

[TidalPete]

I was banned once in my K & K days when wort boiled over & ran over the stovetop into all the drawers underneath. :lol:

 

[Wilkensone]

Be sure to add the nutrient well before boiling or you might be banned from making starters in the kitchen.

Noted, thanks

Have also just read your problems with your kegging.
A shame you're so far away as I have a few spare Bronco taps on hand.
Persevere & all will be good.

Yeah I feel like a total ***** at the moment, I have questions and issues everywhere!

Thanks a lot for your help, its been really useful and hopefully one day I will report back with good tasty beer for all! :kooi:

 

[Camo6]

I was banned once in my K & K days when wort boiled over & ran over the stovetop into all the drawers underneath. :lol:

Hehe! I did similar by adding nutrient to a boiling erlenmeyer. Shot into the rangehood then flowed over into the cupboards and floor.

 

[lael]

Hehe! I did similar by adding nutrient to a boiling erlenmeyer. Shot into the rangehood then flowed over into the cupboards and floor.

Did the same thing. Massive volcano. Only took one time to learn that lesson, that's for sure!

 

[Yob]

Hey Yob, just because I'm a bit slow apparently..
You put 2/3 into your brew 1 wort,
1/3 into a 2l starter
which you split 250ml from to make another starter
added 500ml to the brew which already had 2/3
then 1250ml into brew 2?
while still having a 250ml starter on the plate?

1 vial, 1/3 into 2lt starter, 2/3 directly pitched to brew 1, of the 2lt starter, 1/4 of it was directly pitched to a second starter, that way I could keep the propagation going to build it up

Its not what I would usually do, but these ferments need special attention (batch for the case swap punters) and as the only batch of this yeast I've got, it does too if I want to keep it going.. Which I most certainly do.

 

[Yob]

Final question I hope when you split into 4 are you storing the 16ml tubes in a fridge/freezer until needed then making the starter?

If you want to freeze them you need to do so in a glycerine solution. Keeping in the fridge is fine for a few weeks but after that will need to be made into a starter again to revive them

 

[skb]

I have made starter before for my Us-05 after harvesting, worked like magic. But now for my harvested S-23 (Larger Yeast) I have a question, what tempreture do I do the starter at ? To stop off flavors do I make a starter at a cold temperature

 

[storeboughtcheeseburgers]

I have made starter before for my Us-05 after harvesting, worked like magic. But now for my harvested S-23 (Larger Yeast) I have a question, what tempreture do I do the starter at ? To stop off flavors do I make a starter at a cold temperature

Yes, pitch it into *Sanitised* wort at room temperature. I usually step up - 30g DME/300ml and raise it by 70g/700ml 24 hours later. Depending whether your pitching straight away of course, you may want to make a larger starter over time, say 2L and crash chill it once its brewed out until you're ready to pitch.

I don't use yeast nutrient, I usually just throw a pinch of old dry yeast I have when I'm boiling/sanitising the wort.

 

[skb]

Great thanks doing as advised .. Looks good

 

[skb]

The re cultured yeast worked a treat my pils with the recultured yeast came 4th in state ...

 

[skb]

The re cultured yeast worked a treat my pils with the recultured yeast came 4th in state ...

 

[welly2]

Wait for the starter to ferment out fully, let the yeast settle, decant the spent starter beer and pitch only the yeast. This pitching method means you can pitch only the yeast, minimizing any off-flavours in your beer that may have been introduced by the starter. Allowing the yeast to fully ferment the starter and then settle (often with refrigeration) adds more time to the starter process, but it also allows the yeast to build up reserves so that they can acclimatize quickly and easily when pitched.

Just a quick question - by fermenting out fully, you check this the same way as you do with your normal brewing? When the gravity is the same over a couple of days it's good?

 

[danestead]

Just a quick question - by fermenting out fully, you check this the same way as you do with your normal brewing? When the gravity is the same over a couple of days it's good?

Generally, no you dont test the gravity, although you could if you like however you are increasing your risk of infection and are wasting 100mL or whatever of your starter (which may only be a litre or 2. That 5-10% of your starter you are wasting on 1 hydrometer reading).

Ale and lager starters appear slightly different. An ale starter will get a krausen like in your fermenter, however it may be much smaller or non existant if you have it on a stir plate as the stirring motion tends to make the krausen collapse somewhat. So for an ale, the krausen may be an indicator of the state of your starter however a better method is to look at the wort/beer in there. I find that by turning on the torch on my phone and putting it up to the flask, you can see the tiny CO2 bubbles rising to the surface when it is fermenting. You will notice at the beginning there ks none, then the amount of bubbles will increase and then peak, and then they will slow down and stop as the fermenting starter finishes.

For a lager starter, you wont really get a krausen, so you are once again best to look for the CO2 bubbles.

You will also notice that the colour of the starter changes. It becomes more opaque as more yeast is grown and you can actually see the yeast moving through the starter as clouds.

 

[welly2]

Generally, no you dont test the gravity, although you could if you like however you are increasing your risk of infection and are wasting 100mL or whatever of your starter (which may only be a litre or 2. That 5-10% of your starter you are wasting on 1 hydrometer reading).

Ale and lager starters appear slightly different. An ale starter will get a krausen like in your fermenter, however it may be much smaller or non existant if you have it on a stir plate as the stirring motion tends to make the krausen collapse somewhat. So for an ale, the krausen may be an indicator of the state of your starter however a better method is to look at the wort/beer in there. I find that by turning on the torch on my phone and putting it up to the flask, you can see the tiny CO2 bubbles rising to the surface when it is fermenting. You will notice at the beginning there ks none, then the amount of bubbles will increase and then peak, and then they will slow down and stop as the fermenting starter finishes.

For a lager starter, you wont really get a krausen, so you are once again best to look for the CO2 bubbles.

You will also notice that the colour of the starter changes. It becomes more opaque as more yeast is grown and you can actually see the yeast moving through the starter as clouds.

Great, thank you. I will be using a stirplate for my yeast starters so will try that out. I'm tempted to make a test yeast starter just so I know what to look out for when I actually need to use the yeast starter.

Cheers!

 

[Killer Brew]

Just a quick couple of questions on "stepping up" that I couldn't see the answer for here.

I need 4 times the cell count as provided by my liquid yeast. Looks like I need a big starter, at least 3L. I have made a 1L starter so far. To step up to the 2L starter do you (a) add a further 1L of wort; or b siphon off the initial wort and add 2L of fresh wort? Also what is the timing of the step up (ie. fully fermented or earlier)? Thanks.