Am I pitching enough Yeast?

[HopHeadHarry]

Im a NOOB on my 6th batch.So after much reading here (Thanks to all this is a great community with much info) I built a stir plate and began making starters as it seems underpitching is a common problem.

Currently I smack my pack the morning before brewing, return about 5 in the evening after work and make my starter based on "How to make a starter" thread here I am using 650ml (3 cups) water and 1/2 cup extra light DME. Set it on the stir plate overnight and pitch about 18 - 20 hrs later.

Most of my beers have been in the 1.058-1.075 range.

So not knowing the math of how much I'm increasing my yeast count and reading where people are making much larger starters ( 1 liter or more) my question is: With this proceedure am I pitching adequate amounts? Should I make adjustments in total volume? Amount of DME? Time spent on the stirplate?

Thanks in advance for any info.

 

[NordeastBrewer77]

check out this site to get the proper starter size, it's really helpful.

 

[jmf143]

Rule of thumb is to pitch 750,000 to 1,000,000 cells per milliliter of wort per degree Plato. For our purposes degree Plato is Specific Gravity divided by four. Note that you drop the "1.x" from your Specific Gravity first, so 1.058 would be 58. There are 3,785 milliliters in a gallon.

Both a Wyeast Smack Pack (the bigger one) and White Labs vial have approx. 1 billion cells in them. The amount of viable cells will depend on how old the package is. Pitching 100 billion viable cells into 1 liter of water + 100 grams DME produces a total of 225 billion cells. Upping the water and DME to 2.8 liters + 280 grams produces a total of 362 billion cells.

http://www.yeastcalc.com is another good site for calculating starter sizes.

 

[WooHokie]

Sorry, I'm even more of a noob. Currently fermenting batch 2 and 3.

I don't see why its important to do a starter? My buddy who has been brewing for awhile helped me with my 3rd batch and we just smacked the pack about 2 hours before we pitched it, and that thing fermented well (like 4-5 days of active bubbling).

 

[slarkin712]

Sorry, I'm even more of a noob. Currently fermenting batch 2 and 3.

I don't see why its important to do a starter? My buddy who has been brewing for awhile helped me with my 3rd batch and we just smacked the pack about 2 hours before we pitched it, and that thing fermented well (like 4-5 days of active bubbling).

Here goes, as simple as I can make it:
Making a yeast starter increases the number of yeast cells, as they grow and multiply when added to a yeast starter. Having an adequate amount of healthy yeast cells at pitching can help to ensure a complete fermentation (i.e. you end up with you expected FG). It also significantly contributes to the flavors produced by the yeast. Underpitching yeast can cause excessive ester formation among other things. Pitching the proper amount of healthy yeast is probably the most important thing a brewer can do to produce good tasting quality beer. You can find better info in any number of homebrew books, but most experts agree that pitching rates are very important.

For your previous batches what was your OG? If it was 1.055 or below then you probably had just enough yeast cells to get a solid fermentation. The higher OG of a beer the more yeast cells that are needed.

 

[dcHokie]

Here goes, as simple as I can make it:
Making a yeast starter increases the number of yeast cells, as they grow and multiply when added to a yeast starter. Having an adequate amount of healthy yeast cells at pitching can help to ensure a complete fermentation (i.e. you end up with you expected FG). It also significantly contributes to the flavors produced by the yeast. Underpitching yeast can cause excessive ester formation among other things. Pitching the proper amount of healthy yeast is probably the most important thing a brewer can do to produce good tasting quality beer. You can find better info in any number of homebrew books, but most experts agree that pitching rates are very important.

This ^ and aeration can make the difference between OK beer & good beer, or good beer & great beer.

 

[HopHeadHarry]

Thanks for the info on amounts of starter to achieve the correct number of yeast now my question is TIME.

Lets say i pitch a wyeast lge smack pack in 1 liter H2O and 100grams DME and put on my stir plate. How long will it take to multiply to that level? Am i giving it enough time at 18 to 20 hrs? By that time it tends to start to flocculate but no krausen (thought that might be due to the agitation)

 

[slarkin712]

18 to 20 hours will most likely not be long enough to get the counts on yeastcalc.com. Typically the yeast will be through with their growth phase, which is the only phase that you care about when making a starter, in 36-48 hours. Also, to get that growth you will want your starter at around 70F. A little higher or lower is good, but too low and they will grow slowly. The temp of your starter does not need to match the temp at which you will ferment the beer.

Edit: Don't worry about the krausen. Oftentimes when making a starter the krausen will rise and fall so quickly that you won't even notice it.

 

[Hang Glider]

Here goes, as simple as I can make it:
Making a yeast starter increases the number of yeast cells, as they grow and multiply when added to a yeast starter. Having an adequate amount of healthy yeast cells at pitching can help to ensure a complete fermentation (i.e. you end up with you expected FG). It also significantly contributes to the flavors produced by the yeast. Underpitching yeast can cause excessive ester formation among other things. Pitching the proper amount of healthy yeast is probably the most important thing a brewer can do to produce good tasting quality beer. You can find better info in any number of homebrew books, but most experts agree that pitching rates are very important.

For your previous batches what was your OG? If it was 1.055 or below then you probably had just enough yeast cells to get a solid fermentation. The higher OG of a beer the more yeast cells that are needed.

This ^ and aeration can make the difference between OK beer & good beer, or good beer & great beer.

+1
that and good Temperature Control.

 

[beergolf]

Here read this. It has a lot of good info on starters for the guys at Wyeast.

http://www.mrmalty.com/starter_faq.php