Dry yeast starter?

[gregmosu]

I’m about to brew a Beer in a Bag IPA and I was thinking about doing a yeast starter for it. First, when I look around for tips on starters, I see almost nothing on doing it for dry yeast. Is a starter a bad idea when using dry yeast? Anyways, I just wanted to run through the process to make sure I’m doing this correctly before I make the starter.

1) I will start by rehydrating the yeast. Boil 1 cup of water, add yeast to water when it cools to 95 degrees.
2) Combine 2 pints of water with ½ cup light DME and boil for 10 minutes.
3) Cool to room temperature, pour into growler, pitch yeast and cover with foil.
4) Shake growler to get oxygen into the wort.
5) Keep starter at room temp for half a day swirling as often as possible since I don’t have a stir plate.

After 18 hours this process should be done and I can store in frig until I’m ready to use it. After I drain the liquid from the top, I should only have the layer of yeast cells below.

Now, what do I do when I’m ready to pitch this starter into my IPA? Do I take some of the wort from my IPA that I just brewed and add it to the yeast starter to get it going before pitching? Or do I add a cup of warm water to rehydrate again before pitching?

Thanks!

 

[hvjackson]

No need to make a starter for dry yeast if this is a <=5 gallon batch, there are already enough cells in a package. In fact most dry yeast manufacturers recommend against making a starter since it is unnecessary and introduces an opportunity for infection.

There are about 20 billion cells per gram of dry yeast, so a standard 11.5g package has 230 billion cells. Dry yeast is very stable if properly stored so you can safely assume there should be more than 200 billion viable cells for pitching, which is pretty much the perfect amount for a 5 gallon batch.

Liquid yeast on the other hand only ships with 100 billion cells per package, and they die at a rate of about 20% per month. So you need to make a starter to increase the number of cells.

If you are making a lager, a very high OG beer, or more than 5 gallons, you will need to increase the cell count, either by making a starter or by pitching multiple packets. (Frankly dry yeast is so cheap that I would probably spend the extra $2 or whatever on another packet than bother with a starter.) The Brewer's Friend yeast calculator will help you estimate how many cells you need for your wort and how to make the starter, including dry yeast if you desire.

 

[Gavin C]

Is a starter a bad idea when using dry yeast?

Yes, for a variety of reasons.

No need to make a starter for dry yeast if this is a <=5 gallon batch, there are already enough cells in a package. In fact most dry yeast manufacturers recommend against making a starter since it is unnecessary and introduces an opportunity for infection.

There are about 20 billion cells per gram of dry yeast, so a standard 11.5g package has 230 billion cells. Dry yeast is very stable if properly stored so you can safely assume there should be more than 200 billion viable cells for pitching, which is pretty much the perfect amount for a 5 gallon batch.

Liquid yeast on the other hand only ships with 100 billion cells, and they die at a rate of about 20% per month. So you need to make a starter to increase the number of cells.

+1 All great points.

 

[flars]

Your procedure for making a starter with dry yeast is good. Rehydrating first is the key step. Keep the starter wort on top of the yeast until you are ready to pitch. The spent starter will protect the yeast. No need to rehydrate before pitching. After making a starter with dry yeast, you have liquid yeast. The yeast was already rehydrated in the first step to make the starter.

You can add wort, after decanting, about four to six hours before pitching. this is called a vitality starter.

Do you need to make a starter though. Eleven grams of relatively fresh yeast will have no problems fermenting five gallons of beer up to 1.064 estimated OG.

 

[gregmosu]

Thanks for the replies, I'm glad I asked first.

But I have another question. I just looked at the package of yeast and it says use by 9/15. I pulled this from the frig of the LHBS and put it straight in my fridge. Is it ok, to use it this week when I brew?

 

[flars]

Your yeast is still good.