Better to under pitch or delay pitch?

[seilenos]

Brewed a tripel yesterday and got the wort cooled and in the fermenter.

My plan was to build a starter from Wyeast 3787 Trappist High Gravity, let it sit overnight, and pitch this morning.

I smacked it to activate only to have the exterior packaging splatter all over me. Not a great way to end the day.

So now I have 5 gal of 1.078 wort in the fermenter and will need to run back out to the LHBS today to pick up another pack.

Do I:

• smack, wait a few hours, then pitch directly from the pack (total time since cooled 20 hrs)
• smack, build starter, and pitch tomorrow with the start (total time since cooled 40 hrs)

?

thanks.

 

[kh54s10]

Unless you lost most of the yeast I would have risked making a starter from what was left.
for this one, I would buy 2 packs and pitch both without a starter. You really need 3 but that would be really expensive.

 

[IslandLizard]

I wonder how you burst that smack pack. They're extremely tough!

As @kh54s10 said, you could have been ahead a little of schedule making a vitality starter from what was left over inside the pack.

Since your idea was to make a starter after brewing, were you going to make a vitality starter a la Brulosopher?

I would buy 2 packs, but they're likely 2 months old if not more. Then make a vitality starter with them for 4 hours. You'll need a gallon jug, 1 quart of your beer wort, 1 quart of water to bring the gravity to around 1.040. Shake the wort/yeast mixture well until it's very foamy, every 15-20 minutes. Then pitch the whole jug. You should aerate or oxygenate your wort too, right before pitching.

You probably know it's much better practice to prepare yeast starters before brewing day to allow enough time to build better, larger starters, and avoid last minute problems. That is, until you drop your yeast flask...

 

[seilenos]

I usually get the pack going right when I begin the brew process and, if I feel that I'll need a starter, I'll put it in a flask with some fast pitch and let it sit overnight before pitching. This time I completely forgot about the pack until the end.

I ended up with two packs, with one credited back by the LHBS. This is evidently a failure of the smack pack that they see once in a while. Or they were just saying that to make me feel less stupid.

After roughly 18 hrs since pitch, she's bubbling away.

thanks.

 

[seilenos]

Follow-up question: I ended up harvesting what I could from the spent pack and throwing it in with a can of fast pitch. I have 500 mL of starter with what looks to be what I would expect to the amount of yeast that would have been in the pack.

Can I put this in a sanitized mason jar and store it in the fridge until a later date?
Will it last for a few months?

thanks.

 

[thenugsmoustache]

Yup. It'll last at least a couple months if not more. That's how I keep my overbuilt starters.

 

[seilenos]

Got it in a labeled mason jar in the fridge.

thanks!

 

[IslandLizard]

I usually get the pack going right when I begin the brew process and, if I feel that I'll need a starter, I'll put it in a flask with some fast pitch and let it sit overnight before pitching. [...]

Starters need around 24 hours to complete when on a stir plate. The agitation and the loose top allow air (O2) to be mixed in continuously, for optimal cell growth.

Just placing a flask on the counter, even with intermittent swirling, does not give nearly as many cells. See:

Yeastcalculator.com

In case you're not familiar with the rest of yeast starter process:
If you don't want to add 2 liter of thin, oxidized starter beer to your good batch of beer, cold crash it in the fridge, at least overnight, or for 2-3 days, depending on the flocculation characteristics of the yeast strain.

Then on brew day, pour off most of the starter beer (leave some behind) and let it slowly come to room temps. Before pitching, aerate or oxygenate your wort well, swirl the yeast into a pourable slurry and pitch.

In some cases preparing a vitality starter from that slurry is beneficial, getting you a more active yeast and less lag time. For Higher Gravity beers that vitality starter is good practice as well as thorough oxygenation, sometime followed by a second oxygenation round after 6-12 hours (not longer).

 

[electrolight]

I frequently don't pitch until 12 hours in. I wouldn't be worried about 20 and even 40 would be fine. The idea is that even if a little something got in there, you're going to pitch a ton of yeast (relatively) and it will easily outcompete most odd action in there. Unless you get some brett in there. just my 2 cents.