Can I brew today? Incomplete starter.

[looneybomber]

So I want to brew a "freezer cleaner" ale today. I'm using old grains and old yeast (WLP099, Best by Jul 20th).

Wed night I made a 3L, 1.040 starter and now (about 36hrs after pitching) I am down to 1.024. By 10pm tonight (48hrs after pitching), will I be able to pitch into a 5gal, 1.050 OG wort?

I'm not too concerned with taste since I brew low gravity sacrificial beers in order to grow enough yeast for high gravity beers later. My primary concern is yeast health.

Thanks.

 

[duboman]

Well, you kind of answered your own question, if your primary goal is yeast health then why would you skimp on producing a healthy dose of yeast to start with.

If your yeast is already stressed it isn't going to miraculously become healthy just because you pitched into a lower gravity beer, it will simply multiply into a colony of stressed yeast

 

[looneybomber]

So I can't use the yeast at all, or that I just need to let it ferment the starter down more?

 

[duboman]

You would be best to allow the yeast to completely ferment out and ensure you have the proper pitch rate for the first beer. this will ensure that you have a healthy batch of yeast to proceed with the larger beer following.

 

[looneybomber]

Cool. I will check on that starter again tomorrow. Hopefully it's ready then.

 

[shtoive87]

If your yeast is already stressed it isn't going to miraculously become healthy just because you pitched into a lower gravity beer, it will simply multiply into a colony of stressed yeast

You would be best to allow the yeast to completely ferment out and ensure you have the proper pitch rate for the first beer. this will ensure that you have a healthy batch of yeast to proceed with the larger beer following.

How do these statements agree with each other? I'm just trying to understand the reasoning. It appears that making a starter from stressed yeast produces more stressed yeast, but then you say that the starter fermenting out ensures healthy yeast? Can you elaborate a bit more?

 

[looneybomber]

Well just an update. I brewed a milk stout (will add the lactose at bottling) and it's bubbling great, nearly a constant stream of bubbles!

Recipe:
~5.5lbs light DME
8oz English black malt
8oz English roasted barley
8oz Special B
5oz Belgian aromatic

0.5oz Magnum @ 60min
0.25oz Northern Brewer @ 60min
0.5oz Williamette @ 10min
0.5oz Spalt @ 10min

Yeast: WLP099
I made a 3L starter and it fermented down a good bit, then I added 1L of 1.068 wort just to keep the yeast going around 5pm yesterday. Temp stayed at 68* while in a tub of water. At about 4am this morning, I poured the whole thing in and went to work.

I got about 4gal of wort at 1.068 in the fermenter, so I added a little over a half gallon of water to bring it down to about 1.061.

I got home from work, and my tub of water warmed to 69-70deg. I have a fan blowing on it now since it's getting warm.

 

[duboman]

How do these statements agree with each other? I'm just trying to understand the reasoning. It appears that making a starter from stressed yeast produces more stressed yeast, but then you say that the starter fermenting out ensures healthy yeast? Can you elaborate a bit more?

The OP was initially taking already stressed yeast and making a starter which is the way to go about it but by not allowing the yeast to fully ferment out and get to proper pitch rate the yeast would again be stressed fermenting the lower gravity beer.

By allowing the starter to complete he would have the proper pitch rate for the first batch and a healthy fermentation thus eliminating the potential of carrying over the potential for the same issues in the larger beer.

Yes, seemed contradictory in my previous posts taken separately.

 

[shtoive87]

The OP was initially taking already stressed yeast and making a starter which is the way to go about it but by not allowing the yeast to fully ferment out and get to proper pitch rate the yeast would again be stressed fermenting the lower gravity beer.

By allowing the starter to complete he would have the proper pitch rate for the first batch and a healthy fermentation thus eliminating the potential of carrying over the potential for the same issues in the larger beer.

Yes, seemed contradictory in my previous posts taken separately.

Gotcha, thanks for the clarification. I remember listening to a Jamil show recently where he mentions that the yeast growth is pretty much done after 6-12 hours. He says that the multiplication occurs when the yeast are using the oxygen in the starter, then when the oxygen is gone they eat the sugars in the wort and the reproduction rate is reduced significantly.

 

[looneybomber]

The WLP099 brought it down to 1.006 for an apparent attenuation of 90%, actual 73% according to pint.com.au

The bad news is it doesn't have as much flavor as I would have hoped, which might be from the WLP099 or it could be that the grain was in my freezer for a while. Kind'a bummed.