Yeast Calc Confirmation

[electrolight]

So I have purchased the ingredients for a beer with a predicted OG of ~1.110. The guy at the LHBS suggested that with a beer that high ( Didn't realize that was that high...? ) I should make a yeast starter. I said roger that and went home and have been researching this evening on how to do that...

I figured I need a stiring plate for good results so I ran out shopping and built one. Now I use the calc at http://yeastcalc.com/ and it suggests, If I understand how to use it correctly, that I need a ~4 L starter to achieve the desired Cell Count...

If anyone can offer advice or reassurance that would be great. Oh, also... Can I just use sugar instead of DME? Cause that would make things easier (since I don't have any on hand).

Thanks again guys.

 

[barrooze]

Assuming the amount of wort you'll be pitching your yeast into is about 5 gallons, according to the Jamil Zainesheff method of calculation, you'll need a 3.4L starter for a 5.25gallon starting volume of 1.110 beer (and yes, that's a really big beer). There's apparently a 2nd method on yeast calc that says you only need a 2.1L starter for this beer. Personally, since this is such a big beer and you want it to attenuate as much as possible and not stall out at a high gravity due to improper pitching rates, I'd go with a 4L starter with some yeast nutrient. Also, use yeast nutrient during the last 10 or 15 min of your boil, just to ensure there's all the right things in your wort for the yeasties to do the job right.

Do NOT use sugar as the sugar content of your starter. This trains the yeast to only consume simple sugars, making it much more difficult for them to consume the maltose you'll have in your wort. If you have some extra grain, you could do a small mash to get your starter wort. I would really avoid the sugar for your starter for this beer as it will probably be destined for failure or at least a stuck ferment. Good luck!

 

[Qhrumphf]

Absolutely do not use sugar. Go out and buy some DME. Using sugar can cause the yeast to lost their ability to ferment maltose, and causing MAJOR problems with your beer.

If you can't do a ~4L starter, then you can use Yeast Calc to do the starter in several steps. Plus side is much smaller starters. The downside is that it'll take you longer to do it (~48 hours with the first starter to build the cell count, another ~48 hours cold crashing to drop the yeast, decant off the spent starter wort, top up with more starter wort or pitch yeast slurry into new starter, and repeat).

Alternatively, and I do this from time to time with massive beers like that, you can just buy two packs/vials of yeast and you'll need less of a starter to get the same cell count.

You could also do either a small batch or low gravity starter beer, ferment that out, and then harvest slurry from that yeast cake and repitch. When I'm doing a massive beer (Barleywine, Belgian Quad, RIS, etc), that's usually what I do. You can get more than enough yeast from the yeast cake.

 

[electrolight]

Awesome. Thanks for the tips guys. Exactly what I needed to know.

 

[TipsyDragon]

According to Mr Malty making 5 gallons of ale with that OG you need to put 2 packets of yeast in a 1.25L starter on a stir plate.

If you only want to use 1 packet of yeast you need a 3.09L starter.

 

[Qhrumphf]

If the yeast he's got is as old as the yeast I usually get (about a month old) then a ~4L starter is right on the money. If he gets it straight off the truck and only a couple days old, then yeah, a ~3L starter is about right. But the date stamp on that yeast is important, especially for a big beer like this where you need to pitch a LOT of yeast.