Yeast Starter, so confused...

[Bhamsteelerfan]

So today, I made a yeast starter. 2 cups of water to 1/2 cup of DME. I was really excited because this was going to be the maiden voyage of my DIY stirplate (which purrs like a kitten, by the way). I poured the starter into a 2-liter flask (the starter barely filled the bottomthe the flask), and I turned the stir plate on and let it do its thing.

I took a photo to show my new stir plate in action and posted it on a homebrew forum (not this one). I got a lot of responses saying that I did not have enough wort. I listened to one guy's advice (he seemed knowledgeable). He told be to boil up an additional cup (actually a rounded cup) of DME along with 4 1/3 more cups of water. I added half a teaspoon of yeast nutrient to that (I'd forgotten to add that earlier). So now I have a starter consisting of 1 and a half plus cups of DME and 6 1/3 cups of water. It now fills the flask to the 1 liter mark.

Did I get good advice? I've just never made a starter this big before. Like I said the guy was very helpful and seemed like he knew what he was doing. I am brewing a Belgian IPA with an OG of 1.064.

So did I make a good starter or should I start all over? Any advice is greatly appreciated.

 

[duboman]

Your fine but not a really perfect starter.

In the future, get a scale and weigh your DME, it's more precise. A 10:1 ratio works, 1L to 100 grams DME as an example will get you a 1.040 gravity starter which is the ideal amount.

Use a pitch calculator like www.yeastcalc.com to determine the proper pitch rate needed.

Your starter might be a little strong but you're growing up the yeast count and that's what's important.


Sent from the Commune

 

[captwalt]

He may be right, if such a thing exists. Your starter may be fine. I shoulder you know that my process for saving and reusing yeast would make people cringe bit it seems to work for me. I use a homemade stirplate with a 1 inch bar and 1 liter flask. I save yeast from the fermenter in salsa jars In The fridge sometimes for a year. I mix 3 cups h2o with 3/4 cup DME. Depending on the thickness of the saved yeast I put a few spoonfuls, more if it's thin or dark looking, in the flask and let it go. It usual takes about 12 hours and I pitch when it's real foamy if I time it right. If I make a 10 gallon batch I use two flasks and alternate them on the stirplate for 1&1/2 hour intervals and manually shake the off one when I walk by. These also se to take about 12 hours or so.
This works for me, I'm very sanitary and mind my ferm temps and do not have problems associAted with pitch rAtes or bad yeast.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew