How to make a yeast starter

If I have a liquid yeast I make a starter, pitch that and within a few hours less than 5 I think you can see the krausen just about start to form..

If those of us who brew outside its a nice advantage aswell but well, a fast healthy start is a nice advantage whether you brew in or out I suppose..

johnnyboy1965 said:

Agree with everything you say, but one thing.
1li of water and 100g of DME will give you a gravity of 1.100. This is way too high. You only need 20g of DME to give you a gravity of 1.020. This is the ideal gravity for a starter. Dont forget that you want the yeast to grow/multiply/divide... not to ferment.
The use of a heat safe flask is ideal, but dont plunge it straight into cold water. Though the manufacturers say its impossible to break the flask if you do this, Ive had one shatter. If you place the tin foil over the top during boiling there is no need the sterilizethe foil.

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I stand corrected...just run some figures through BeerEngine and 100g of DME in 1li of water will give you a SG of 1.038.

You can also use Liquid Malt Extract to make a starter with. I normally buy LME from Holland & Barrett as they're all over the place so no need for P&P. I normally use their own
http://www.hollandandbarrett.com/shop/product/holland-barrett-malt-extract-60004303
But they do an alternative from potters
http://www.hollandandbarrett.com/shop/product/potters-malt-extract-60009811
Keep an eye out for the penny sales as you can get a second jar for 1p.They have one on the potters extract right now as a matter of fact.

For a 2L starter I use 260g to give an OG of 1.039

MyQul said:

You can also use Liquid Malt Extract to make a starter with. I normally buy LME from Holland & Barrett

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Hi!
I've used Potter's LME and Meridian LME, both from H&B, as the main fermentable in three kit brews, but never in a starter. They seem to be darker extracts, so I don't use them for lighter coloured beers.
When you use H&B LME to prepare a starter, is there any effect on the colour of the final beer?

Bigcol49 said:

Hi!
I've used Potter's LME and Meridian LME, both from H&B, as the main fermentable in three kit brews, but never in a starter. They seem to be darker extracts, so I don't use them for lighter coloured beers.
When you use H&B LME to prepare a starter, is there any effect on the colour of the final beer?

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Tbh I'm not sure. You right H&B LME seem to be quick dark extracts and the starters are quite dark. But since I've started using it for starters I've only made bitters with it as a starter, which have been orange/amber coloured I've yet to make anything pale/light with it. Personally I dont care about the colour of my beers, just what they taste like

Hi all, got a couple of questions regarding starters. The main one is how long should you leave them for before pitching? Some folks say overnight so it's about high krausen but I've seen them left for 2 days until they've exhausted the starter wort.

My first batch was given a day and then I pitched the whole lot and it worked great. This time I need to do a 2 step starter as the yeast was a bit old and I'm overbuilding by 100 billion cells so I can keep the yeast for multiple batches. Presume I should leave starter 1 until it's fully done? It's starting to floc out but still generating a fair bit of CO2.

I don't have a stir plat yet so I'm just on shaking everytime I pass it in the kitchen, also my house is cold, starter is around 16-18C last I checked. Took a day for any CO2 to be generated and it was pitched on Tuesday.

The other thing is that neither of my starters has formed a krausen, it just stays cloudy then eventually flocs out.

Oh my first one was wlp 001, this time it's wyeast 1099 whitbred, in case that if of interest.

Thanks.

Zephyr259 said:

Hi all, got a couple of questions regarding starters. The main one is how long should you leave them for before pitching? Some folks say overnight so it's about high krausen but I've seen them left for 2 days until they've exhausted the starter wort.

My first batch was given a day and then I pitched the whole lot and it worked great. This time I need to do a 2 step starter as the yeast was a bit old and I'm overbuilding by 100 billion cells so I can keep the yeast for multiple batches. Presume I should leave starter 1 until it's fully done? It's starting to floc out but still generating a fair bit of CO2.

I don't have a stir plat yet so I'm just on shaking everytime I pass it in the kitchen, also my house is cold, starter is around 16-18C last I checked. Took a day for any CO2 to be generated and it was pitched on Tuesday.

The other thing is that neither of my starters has formed a krausen, it just stays cloudy then eventually flocs out.

Oh my first one was wlp 001, this time it's wyeast 1099 whitbred, in case that if of interest.

Thanks.

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Hi,

I think it depends on what you're doing with the starter:

If you're just trying to give your yeast a head start for a quick and healthy fermentation then probably pitching at high krausen is good.

If you're using the starter to boost the cell count I follow this method (taken from James Morton's 'Brew' book): make your starter, pitch your yeast at 20 C or so and give it a good shake, keep shaking it as often as you can (I don't have a stir plate either). Try to keep at 18 - 20 C. Take a mental note of when it start fizzing up when you shake it, this is the yeast coming out of the lag phase. Keep shaking it at least every time you walk past it, maybe once an hour or so if you can. 24 hours after the fizzing started it will have reached its max cell count, put it in the fridge for at least 24 hrs. The yeast will all drop out, down to the bottom of your jar in a nice thick layer. You can then pour away the liquid (or most of it) and allow it to come back up to room temp slowly and then either pitch it into your wort, or repeat if you're doing a multi-stage starter.

My novice opinion is that 16 - 18 might be a touch chilly for the yeast and that be why there's no krausen forming.

Hope that helps!

I'd agree that 16C-18C is a little too cold. You want it at 'room temp' which is about 20C

I'm a big fan of yeast starters but I'm not very refined about it. When I've done my bottles I add a drop of honey to a sanitised bottle and half fill it with boiled water at 25-27c, give it a good shake and then tip the dried yeast in. By the time I've bottled and put the the next one on and it's good to go. I fill the bottle with wort give it a shake and in it goes, another rinse with wort and then added to the FV and we're done. Yeast starters do kick off nicely but they don't go off as nicely as re-pitched trub, that goes off like a rocket.

Simple starter recipe is 100g of DME and 1/4 teaspoon of yeast nutrient into an erlenmeyer flask with a litre of hot water from the kettle

Morning all,
Bit confused! (As Brian does all the time!! lol)
Didn't know about the yeast nutiants...thought it's was with the actual yeast!!!
Now I'll research it...
Interesting! Something to research in a Saturday morning...instead of going shopping!
Hope yous understand what I mean...lol

LarryF said:

I'm a big fan of yeast starters but I'm not very refined about it. When I've done my bottles I add a drop of honey to a sanitised bottle and half fill it with boiled water at 25-27c, give it a good shake and then tip the dried yeast in. By the time I've bottled and put the the next one on and it's good to go. I fill the bottle with wort give it a shake and in it goes, another rinse with wort and then added to the FV and we're done. Yeast starters do kick off nicely but they don't go off as nicely as re-pitched trub, that goes off like a rocket.

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Tbh you're probably doing more harm than good, by rehydrating with simple sugars like honey it can mess with the yeast's metabolism. Just water is perfect for rehydrating.

Thanks teadixon, that's a great explanation of why you'd use each timing method. My starters are for building cell count but the note that cell count peaks after 24hrs of "fizzing" is exactly what I needed to know.

Yeah I know 16-18 is a bit chilly, weather keeps changing on me. I have an old aquarium heater so gonna rig up a water bath in future. My "house strain" is probably gonna become wyeast's Scottish ale, it's happy down to 13C. 😊

Thanks for the advice everyone.