Starter made last night

[moco]

I'm planning to make up a Coopers IPA kit tonight, and decided to make a starter the night before following DaaB's Brupak Kit instructions.

I used a packet of Safale 04, and about 250ml of water with a couple of tablespoons of light spraymalt, all boiled, cooled etc as per instructions.

It has a few bubbles on the top, not what you'd call a head, and a heavy deposit on the bottom (apologies about the focus, but you get the idea):



I thought it would have a more kraesen-like head... Does it look okay? Should I pitch with this tonight or revert to the Coopers sachet provided?

Thanks

[steve_flack]

It's probably fermented out already.

IMO there is no point making a starter that small with a 11g packet of yeast. You won't grow any more yeast cells (in fact more likely you'll kill some). The only time it could help is if the packet is very very old or been poorly kept - in that case I'd probably chuck it and buy a new one.

The best thing to do with dried yeasts is rehydrate in some cooled boiled tap water half an hour before brewing.

[moco]

So, just to be sure I understand where I went wrong, using a sachet of yeast for 2 tbsps of DME and 250 ml water was giving the yeast too little food, so it's all gone by now - is that right, Steve?

DaaB,

I'd pour of the beer on the day and add 1/2 a pint of wort an hour before you brew

Sorry, I don't quite follow this. Do you mean rehydrate the yeast first, and then add half a pint of cooled wort to this, allow to become active and pitch?

Why is it okay to shake it well? I thought there should be no air introduced once yeast met wort - or is that an issue later?

Many thanks...

[J_P]

Several people have had a great deal of success making part staters on the day to ensure the yeast is already active when pitching. I get lag times of 1-2 hrs on 1 sachet of yeast and wouldn't brew without making one now. I'd pour of the beer on the day and add 1/2 a pint of wort an hour before you brew. Shake it well and wait for it to become active before pitching.

I have been making a starter up ever since Wez's "Great Yeast Debate" and can report shorter lag times than when I used to simply sprinkle the yeast on.

Incase you missed the thread the starter is made it up around fifteen minutes into the boil by cooling 1 litre of wort and adding it to a PET bottle, aerating the wort by shaking vigorously and then putting the yeast in, it gets around an hour and a half in the bottle before pitching. The last two brews I have added two sachets of yeast to the starter and that has started fermentation even sooner. I figured if SteveD got good results with multiple packets and Daab got good results with a small starter then combining the two should give cracking results!

I'm not sure if this method causes the cell count in the wort starter to increase any or if it just re-animates the cells but the bottle is generally fizzing well and has been "degassed" two or three times before it goes into the cooled wort.

[Chris The Fish]

Why is it okay to shake it well? I thought there should be no air introduced once yeast met wort - or is that an issue later?

Many thanks...

2 reasons i can think of are that the yeast cells need to be in contact with the water to rehydrate and to get going, if you sprinkle the yeast on the surface of the beer you get a yeast crust, where the yeast on the bottom is in contact with the water whilst those on the top are bone dry (im sure you know what i mean).

The second is one of areation, to give the yeast some good air/oxygen to enable growth with a good shake is well advised. Once the fermentation has begun in earnest, areation is a bad thing and will turn your wort into a beer which resembles the morning after pint that wasnt drunk.



Another point worth noting is that when people make up a starter, they are normally using a liquid yeast where the number of cells provided is markedly smaller and needs a time to revitalise, grow and become active after an exhaustative storeage/transport period so you can pitch enough yeast cells to bully any errant yeastie that has managed to get into your wort out of the equation. With dry yeast you get enough cells in the packet so you only need to re-hydrate, rather than do your own 'growing'.

This is my understanding of the situation, although Daab and the other collective geniuses on the forum may be able to explain it better or clearer!

hth

Chris