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Jonathan White
Junior Member
Username: Jonathanwhite
Post Number: 49
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 74.182.33.208
| | Posted on Thursday, October 22, 2009 - 11:24 pm: | 
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A tube of White Labs yeast contains 35 ml. I usually pitch that into 2 quarts of sterile wort for a starter for a ten gallon batch. I usually brew a Bitter or a Wee IPA.
Couldn't I make just as good a half-gallon starter with only a fraction of the liquid in the White Labs tube? In fact, if I had ten half-gallon starters ready and all lined up, couldn't I inoculate each and every one of them with one tube of White Labs yeast? If not ten, how many? |
Bill Pierce
Moderator
Username: Billpierce
Post Number: 10843
Registered: 01-2002
Posted From: 24.141.103.148
| | Posted on Thursday, October 22, 2009 - 11:45 pm: |
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A lot depends on the health of the yeast. If the vial is very fresh (less than a month) you may not need to make a starter at all for 5 gallons of normal (about 1.050 or below) gravity ale. Beyond that, if you don't have a reliable means of yeast cell counting (a microscope and hemocytometer), it's a gamble and a guess. You can increase the odds in your favor by aerating the starter extremely well and agitating it continuously on a stir plate. In that case half a vial of yeast (or less) per starter might be enough.
Or you can be of the it's better to be safe than sorry school of thought and merely assume that one vial is good for one batch of beer. That's what I do, although I carry the process further by storing a portion of the primary yeast sediment refrigerated in sanitized mason jars under boiled and cooled distilled water. I have no problem reviving the yeast (in a starter, of course) up to two years later. |
Jonathan White
Junior Member
Username: Jonathanwhite
Post Number: 50
Registered: 10-2003
Posted From: 74.182.33.208
| | Posted on Thursday, October 22, 2009 - 11:55 pm: |
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Bill, I save and store yeast the same way. In fact, the question I am leading to is this: How big a starter can I make with the yeast layer that I have stored "refrigerated in sanitized Mason jar under boiled and cooled water"? I use a pint jar and the yeast layer is usually about 1/8 - 3/16 inches thick. |
Bill Pierce
Moderator
Username: Billpierce
Post Number: 10845
Registered: 01-2002
Posted From: 24.141.103.148
| | Posted on Friday, October 23, 2009 - 12:22 am: |
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It depends on the age and the health of the yeast. For yeast that is older than a few months (in my case about an inch of sediment in the bottom of a 1 quart jar), I begin with a 2 liter starter, which for my bigger beers (mostly 10 gallon batches of Belgians with an O.G. above 1.070) I step up again to about 8-9 liters in a 3 gallon carboy. If I were brewing 5 gallon batches of smaller beers I might be inclined to pitch the 2 liter starter directly without another step. I give the first step about 20 seconds of pure O2 with an aeration stone, and I agitate it continuously on a stir plate.
As I've mentioned on several occasions, I hop my large starters to about 15 IBUs and crash cool them 24-48 hours before my brew session. Then I decant most of the liquid into sanitized 2 liter plastic soda bottles with priming sugar solution. The result is usually a very drinkable low gravity table beer we enjoy with meals. My last table beer with Wyeast 3864 (the Unibroue strain) was a huge hit, enough so that I've been considering entering it in a competition in the Belgian specialty beer category just to see what might happen. |
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