Anyone taste liquid yeast straight?

[Edan Z]

I was making my first starter with WLP530, and after pitching the PurePitch package into the starter wort, I decided to taste what was left in the package. I was really surprised by how incredibly sour it tasted! Regardless, I made a 1.3 liter starter on a stir plate, and pitched it into a 4.5 gallon batch today.

The starter tasted a bit on the sour side as well, albeit much much less than the vial. I decanted about 1/2 of the starter, but still ended up pitching about 20 OZ of the funky starter, plus the yeast cake, into 4.5 gallons of wort.

Can anyone confirm that liquid yeast straight from the vial/package tastes very sour/tart? I'd have to be very unlucky to get a bad package of WLP530 for my first batch with liquid yeast.

 

[jeffpn]

I bet it's fine.

 

[sn00ky]

I had a German 830 or 838 maybe yeast not long ago I thought the same but turned out fine, folks on here assured me of that through research, had a pint just last evening and is great. Strong sulfur smell I think it was.

 

[HighVoltageMan!]

Yeast is not very tasty. Depending on the strain, it can have a slightly sour aroma and still be fine. Alt yeast (Wyeast 1007) is very bad tasting and the yeast needs to be dropped from the beer or it adds a tart and harsh flavor to the beer.

 

[Myndflyte]

I wouldn't worry about the taste. You're drinking concentrated yeast. Also don't google "why does yeast taste sour". The first result is something about vaginal discharge.

 

[jmcnamara]

I wouldn't worry about the taste. You're drinking concentrated yeast. Also don't google "why does yeast taste sour". The first result is something about vaginal discharge.

Thanks for biting the bullet on that one for us

 

[GFHomebrew]

I can honestly say ive never tasted a live starter before. Great stuff edan z i usually give my yeast a sniff test to see if it smells fruity or good not off or rancid like but yeah never gone as far as tasting it. Hope she turns out great for you.

 

[Mark D Pirate]

Ive been waiting for someone to drink one of my starters from fridge ....not happened yet though !
As always i have some unusual practices and overbuild my starters on stirplate and portion it off to 450 ml Grolsch swingtops @~ 200 billion cells per bottle and leave them in fridge for whenever i decide to get a brew up and running .
Not timed it yet but think about 20 minutes is all i need to get a bucket sanitised , wort in and aerated and yeast pitched

 

[GFHomebrew]

Not a bad idea that way you can brew on a whim at this point ill need three days till i can put a larger down.

 

[Edan Z]

I'm fermenting a little high due to summer temps (72ºF), I expect the internal to be around 78ºF. The krausen on this thing is wild.stuff.

 

[GFHomebrew]

An healthy fermentation is a good sign i say onwards and upwards.