Do I account for the volume of DME and yeast in the starter volume in yeast pitch rate calculator?

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brewbrooks

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No luck finding this via forum search or in the notes at the bottom of the page on the yeast pitch rate calculator. Basically, under starter volume (L), do I enter what I expect the final volume to be with DME, water and yeast added, or is this just the amount of water I need to measure out and use?

Thanks
 
I don't know if this is best practice, but I measure out water for the total volume. Some of it evaporates off with the short boil, but the DME and yeast usually compensates for that volume loss.
 
Use liter volume as your water quantity in your flask. Don't worry about displacement or the couple of ounces of liquid the yeast packet is going to add to the starter volume....long time between brews @brewbrooks ?
 
Yup that's a pretty technical answer do you account for the volume of dme and yeast in a starter in the yeast pitch rate calculator.

The difference would be negligible as Don put it.
maybe 100ml difference of 100g of dme correlates laterally into 100ml or make that 200ml to account for the yeast.

I don't think it matters and I wouldn't sweat it.
 
Thanks everyone. Yeah I get that I'm analyzing it too much for sure. I never would have worried about something that small before now. Its just that I'm doing a small 2 step starter in a big mason jar while I wait for a larger erlenmeyer to get her in the mail. Because of that, the amount of yeast and dme was actually a pretty big percentage of the starter (100ml out of the 800 ml total volume) - I was surprised. Plus for the first time I'm going to overbuild my second stage by 100 billion cells, save that in the fridge so I don't have to buy yeast next time. So I was trying to make sure I was saving exactly 100 billion - so that starters for future brews were at least ball park-ish accurate. I guess it may only be a difference of 100-200ml or so in how much I'm saving. Thanks again.
 
If you are still using extracts, get your procedures down first before you worry about complicated stuff. Small batch - if like 2 or 3 gallons, just buy some S-04 or S-05 and pitch a pack. Dry yeast lasts a long time, and if you overpitch, you really don't need a starter for a normal gravity beer.
 
brewbrooks said:
Thanks everyone. Yeah I get that I'm analyzing it too much for sure. I never would have worried about something that small before now. Its just that I'm doing a small 2 step starter in a big mason jar while I wait for a larger erlenmeyer to get her in the mail. Because of that, the amount of yeast and dme was actually a pretty big percentage of the starter (100ml out of the 800 ml total volume) - I was surprised. Plus for the first time I'm going to overbuild my second stage by 100 billion cells, save that in the fridge so I don't have to buy yeast next time. So I was trying to make sure I was saving exactly 100 billion - so that starters for future brews were at least ball park-ish accurate. I guess it may only be a difference of 100-200ml or so in how much I'm saving. Thanks again.
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Nothing wrong with harvesting yeast it'll teach you about the cleaning and sanitation side of things pretty quick;).

I was harvesting yeast and reusing pretty early on in my brewing it's all learning.

Hey you don't need much saved to build up next time.
 
Sandy Feet said:
If you are still using extracts, get your procedures down first before you worry about complicated stuff. Small batch - if like 2 or 3 gallons, just buy some S-04 or S-05 and pitch a pack. Dry yeast lasts a long time, and if you overpitch, you really don't need a starter for a normal gravity beer.
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Hi Sandy! Sorry, I'm realizing now that my post makes it sounds like I just started brewing. I'm new to the forum but I've been brewing since about 2007 - though I'm not a high frequency brewer for sure - some years I only get maybe 3 or 4 in. Once I decided to harvest yeast from starters I took a look at the yeast calculators to see how much I'd need in my starter. I've been doing starters for quite a while, just always in a growler where you swirl it every hour or so. All the yeast calculators had me thinking that if I wanted enough yeast for brewing and harvesting (or if I wanted to do a lager starter) that I needed a stir plate and flask - otherwise I'd be doing multistep starters :(. Upon reading of S. cerevisaie's Shaken not Stirred method (focus on yeast health and less on cell counts) though, I'm gonna forgo the stir plate and flask. SNS method does seem to make more sense from a scientific/logical perspective (I did some cell research in college).
 
Trialben said:
Nothing wrong with harvesting yeast it'll teach you about the cleaning and sanitation side of things pretty quick;).

I was harvesting yeast and reusing pretty early on in my brewing it's all learning.

Hey you don't need much saved to build up next time.
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Hi Trialben! Yes I'm looking forward to saving some money, I just hope I'll be brewing frequently enough for it to make sense. It does make me a little nervous harvesting cuz I'm worried about contaminating it even if I'm taking all reasonable precautions. I haven't bought a bunsen burner yet to work next a flame but don't think I didn't consider it for a second!
 
When I first stared making starters I used the formula (from Northern Brewer I think): 1 Liter starter = 70 g DME into 700 ml water. From that I assume the 1L starter is volume after combining the two. (But I don't remember ever checking...I must have at some time but, can't recall).

For starters under 2L I'll dump the whole thing into the fermenter. For starters over 2L, I'll cold-crash and decant off the liquid (supernatent). If it's around 2L, I'll flip a coin.
 
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