Gday Brewers.
I was making a Starter for a current batch of beer and thought hey why don't I do a bit of a step by step on making a yeast Starter.
Disclaimer I'm in no means an Authoritative figure on how to brew beer this is just my way of making a yeast Starter that's served me well in the few years ive been brewing.
More expierienced brewers by all means correct me where I've gone wrong
.
Ok good to get that out the way.
The reason one would make a yeast Starter is to propogate yeast to build up their cell count. If you don't have enough yeast to ferment your batch of beer also to check for Viability or 're invigorate them/wake them up and get them ready to party.
I can think of three yeast Starter mediums when it comes to beer.
.A Real Wort Starter where you take some runnings from your wort on brew day and cool this down to make your starter.
Then there is DME dried malt extract probably the easiest form because it's in dry form.
LME liquid Malt Extract this may be hopped which I rekon is beneficial to a Starter (antibacterial preservant qualities)...
I use LME these days and or RWS (real wort Starters) from previous brew which I've cooled in an erlenmeyer flask.
Ive found buying the cheap HB LME malt tins the cheapest form of starter medium for me at $9 a tin it's just not as easy to work with as DME and I don't think it measures the same in regard to hitting gravity.
So usually 1.040 is a safe gravity for starters it's pretty low gravity easy to ferment and great for propogation and won't stress the yeast out which is going against the grain here no pun intended.
To make a starter you need to choose one the right size for the brew your going to make. For instance if your brewing an ale your looking at a starting cell count of around 100billion cells but this is also style dependent for example wheat beers don't need as high a pitch rate.
To find your correct yeast pitch use the yeast pitch and Starter Calculator in tools/calculators/yeast pitch starter calculator section on the site here
This takes the guess work out of it a bit here you see I've inputed 20ml of slurry and the calculator will determine how large a starter you need at a certain gravity to hit your yeast pitch rate.
Oki doki moving on to getting the starter prepped.
With LME I find boiling the kettle before hand i can heat a spoon in the kettle and spoon in the amount required for the starter. I use 10% so using the scale I've measured out 180g of LME I plan to make a 1.8lt starter. Now I'm not 100% sure this gives me a gravity of 1.040 but I rekon it's pretty close for what I want.
I also make a larger starter than I require as I'm going to decant some to save later into a jar you'll see.
I put the lid back on the LME can and just store in my brew fridge for later. I've found this stores fine like this and your going to boil it anyway so contamination isn't a risk.
Using the boiled water I just fill up the flask to my starter volume I fill just a bit more to allow for shrinkage (hot wort when it's cooled shrinks in volume I think it's 2%? Don't quote me on that lol.
This is where you add nutrient too if you are using it I added mine before I added the LME a teaspoon I use.
If I had a refractometer I could take a reading here to see if I've hit my gravity yeah I dont have one...
So on the burner she goes
Foil is loose at top but watch out for the break! Wear good oven mitts you know I've had one of these crack!
Oh in the flask at this stage is the stir bar as well.
Disclaimer I boil in the erlenmeyer flask to avoid the crazy boil overs you can boil in a sepperate pot. Or I have started with a smaller boil volume waited for most the break to ease down then pour in boiled water. It's still a PITA I just nurse it.
I boil for 10 minutes to sanitize everything in the flask.
Now to chill it down .
i add the flask to cold tap water first and swirl.
I usually go and do something for 10 mins or so then come back 're fill bucket. I use two ice bricks either side of the flask and walk away for another 20.
Swirling the wort around in ice water will work quicker to cool the wort BTW.
Time to pitch the yeast into your starter.
Hear I've got my saved Verdant yeast from last time I've decanted the supernatant or beer (give this a taste if it don't smell and taste right halt proceedings use fresh yeast) you can also check supernatant gravity here too to see if your yeast aren't attenuating as good another sign to look for over multiple generations as well as floculation. Looks like I've got around 20ml ish so 20 billion cells give or take a few mill lol!
Get them Spinning.
The flask is sitting on my Dodgy DIY stir plate there is a magnetic (Stir bar) inside the flask which is influenced by some magnets underneath on a little computer fan motor this keeps the wort agetated it also creates a vortex in the center that draws down much needed cell multiplying oxygen to keep the yeast happy.
This photo is + 12~ hours see foil is loose to allow good gas flow fresh air in Co2 out. There are more technical flask stoppers for this but foil is fine as well as glad wrap or you may call it Cling wrap.
I like foil so you can shape it.
Here a nice creamy Krausen has formed and the wort now is creamy as well.
A great sign that the yeast are ENJOYing themselves and multiplying
+24 hours
Prob high Krausen or just a bit off. Different yeast strains you will find act differently some will cone right up and try and climb out the flask and some like WLP007 will form egg soup type consistency and will flock out (drop) like a rock to the bottom as soon as you turn the stir plate off.
+36 next morning.
See the difference here this is a sign that things have slowed down only the late yeast revlers are left partying the rest you will see are hanging out at the bottom wanting a nap. Also you see the distinct krausen ring left on the top with just a tiny foam center. This tells you switch off the stir bar let it sit for another couple of hours.
At this point I'll pinch my next yeast starters jars worth lable it date it give it a generation number then Pop them both in the fridge to cold crash this will help flock the yeast out of suspension. It will also compact the yeast making it easy later to pour off the used beer and not yeast.
Here we are next day.
There is a nice clean compact layer of yeast both on the flask and bottom of the jar ill say 15-20mil in the jar and 100+ml in the flask perfect for my next beer.
On brew day pull the flask out of the fridge as your beginning brew day.
Pour off the supernatant into a jar taste it smell it take gravity reading if all good go ahead and use it in your next Batch of beer. If not DO NOT USE this is where I've made some crap beer! Smelling a Starter detecting something a bit off but going ah what the heck and using it anyway. It's not worth it...
Happy days
That wasn't that hard was it.
A few steps involved a bit like brewing a mini batch of beer really!
There are plenty more Questions I'm sure I havnt covered everything here.
So fire away with any questions I and the other Expierence brewers here on the forum will be more than willing to help try and answer them.
CHEERS!
I was making a Starter for a current batch of beer and thought hey why don't I do a bit of a step by step on making a yeast Starter.
Disclaimer I'm in no means an Authoritative figure on how to brew beer this is just my way of making a yeast Starter that's served me well in the few years ive been brewing.
More expierienced brewers by all means correct me where I've gone wrong
.Ok good to get that out the way.
The reason one would make a yeast Starter is to propogate yeast to build up their cell count. If you don't have enough yeast to ferment your batch of beer also to check for Viability or 're invigorate them/wake them up and get them ready to party.
I can think of three yeast Starter mediums when it comes to beer.
.A Real Wort Starter where you take some runnings from your wort on brew day and cool this down to make your starter.
Then there is DME dried malt extract probably the easiest form because it's in dry form.
LME liquid Malt Extract this may be hopped which I rekon is beneficial to a Starter (antibacterial preservant qualities)...
I use LME these days and or RWS (real wort Starters) from previous brew which I've cooled in an erlenmeyer flask.
Ive found buying the cheap HB LME malt tins the cheapest form of starter medium for me at $9 a tin it's just not as easy to work with as DME and I don't think it measures the same in regard to hitting gravity.
So usually 1.040 is a safe gravity for starters it's pretty low gravity easy to ferment and great for propogation and won't stress the yeast out which is going against the grain here no pun intended.
To make a starter you need to choose one the right size for the brew your going to make. For instance if your brewing an ale your looking at a starting cell count of around 100billion cells but this is also style dependent for example wheat beers don't need as high a pitch rate.
To find your correct yeast pitch use the yeast pitch and Starter Calculator in tools/calculators/yeast pitch starter calculator section on the site here
This takes the guess work out of it a bit here you see I've inputed 20ml of slurry and the calculator will determine how large a starter you need at a certain gravity to hit your yeast pitch rate.
Oki doki moving on to getting the starter prepped.
With LME I find boiling the kettle before hand i can heat a spoon in the kettle and spoon in the amount required for the starter. I use 10% so using the scale I've measured out 180g of LME I plan to make a 1.8lt starter. Now I'm not 100% sure this gives me a gravity of 1.040 but I rekon it's pretty close for what I want.
I also make a larger starter than I require as I'm going to decant some to save later into a jar you'll see.
I put the lid back on the LME can and just store in my brew fridge for later. I've found this stores fine like this and your going to boil it anyway so contamination isn't a risk.
Using the boiled water I just fill up the flask to my starter volume I fill just a bit more to allow for shrinkage (hot wort when it's cooled shrinks in volume I think it's 2%? Don't quote me on that lol.
This is where you add nutrient too if you are using it I added mine before I added the LME a teaspoon I use.
If I had a refractometer I could take a reading here to see if I've hit my gravity yeah I dont have one...
So on the burner she goes
Foil is loose at top but watch out for the break! Wear good oven mitts you know I've had one of these crack!
Oh in the flask at this stage is the stir bar as well.
Disclaimer I boil in the erlenmeyer flask to avoid the crazy boil overs you can boil in a sepperate pot. Or I have started with a smaller boil volume waited for most the break to ease down then pour in boiled water. It's still a PITA I just nurse it.
I boil for 10 minutes to sanitize everything in the flask.
Now to chill it down .
i add the flask to cold tap water first and swirl.
I usually go and do something for 10 mins or so then come back 're fill bucket. I use two ice bricks either side of the flask and walk away for another 20.
Swirling the wort around in ice water will work quicker to cool the wort BTW.
Time to pitch the yeast into your starter.
Hear I've got my saved Verdant yeast from last time I've decanted the supernatant or beer (give this a taste if it don't smell and taste right halt proceedings use fresh yeast) you can also check supernatant gravity here too to see if your yeast aren't attenuating as good another sign to look for over multiple generations as well as floculation. Looks like I've got around 20ml ish so 20 billion cells give or take a few mill lol!
Get them Spinning.
The flask is sitting on my Dodgy DIY stir plate there is a magnetic (Stir bar) inside the flask which is influenced by some magnets underneath on a little computer fan motor this keeps the wort agetated it also creates a vortex in the center that draws down much needed cell multiplying oxygen to keep the yeast happy.
This photo is + 12~ hours see foil is loose to allow good gas flow fresh air in Co2 out. There are more technical flask stoppers for this but foil is fine as well as glad wrap or you may call it Cling wrap.
I like foil so you can shape it.
Here a nice creamy Krausen has formed and the wort now is creamy as well.
A great sign that the yeast are ENJOYing themselves and multiplying
+24 hours
Prob high Krausen or just a bit off. Different yeast strains you will find act differently some will cone right up and try and climb out the flask and some like WLP007 will form egg soup type consistency and will flock out (drop) like a rock to the bottom as soon as you turn the stir plate off.
+36 next morning.
See the difference here this is a sign that things have slowed down only the late yeast revlers are left partying the rest you will see are hanging out at the bottom wanting a nap. Also you see the distinct krausen ring left on the top with just a tiny foam center. This tells you switch off the stir bar let it sit for another couple of hours.
At this point I'll pinch my next yeast starters jars worth lable it date it give it a generation number then Pop them both in the fridge to cold crash this will help flock the yeast out of suspension. It will also compact the yeast making it easy later to pour off the used beer and not yeast.
Here we are next day.
There is a nice clean compact layer of yeast both on the flask and bottom of the jar ill say 15-20mil in the jar and 100+ml in the flask perfect for my next beer.
On brew day pull the flask out of the fridge as your beginning brew day.
Pour off the supernatant into a jar taste it smell it take gravity reading if all good go ahead and use it in your next Batch of beer. If not DO NOT USE this is where I've made some crap beer! Smelling a Starter detecting something a bit off but going ah what the heck and using it anyway. It's not worth it...
Happy days
That wasn't that hard was it.
A few steps involved a bit like brewing a mini batch of beer really
!There are plenty more Questions I'm sure I havnt covered everything here.
So fire away with any questions I and the other Expierence brewers here on the forum will be more than willing to help try and answer them.
CHEERS!
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