White Labs PurePitch w/o Starter?

[Sechelter]

Hi all,
I'll soon be brewing a Trappist Single and am debating on whether or not to build a starter. I have a White Labs PurePitch culture that's about 3 months old and my hoped-for 5.5 gal of wort will be around 1.046 SG.
This is my first time with the PurePitch. All the White Labs literature states that a starter isn't required, and this isn't a big beer. I'm not sure if I'm being OCD by considering a starter, but I sure as heck don't want a sweet beer.
Anyone out there with experience using these bigger yeast packs?
Thanks in advance!
R

 

[BarbarianBrewer]

For 5.5 gallons of lower gravity wort, a 3 month old yeast package of yeast is on the edge. So I would recommend making a starter just to be sure. The cost of a little DME and a little more work is a small price to pay for assurance you have enough healthy yeast. And be sure to aerate the heck out of you wort before pitching.

 

[GFHomebrew]

That's the best option ^^ and once you've done a few their pretty straight forward and really prep the yeast for a great fermentation.

Since its pretty low OG it's a 50/50 but if the yeast is old it may act old in the fermenter and fall asleep before the job is done.

That's how to look at it.

A do I want a hastle free healthy fermentation.

B do I risk a slow start and a sluggish finish where I have to keep rousing the yeast back into solution and babying the temperature everyday to get the attenuation over the line.

 

[Minbari]

I agree, it is liquid, i always do a starter. Takes a little extra planning, but the quick start is worth it

 

[Donoroto]

Hi all,
I'll soon be brewing a Trappist Single and am debating on whether or not to build a starter. I have a White Labs PurePitch culture that's about 3 months old and my hoped-for 5.5 gal of wort will be around 1.046 SG.
This is my first time with the PurePitch. All the White Labs literature states that a starter isn't required, and this isn't a big beer. I'm not sure if I'm being OCD by considering a starter, but I sure as heck don't want a sweet beer.
Anyone out there with experience using these bigger yeast packs?
Thanks in advance!
R

I use those packs all the time, and if it were fresh I would say just go for it. Three months old is, as mentioned above, a little on the edge. With the Trappist style, a slight under pitch is not terrible, but an over pitch (or 'just right') is better. If you have any doubts on the viability of the yeast, make a starter and the question is answered.

 

[Ward Chillington]

I used a PurePitch WLP080 a few weeks ago for 5 and a half batch of cream ale and even know it was only a month old I did a starter for a 1055 OG simply because I don't like a stalled fermentation. Healthy yeast are happy yeast!

Another thing that has me in the edge with White is that they don't tell you when the yeast was packaged.

It has a QR code that downloads a "quality report" that has the same "best by date" on it and a date of the " QC report" release which I'm assuming is the packed date or close enough to the manufacturing date. Granted it's a fungus and age is a debatable thing with living things but I digress. My point being that every starter tool I have ever seen used the age of the yeast pack in the calculation of how big of a starter you need since yeast cells viability diminishes over time.
Why is White making this difficult? First you need a cell phone...and a QR app....and a printer because I'll be damned if I can read this on my phone

Sorry for the lousy photos, this tablet's camera has much to be desired! The print is that really small white print on a gray background in the upper left corner under the logo.Thankfully my ancient Samsung has a pdf reader.

 

[Donoroto]

I used a PurePitch WLP080 a few weeks ago for 5 and a half batch of cream ale and even know it was only a month old I did a starter for a 1055 OG simply because I don't like a stalled fermentation. Healthy yeast are happy yeast!

Another thing that has me in the edge with White is that they don't tell you when the yeast was packaged.

It has a QR code that downloads a "quality report" that has the same "best by date" on it and a date of the " QC report" release which I'm assuming is the packed date or close enough to the manufacturing date. Granted it's a fungus and age is a debatable thing with living things but I digress. My point being that every starter tool I have ever seen used the age of the yeast pack in the calculation of how big of a starter you need since yeast cells viability diminishes over time.
Why is White making this difficult? First you need a cell phone...and a QR app....and a printer because I'll be damned if I can read this on my phone
View attachment 25520 View attachment 25521

Sorry for the lousy photos, this tablet's camera has much to be desired! The print is that really small white print on a gray background in the upper left corner under the logo.Thankfully my ancient Samsung has a pdf reader.

I, too, curse the young designers who still have good eyes. Low contrast may look cool but it is clear you are trying to hide something. And succeeding.

One trick to help the text appear better is to 'select' and highlight it (as if you were trying to copy it). Usually, tap the screen twice and pick 'select all'. The highlighting makes it read easier.

 

[Ward Chillington]

Low contrast may look cool but it is clear you are trying to hide something. And succeeding.

Right! I knew that Marketing degree would come in handy....especially for spotting advertising B.S. !