Yeast starter

[Josh Hughes]

Since my liquid yeast arrived warm and older I made a starter last night. Using the calculator on here it said I needed a 1.5 liter starter adding 5.5 ounces of DME. I added 4.5 since that’s what I had. The calculator assumed 20 billion cells left based on the age. I’m not sure if I’ll have enough cells. Thoughts? 5.5 gallon batch at 1.045 OG

second question: we are brewing this evening. Pitch will be about 24 hours after I made the starter. Pitch it all? Crash it in the fridge when I get home and pour off excess wort?

 

[Minbari]

I would still crash it

If you have anymore dme or wort. Do a two step starter. Should bump the count to where you need it

 

[Josh Hughes]

I would still crash it

If you have anymore dme or wort. Do a two step starter. Should bump the count to where you need it

I won’t be home until 5 hours prior to pitch. Is that enough time to do all of this? I have an unopened bag of dme I could use some of it.

 

[Donoroto]

If you don't do a second step, then crashing it is OK. Pour off most of the liquid, then pitch it, as long as you definitely saw some action in the starter.

5 hours isn't quite enough, but it wouldn't hurt, in which case you won't cold crash it. In this case, the yeast will probably not settle out and so you'd pitch all of it. If the starter is close to the wort temperature, it'll have had a 5-hour head start, not much but not zero either. Oxygenate the wort to get it cranking.

 

[Josh Hughes]

If you don't do a second step, then crashing it is OK. Pour off most of the liquid, then pitch it, as long as you definitely saw some action in the starter.

5 hours isn't quite enough, but it wouldn't hurt, in which case you won't cold crash it. In this case, the yeast will probably not settle out and so you'd pitch all of it. If the starter is close to the wort temperature, it'll have had a 5-hour head start, not much but not zero either. Oxygenate the wort to get it cranking.

The starter looked great this morning.

 

[Donoroto]

Good. So running a second round will do no harm, although your cell count won't double.
Every hour is another hour of benefit, so you might brew and then pause a couple hours before pitching to build cell count.
Then again, you might not need it. An underpitch for an ale is not a disaster.

 

[Minbari]

I won’t be home until 5 hours prior to pitch. Is that enough time to do all of this? I have an unopened bag of dme I could use some of it.

No. You would have to put off pitching for a day. But you can still brew. Just store the wort in your fermenter until the starter is ready

 

[Bubba Wade]

If the starter appears to have made a good jump start, then I would just pitch it all. You’ll be introducing active yeast into a fertile environment. If the yeast looks sluggish, I would be inclined to try and step it up. Cell count is a guideline, but not an absolute.

 

[Josh Hughes]

If the starter appears to have made a good jump start, then I would just pitch it all. You’ll be introducing active yeast into a fertile environment. If the yeast looks sluggish, I would be inclined to try and step it up. Cell count is a guideline, but not an absolute.

Pitched the whole thing last night took off like a rocket.