Yeast Starters

[MrC]

I've been trolling through the forum looking for info/opinions on yeast starters. There's a few comments scattered throughout so I thought I create a thread for it.

What's you opinion on starters?
1L for Ales?
2L for Lagers?
Pitching warm vs. cool?

I've ordered a smackpack of lager yeast and need to make a starter for 21L of wort at 1.050. I was planning on a 1.5L starter, decanting spent wort, pitching at 15c then slowly cooling to 10c overnight.

I don't have a stir plate so I was planning on a lot of shaking.

[Martin Bridges]

Lagers are much less tolerant of underpitching. Mind you, I got clobbered by a pale ale that didn't like the pitiful amount of yeast I gave it. I would say that paying attention to yeast management has been the main factor behind the general quality of my beers increasing over the last year or so.

[MrC]

And yes I have used yeast 12 months old without issue
James - Did you create a starter for that or was it smack, wait & pitch?

[James P]

I had the time before brew day so smacked and waited two weeks. I had a couple packets of dry on home, however the yeast pouch had inflated so I pitched. By all means it could have been a below average beer, however it was an hoppy ale, so probably the hops held it all together. I can remember [people saying it was a fruity beer.

(10 days to be exact)

[Dale]

Hey Guys,

With my starters I'm going through a bit of LME and have starting thinking that I should just keep x litres of wort from my last brew and use that. Is there any issue storing this in the fridge and then doing the normal boil for 15 min when I do my starter?

Thanks

[Llew Bardecki]

You're better off freezing it, just purely for longevity's sake, but fridge or freezer, it'll still work just fine.

Just make sure to pick a wort that's of a reasonable gravity (no RIS wort for starters :)

[denimglen]

You're better off freezing it

That's what I do.

Just make sure to pick a wort that's of a reasonable gravity (no RIS wort for starters :)

As long as you water it down before using you'll be all good, just remember to take into account IBUs as well. Personally I wouldn't go over 30 IBU in a starter.

[Dan]

Its fine in the fridge, I store for months at a time, straight outta the kettle and in a sanitized bottle, I used to boil it before making a starter but dont bother now, got better things to do, if its still hot when it goes in the bottle its gonna be clean when it comes out of the fridge, well thats my thoughts anyway, never had a problem with stored wort in fridge, and saves alot of time pissing around boiling and chilling and gravity adjustment to make a starter, just warm it up put in a flask and pitch the yeast.
If your scared or fussy then boil/chill it again for peace of mind.

[Dale]

Awesome thanks guys

[MrC]

I have a 1.5L starter of Wyeast 2112 underway at the moment and I've noticed that the head retentention of the starter is appalling. When I shake up the starter if foams up massively but then the head dissapates really fast (like lemonade). I'm following the same process that I used many times before but the head retention on this yeast is far worse than anything I've seen.

Is poor starter head retenion anything to worry about?
Do you think it's an indication of what the head retention of the beer will be like?

Also, I've never used 2112 so any tips are welcome. It looks like it's a low attenuater so I plan on bumping up the bitterness to cater for the residual sweetness.

[JoKing]

Yeah - every beer that I've made with this yeast had poor head retention, and all the NZ craft beers that I know of that uses this yeast has pretty crap head too.

Dont worry too much about it. It doesn't like it cold at all - so make sure you pitch the correct amount for a lager and ferment it at no less than 16 degrees but no more than 18... she's pretty touch stuff.

Good luck mate.

[jt]

've had a couple of W2112 smackeroos, great stuff too.
Don't recall a problem with head retention, but that might be due to the 15% to 18% of wheat I used in those beers.

I used it in winter and had uncontrolled14-18C ferments, some of them went over at the end but it wasn't detrimental to my undescerning palette

Unusual to tase during the ferment though. Crisp @ 14C, ale-like @ 18C
Conditions up good though. Notes from one brew were "But as time goes by, it becomes crisp & clean"

If I could be bothered with starters I'd certainly be using this again

[MrC]

Cheers chaps, some good info there. I'm planning a beer based on B-Sharp but done as a Pilsner, slightly bigger and subbing Motueka for Riwaka. I'll make sure there's a decent amount of Carapils and Wheat in there for the head too.