8:35-9:05 Do many of you guys do this for large beers 5+ gallons and even for large beers? I found this video helpful and i wanted to hear what you guys thought about this process.
Sure, been doing it for years. Aluminum foil works just fine over the opening, leave it on as you let the starter ferment. O2 can get in, CO2 can get out.
Hi, I've created a starter using the Wyeast smackpack and 1L of water with 4oz of DME and it's been fermenting for about 14 hours. After just a couple hours I noticed lighter sediment on the bottom of the glass. How much sediment/yeast needs to exist do before I can pitch? Thanks!!
Some great info in the video. Mrmalty.com is a great site. Jamil Z is somewhat conservative with his numbers, but it's a great way to ballpark yeast count. Yeast count is NOT linear. A 5 liter starter with one batch will not yield the same number of yeast as if you broke the yeast up into 2 or 3 different batches. Shit no my off-brand flask isn't going on a flame, an electric element, or into ice cold water. I don't want to find out how many times I can cheat death before the flask breaks. I chill my wort in my sauce pan (covered) and pour into my sanitized flask. Also, boiling wort doesn't look like that without Fermcap. Shake your yeast before you cut the top.
Hi. Welcome to the forum! Starters usually take 18-36 hours to complete. Working from the bottom of the container up: You'll find that there's some heavier protein that flocculates to the bottom of the container. Yeast is a bright white layer in the middle. Clear beer is usually the top layer, as seen here. If you're yeast washing, you might end up with a defined layer of hop sediment. Totally fine. You're probably looking at a starter that hasn't been stirred for a few days and has been chilled for a few days. (Everything has totally flocculated to the bottom of the container via gravity). When you go to pitch this yeast into your wort on brew day you should pour ~80% of that beer on top down the sink. You don't want it in your wort and it adds a lot of volume and dilutes your wort. In the video above, they pitched the whole thing. Not terrible, but you can do better by getting rid of some stale beer on top. With the remaining ~20% of the beer, yeast and sediment, you should swirl the container like hell to loosen it from the bottom of the container. Pitch every last drop you can into your new brew. Give it a quick prayer, some oxygen, and a proper fermentation temperature and you're well on your way.
Thanks for the response!!! I ended up using the whole 1L but will pour out most of it the next time for sure. I created my wort and pitched the yeast from the starter last night around 8pm EST and i fear I may not have aerated it well enough as I don't see any activity so far and it's been going on 16 hours. Is there a method I can use to aerate the wort while in the fermentation phase or should I just leave it alone for a while longer? I also siphoned much of the trub into the primary fermenter, will that be a problem? Thanks again for the response!
