I know people have mentioned to just pitch an extra sachet of dry yeast since it's so inexpensive. I have a sachet of Saflager W-34/70 Lager Yeast. If I were to do a mid-gravity lager (1.050 range) MrMalty.com is saying to pitch 1.8 sachets. Since this yeast is $6.75/sachet it's just as expensive as liquid yeast and I would like to get homebrewers thoughts on doing a yeast starter for dry yeast. I'm thinking it works the same way as it would for liquid yeast.
it does, although dry yeast has a coating on the outside that is in effect the starter material. so, yu might just hydrate the yeast inwater while youre getting youre starter put together. the hydration will act as a small starter for the yeast and then pitch it into the wort once its ready. of course if you want to just pitch straight into the starter wort i dont think that would be an issue.
A yeast starter is pitching yeast cells into wort, to make more yeast cells. Rehydrating dry yeast, although a good practice, is not a starter, i.e. it won't make more yeast cells. That said, if OP wants more cells and doesn't want to buy a second sachet, there's no reason he couldn't do a starter, and rehydration first is still a good idea (because it increases cell viability).
Yes, you can do a yeast starter with dry yeast. I believe that dry yeast is processed in a manner in which additional oxygen/aeration is not preferred, so maybe do a starter without shaking/stirplate for the first 12-24 hours. I'm not sure on this, however.
“Since this yeast is $6.75/sachet it's just as expensive as liquid yeast ..” Yeah, that is a travesty. Since W34/70 costs so much I refuse to buy it. I just purchase Wyeast 2124 and I make a 1.5 quart starter. That is what I would recommend to the OP for next time. Cheers!
i believe it was basic brewing radio where they discussed the outer coating of safale yeast containing nutrients that when rehydrated cause the yeast to multiply, which is a starter. unless they were mistaken, rehydrating would be the same as a starter as you would be making new cells, although on a smaller scale.
Yeast need sugars to propagate (not just nutrients). Are the cells coated with sugars? Doubtful, but even if they were, the amount would be insignificant from a propagation standpoint. (Think about the amount of DME needed for a typical starter.)
my understanding is that the walls contained sugar. and right it would be a small amount of growth, but ive never heard of a growth minimum to call something a starter.
just did a little searching, looks like its actually glycogen in the wall, so while it would give the cell energy it wouldnt add growth.
Most likely the cells contain enough energy to go through one division without any added sugar and just the nutrients. There are actually a lot of organisms that can survive without any sugar as a basic energy source at all. Yeast also store up extra energy in the form of glycogen that they can use latter on. (One of the reasons that you do not want to take yeast out of a high gravity fermentation or out of long time cold storage, and add them to the next beer you are making is that they have depleted their glycogen stores, while this does not make them unsuitable to ferment a wort it does cause an extend lag time).
But will they do this one division in the absence of sugar? I could be wrong, but I thought that the yeast would propagate until reaching 'fermentation density', which is dependent on sugar density in the environment. With no sugar in the environment, what triggers the division?
That is a very good question. One that I do not know the answer to. I would guess that they would only divide if they thought it was worth the expense. With no sugar present I am not sure why they would do it.
I didn't buy it, Northern Brewer sent it to me in error instead of WB-06 and instead of me sending it back to them I was able to keep it and they sent the WB-06 to me for the error. I am thinking of doing a lager with this yeast and that is why this question came up due to the more yeast needed for fermenting a lager.
I'm sure that without oxygen being present the yeast won't bud (very much). That why I aim to have the proper cell count on brewday. Then I add in a pint or so of sterile non-aerated wort (to beef up reserves). Will they bud in water? I doubt it. As LeeryLeprechaun asks why would they? They would be spending energy with no gain. And doesn't osmotic pressure come into play?
