Using Super Light LME for a Saison.

Chances are you'll need to step up. What is your estimate of the volume of the yeast cake at the bottom?

 

Pils is the lightest barleys so I bet superlight LME is just pilz LME. I would step that starter up a few more times. Decant repitch two more times and you could have enough.

I would store it till a few days out then step it up. You wouldn't want to store it for a few days-weeks then use it, you want active yeast. It's personal choice if you decant or not. .5l isn't huge but a 1.5l starter (near normal size for me) I try to decant.

 

Is there much value in steeping wheat grain? I thought that was something that needed to be mashed. I know there is wheat extract available, maybe that would be a better choice.

 

If you actually have 25 ml of clean yeast on the bottom, you can probably get away with stepping up just once. About 1.6 Liters should do it.

 

If it's unmalted wheat, it needs to be mashed along with an enzymatic base malt. If it's malted wheat, it can be mashed by itself. In the latter case, a steep (with reasonable mash-like parameters) would work.

 

I would cold crash and decant it. 1040 or a little lower is fine.

 

That's going to be a fairly thick mash/steep. You might want to bump it up to 2 liters. If my metric to English conversion is right, you'll still be in a reasonable range, but will probably find it easier to maintain the mash temperature (more mass).

 

Yes, step up. Yes, decant. Yes, Super Light LME is fine. Yes, sub Wheat DME for your steeping. Yes, trust @VikeMan

 

Smell that? Do you smell that? DuPont dregs. Nothing else in the world smells like that. I love the smell of DuPont dregs in the morning. Smells like . . . victory.*

You're going to enjoy using DuPont. I will offer the suggestion to run your numbers through yeastcalculator.com. This is my preferred online calculator for yeast production. It handles steps easily . . . allows you to adjust size to meet your goal.

My rule-of-thumb for estimating yeast quantities is 2 billion cells/ml. No claim that this is exact, you can search and find others who use different numbers, but it works for my process. Another easy technique is to create more cells than you need and just pour-off/save the excess for the next brew. Less stress for the yeasties and overall less work than washing. Of course you'll probably end up getting flasks, stir-plates, more flasks . . . Good luck.

*Apologies to Robert Duval.

 

I've fermented four types of malt extracts with saison yeasts and all came out fine. I wouldn't sweat the extract at all. True, dark extract doesn't give you the same beer as light would, but it doesn't come out bad either (I rather liked that one, actually). Splitting hares between super-light (?) and pilsner extract is like saying you're holding out for six because a half-dozen won't do.

 

I would say it's better to wash the yeast from the trub. Potentially less stress on the little buggers, plus you normally collect 50 - 100 ml. But the best way to preserve yeast is to make more than you need before brew day. Once you have your starter going, just make an extra 50 - 100 billion cells. Then pour the excess off from your flask and store. On your next brew day you can re-start these guys and repeat the process (i.e. store the excess). This eliminates stress from high alcohol or any off flavors from your trub.