Fellow BAs, I have brewed a few times before at friends' houses or at a brew on premise establishment, but never at home on my own equipment. Took advantage of my recent birthday and Father's Day combo to outfit myself with everything I need to brew for the first time at my place. I took a rather bold leap and will be brewing a Pliny clone for the first time. I went with WLP001 California Ale and would love to get your thoughts on whether or not I should attempt a starter for it. To be clear, I have never utilized a yeast starter before let alone attempted one by myself. Thanks again for your thoughts and look forward to getting your opinions. SJL
Assuming this is not a one gallon batch, yes you should make a starter. Or pitch multiple packs of yeast. Use a yeast calculator to tell you how much you need.
For a beer like Pliny you should utilize more than just one vial of yeast. Making a yeast starter is akin to making a mini-batch of beer. As with making beer, proper sanitation is important. As was mentioned, you could increase your yeast cell count by pitching US-05 as well. Cheers!
You could pitch multiple vials or make a random-sized starter (or skip it altogether) and hope you have enough healthy cells. Or you could do like they do at Russian River and use a yeast calculator to determine what you need. You really want to become familiar with the date on your vial and how that affects the brew process. If you read and understand these links you'll be ahead of the game: http://www.mrmalty.com/pitching.php http://www.mrmalty.com/starter_faq.php Five gallons of a Pliny clone will need yeast well north of 200 billion cells and those little guys will be begging for direct infusion of oxygen.
Thank you all for the feedback. I have never made starter before, so may go the route of pitching an additional vial of yeast. Would I have to pitch a different strain or just simply calculate how much is needed and pitch more of the WLP001?
WLP001 is the California (Chico) Ale yeast strain. There are other yeast vendors who sell their versions of the California (Chico) yeast strain: · Wyeast: 1056 · Fermentis: US-05 If you choose to not make a yeast starter you could purchase a second vial of WLP001 or as has been mentioned previously pitch a packet of US-05. Your choice. Cheers!
OP: I think that most of us, though obviously not all, would say that 2 vials/packs of liquid yeast (even if 0 days old) or one pack of US-05 would be under-pitching somewhat for 5 gallons of 1.074 ale wort. Thus the recommendation to use a yeast calculator and make a starter.
Just found a Mr. Malty iPhone app that is pretty nifty in case you guys are interested. Can see this being extremely useful in the future.
Go for the starter. what are you waiting for? Its certainly not hard, and just another procedure to learn. its amazing how much bonus a strong yeast pitch can provide. It never gets boiled so you have to be careful with your sanitation all the way through .. but its not hard. "You never get a second chance at a first pitch" so might as well be a good one. I often have used only 1/3 of the vial of yeast and turn that into a huge starter. It takes an extra day or two in advance so you need to plan ahead. I like the cost savings and extra assurance of a thriving starter. you can take a 6$ vial and use 2$ of it to make 20$ worth of yeast pitch.
I just did a starter last night for a saison that'll only be around 1.055 O.G. The Wyeast package claims that it will ferment wort up to 1.060 O.G., but it's just good insurance to know that your yeast are nice and healthy before pitching into the main batch. I do a starter for every batch now, big or small.
Same. My OG was 1.058 I had to make 2 starters because my yeast was old. Also @SJL , the age of the yeast needs to be taken into account. Here is a good calculator.
