YEAST STARTERS ?

[dab123]

My first attempts have been ok , and done pretty much as per instructions.
however i seem to be hearing quite a bit about ' YEAST STARTERS",now I have never used one & am not realy sure what they involve?
My brews seem to start allright so what is the advantage of them ? and are they used in stead of the supplied yeast or with it .
So can some one tell me how to make it & how to use it .
would appreciate it .
cheers dab.

[Oliver]

Hi dab123,

There are various ways to make a yeast starter, but they're all variations on a theme. Below are the instructions from the How to Brew section of our site.

Cheers,

Oliver

Make a yeast starter
This is not essential, but will make sure your beer starts off a vigorous fermentation and ensure any rogue yeast doesn't get hold and ruin the brew. It also allows you to make sure the yeast is active (which one or two of ours haven't been, for some reason).

Make the starter from dried or liquid yeast a couple of days before you plan brew. While 500ml is a good size, a bigger starter with more malt is even better.

1. Boil at least 500ml of water, add about 4 tablespoons of malt (dried is easiest to handle) and boil for a couple of minutes.
2. Put the lid on the saucepan and allow to cool. Put it in a sink of cold water if you want to speed things up a bit.
3. Meanwhile, sterlilise an airlock, large bottle and bung for the bottle.
4. When the mixture is cool, pour it into the bottle, then add the yeast. (If culturing yeast from a large bottle (750ml or larger) of bottle-conditioned beer, with the beer at room temperature pour off all but the last two centimetres or so and drink it. Then add the the cooled malt mixture and proceed. We know that the bottle is sterile apart from the yeast, so why dirty another bottle?)
5. Give the bottle a good shake to dissolve oxygen, which was driven out by the boiling. The yeast needs oxygen to get off to a flying start.
6. Fit the bung and airlock and leave it in a warm place 20ºC (68ºF) until you are ready to brew. Some people just place a piece of cotton wool in the neck of the bottle. This is not as effective, but it's up to you.
7. If there is no action in the airlock within 24 hours, it is likely the yeast you added was dead. Make another starter with new yeast.

If you don't bother to make a yeast starter and you're using dried yeast, it is beneficial to rehydrate the yeast before pitching it into the wort. Just mix the yeast with some tepid water (make sure it's not hot, as the yeast will be killed) about half an hour before adding it to the wort.

[Matty]

Hey dab123,

I just put a brew on yesterday and I used a yeast starter from the dregs of 6 Sparkling Ale stubbies.

Coopers Premium Selection Sparkling Ale kit
1.5kg light lme
1kg light dme
Sparkling Ale yeast starter
15-20gm pride if ringwood hops for dry hopping during cold conditioning OG 1.058 & brewing at 18'C

I can't take credit for the recipe since I got it from another site, but it sounds like it should turn out close to the real thing, fingers crossed!

Cheers

Matty

[dab123]

Thanks , still a little confused , think I will give the starters a miss
for now, perhaps after I experience a non starter.
dab.

[Matty]

Don't be put off, it really is easy, just using the yeast dregs from the bottle of some commercial bottle conditioned beers eg; Coopers, Hoegaarden, Chimay etc, any beer with a sediment.
All your doing is making a mini brew to re-activate, 'start', the yeast from in the bottle, it can work by just putting the yeast dregs from the commercial beer straight into your fermenter, but with doing a 'starter' you know the yeast is actice and alive and will get your brew happening quicker than if you just added the dregs to your brew. The only reason I use a yeast starter is to be using the yeast that some of the brewers of my favourite beers use, then maybe l can get a closer brews to the ones they do.
I hope l haven't just confused you more.........

Cheers

Matty

[Stew]

I was just noting the post by dab123

I just put a brew on yesterday and I used a yeast starter from the dregs of 6 Sparkling Ale stubbies.

can you create a starter using only one stubbie for a 21L mix?

obviously the more yeast the better...... but will one stubbie provide enough yeast after the few days of growth before addition to the fementor?

Cheers Stuart

[Oliver]

I just put a brew on yesterday and I used a yeast starter from the dregs of 6 Sparkling Ale stubbies.

This thread might also help. See the bit a few posts down about "stepping up" the starter.

http://www.homebrewandbeer.com/forum/vi ... php?t=1491

Cheers,

Oliver