yeast starters

[melbourne man]

are they really necessary or could i just pour into the fermenter the dregs from 3-4 bottles of coopers sparkling ale?

[rwh]

Well, in this case I'd have to say it's really necessary. I'm not going to say it won't work, just that you'll be running foul of a few issues:

- The population of the yeast will have to work itself up inside your wort, increasing lag time and consequently the chance of infection
- The viability of those few yeast cells will be stretched to its limit, leading to increased risk of stuck/incomplete ferment, which can cause bottle explostions

Then again, I think someone on here has actually done it, and the Coopers yeasts do seem to be very vigorous. YMMV, I wouldn't do it tho.

[melbourne man]

could i do this and add a safale yeast too or is that a really bad idea?

[Pale_Ale]

It would defeat the purpose. The safale would outnumber the Coopers and multiply much quicker. The resultant brew would taste no different to if you added Safale only.