Hey all, first time poster here and new to the brewing world, or I should say back again after many years off. I am brewing one gallon kits now since we have a tiny kitchen and I am learning a ton more by doing these smaller batches.
I had a question about a yeast starter I made. The kits I have been using are form Brooklyn Brew Shop, and I am doing the Smoked Wheat at this time, they all come with a package of dry yeast, the type I do not know. Last time I brewed, I just through the package in, and it seemed to work, however I had been reading a lot on making yeast starters, so I tried per John Palmer’s site, http://www.howtobrew.com/section1/chapter6-5.html. BUT, and here’s where I might have killed them, I did not “PROOF” it like he says thinking this was just a precautionary step to make sure you have good yeast, but maybe this is a necessary step to waking them up before pitching???
This morning when I checked on it (brewed last night) there was relativity NO action, no bubbling or very very faint.
So I guess it’s a two part question, if I did screw it up, can I just pitch some more yeast into the fermenter jug, and might someone recommend one I can get from Northern Brewer here?
OK, well I hope I am making sense here, thanks in advance for any information folks can spare, and sorry for what is probably a super newbie question.
Thanks for the reply, actually, I should have read some older posts first. When I came home today, lots of action going on, and lots of bubbles, so I guess I didn’t kill them. I don’t fully understand why it wouldn’t be beneficial though, making a starter I mean, but then again I guess that’s why I am here!
While dry yeast doesn’t always have the best viability, those little packets contain a ridiculous amount of cells. You should never proof dry yeast for brewing cause you need them to keep as many reserves as possible. Rehydration is the key & typically the only thing you’ll need to do for dry yeast.
A starter can be done with dry yeast, but is rarely necessary. A starter is simply a low gravity ‘beer’, although most frequently without hops. The idea is to wake the yeast up & to propagate an appropriate cell count for whatever you’re brewing. It’s a technique most frequently done with liquid yeast cultures. That tube of White Labs says it’s good for a 5 gallon batch, but in reality that’s only if the vial is super fresh & you’re pitching into a fairly low gravity wort. Let’s say you’re making a big barleywine. You could either pitch 2 tubes of yeast or pitch that yeast into a 2 liter starter. Just like fermentation, the yeast will reproduce to eat the available sugars, leaving you with a much higher cell count. I only buy 1 vial of yeast for my 25 gallon conical instead of 5 or 6, which is a huge savings. I’ll do several starters, each a higher volume than the last, to get enough yeast to properly ferment such a large volume. By under-pitching you’ll create yeast health & stress issues that will create off-flavors in your beer.
With your 1 gallon batches & dry yeast, you shouldn’t have to worry about them. Find a pitching rate calculator you like - there’s a few of them out on the web, just always use the same one since they will all tell you very different things - and measure out your dry yeast according to that. MrMalty.com is a fairly popular one.
No problem. If you plan on doing these small batches for quite some time, consider investing in a high quality scale that can read (at least) decigrams i.e. one decimal point like 5.4 grams. You can find them online or at a headshop. I use mine all the time on bigger batches even, like weighing my hops for 12 gallon batches.
