Do I need a starter

I’m a newbie, but think I have the bug… I’m wanting to get my third brew going today…Dead Ringer…but have a question about a yeast starter.

The great folks at NB said that an alternative to a yeast starter would be to simply pitch two smack packs.

Looking for some commentary on this strategy from folks more educated than I!

Cheers,
Bob

More expensive but that is an option. I like having the stuff around to do starters since I wash and reuse yeast but that is just my preference.

For a beer with an OG as high as the dead ringer is is a good idea to have more yeast than is in 1 pack of wyeast.

Wow, thanks for the speedy reply!

Any thoughts on where I can get a decent video how-to on the yeast re-use process…the ins-and-outs, etc.?

What a great forum. Thanks again.

-Bob

Reusing yeast is very easy. After you let the yeast settle out of your beer, rack the beer off into your bottling bucket or keg, leaving just a tiny bit of beer behind with the yeast. Swirl that around so it mixes with the yeast and breaks up the cake, then pour it into a sanitized canning jar and put the lid on it. Store in the fridge. If you brew another beer within a couple weeks of harvesting your yeast, you can simply pour the right amount directly from you jar into the new wort. If both beers are at about the same gravity, you will want to pour about 1/3rd the yeast in the jar. If the new beer is of a reasonably high gravity, then 1/2 to 2/3rds of the yeast should be used, and for a barley wine or similar you can use all the yeast.

If you want to use the yeast more than a month after you harvested it, you should make a starter.

Do not tighten the lid of the jar down two much. The beer may out gas CO2 or continue to ferment a little. You don’t want a “jar bomb” in the fridge.