I saved some Wyeast 1007 German Ale yeast a couple of weeks ago and I plan on brewing some Irish Red Ale with it. I am going to making a starter by using 1 cup water to 1/2 cup DME.
I plan on brewing Wednesday night, when should I start my yeast starter?
thanks,
Dean
I’d recommend making a bigger starter than 1 cup. With a starter that small you risk running out of nutrients before the yeast can build its glycogen reserves and you may be worse off than with no starter at all. I’d go for 1-2 qt. and start today so you can decant before you use it. Use 1/3-1/2 of your slurry for the starter.
I agree about making a bigger starter. Since I think you’re talking about a whole yeastcake, you’ve probably got about 500 Billion cells, which is more than you want for most beers. Do a bigger starter, chill, decant, and split it between 2 or three beers.
A couple of weeks is the same time that vials and smackpacks have been sitting, so just pitching what you have would be about as good as pitching commercially-packaged yeast.
