Ok. So I ran the calls with mr. Malty, and I need to creat a starter that is 443 billion yeast cells.
The specifics: a lager with an of of 1.064. Yeast strain is wyeast hella bock. I bought.2 packs in accordance with mr malty’s calculator. The packs are smacked and I have the ingredients, now I just need to iron out the details.
I do have a.2 gallon bucket w/airlock that I intend to use to make this starter. Maybe a but much headspace but I figure sanitation will take care of itself, no?
Mr malty says i need .63 gals of starter wort. How much water/dme do I need to get this right?
How much water/dme for the second propagation? When should this be done?
Will I need t do a 3rd or 4th propagation? And how much Dme/water for that? When should this be done?
All sources have directed me to ferment the wort at primary fermentation. Temps. Northern brewer says on their DVD that room temp is fine even for lager yeasts. I’m open to e majority rule on this one. Leanings towards matching the fermentation temp.
6 i smacked the packs on atuesday. I plan on making the starter on a Wednesday. Will this be ready by Saturday? I will be shaking the starter intermittently as best I can, but keep in mind I work during the day and sleep during the night…
Do smacked packs for lager yeasts need to be refrigerated or can the swell up overnight and the next work day at room temp?
I would make a 1.5 gallon starter. 1lb of DME will get you in the 1.030 range. No less than a 1 gallon. .75lb with a 1 gallon will be about 1.034. For ales I don’t make less than 3/4 gallon starters. QBrew
can help you with this.
Make a big starter and you don’t need to worry about 2nd or 3rd step ups. Unless you are starting with a very small amount of yeast, like bottle dredges.
Pitching that on Wednesday, shaking before going to work, when you get home and before bed to be finished by Friday. Cold crash and pitch? I don’t think it will be ready.
If you put the yeast in the fridge, it will go back to sleep. Leave it out.
Don’t use an airlock. The point of the starter is to grow yeast, and yeast need oxygen to reproduce.
I’m not sure where you got that volume. Even at 100% viability the MrMalty calculator is saying 2.8 L using “intermittent shaking”. At 80% viability it’s 3.7 L, or just under a gallon. Regardless, you want to use about 0.9 lb DME per gallon of water, for ~1.035 SG.
3-4. No need (and no time) for a second or third propagation.
Ferment the starter at room temperature. It will go faster, and with a starter of this size crashing/decanting is going to be mandatory, so it doesn’t matter how it tastes.
Probably not. If you make the starter today it will probably finish fermenting by Friday, then it will need at least 24 hours (preferably 48) in the fridge before you can decant and pitch. Sunday would be a safer bet.
Just leave them at room temperature. It won’t make a huge difference either way, but rapid temperature cycling can be tough on the yeast.
