Yeast starter?

Northern Brewer General
1

Hey guys,

Thinking of purchasing the Dead Ringer IPA, and see they recommend using a yeast starter. Is this necessary? Or will a few extra days for the yeast to get rolling work just fine. Opinions?

  • Jeff
2

The target OG is 1.064 which is in that range where many will will say you MUST, but others will say maybe you can get away with not. I can tell you the beer will turn out better if you do.

Starters are not difficult; try it.

3

Yeast make esters early in the fermentation, and low cell counts make this happen more. I also recommend a starter for a liquid yeast.

4

Use us-05 and you won’t need a starter

5

Good point.

6

I am planning on doing a batch of Dead ringer this weekend or next. I have also decided on move to making it with a yeast starter. So i ordered White Lab WLP001(California Ale). I don’t have a spinning plate, but do have the beaker and malt. Will i be able to get the same effect with the spinning plate?
Thanks
Matt

7

Good point.[/quote]
But with that gravity, rehydrating for 15 minutes in 1/2 a cup of water before pitching is recommended. Or use two packages of US-05.

8

[quote=“themattman”]I am planning on doing a batch of Dead ringer this weekend or next. I have also decided on move to making it with a yeast starter. So i ordered White Lab WLP001(California Ale). I don’t have a spinning plate, but do have the beaker and malt. Will i be able to get the same effect with the spinning plate?
Thanks
Matt[/quote]
Nope, you get more yeast growth if you have a mixer. I don’t have one either, but if you just pick up the beaker and give it a swirl every now and then when you happen to think about it, that will get you half way there.

9

[quote=“themattman”]I am planning on doing a batch of Dead ringer this weekend or next. I have also decided on move to making it with a yeast starter. So i ordered White Lab WLP001(California Ale). I don’t have a spinning plate, but do have the beaker and malt. Will i be able to get the same effect with the spinning plate?
Thanks
Matt[/quote]
If you do not have a stir plate, you will need to use a larger starter volume. You can use an online calculator to figure out how much: http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/calc.html.

With a larger volume, I would suggest considering cold crashing the starter and decanting some of the wort before pitching.

10

A gallon glass jug works well for a non-stirplate starter. Its tought to make a 2L starter in a 2L flask without Fermcap S. You’ll still want to swirl it every time you walk by to give it some extra aeration.