Yeast Washing / Yeast Starter

Yeast & Fermentation
1

Hello,

I have been thinking about doing the Wyeast washing in order to save some cash. I actually have 2 questions.

  1. If I am brewing all grain can I make a yeast starter from just the grain? How much Grain should I use for something like a Burbon Barrell Porter?
  2. If I wash the yeast, decant, do I also make a starter for this “yeast cake”?

Thanks!

2

  1. I am not sure what you mean in your first question. A starter is made in advance and is independent of the beer you are brewing other than the strain of yeast. I use the end of the second runnings of my brews as the base for my next starters. Gravity is generally 1.020 to 1.030 and when I make my starters, I add a little DME to bump the gravity to 1.035 to 1.040.

  2. If the yeast cake is fresh or less than 2-3 weeks old, you should not need a starter.

3

[quote=“560sdl”]1. I am not sure what you mean in your first question. A starter is made in advance and is independent of the beer you are brewing other than the strain of yeast. I use the end of the second runnings of my brews as the base for my next starters. Gravity is generally 1.020 to 1.030 and when I make my starters, I add a little DME to bump the gravity to 1.035 to 1.040.

  1. If the yeast cake is fresh or less than 2-3 weeks old, you should not need a starter.[/quote]

Right what I wanted to know is if I do not have any DME can I just simply make a small batch all grain that I would have from the kit…maybe 2 liters for the yeast starter before I brew. If I use the second runnings then I would have the wort (this is my first batch) sitting until the yeast kicked up in the starter…does that make sense?

4

You need to consider the starter and batch as two separate things. You make a starter 5-7 days before you brew. You refrigerate for two days and pour off the liquid, only adding the yeast.

So if you steal grain from a kit for a starter, your kit will suffer from lower gravity. Yes you could add DME, but if you have that, make a starter.

5

[quote=“560sdl”]You need to consider the starter and batch as two separate things. You make a starter 5-7 days before you brew. You refrigerate for two days and pour off the liquid, only adding the yeast.

So if you steal grain from a kit for a starter, your kit will suffer from lower gravity. Yes you could add DME, but if you have that, make a starter.[/quote]

Yeah, not enough time for a starter. You could freeze or pressure can some wort for the next brew. After I hit my volume in the BK, I continue to drain into another pot, then boil and can the wort for starters.

6

[quote=“mrv”][quote=“560sdl”]You need to consider the starter and batch as two separate things. You make a starter 5-7 days before you brew. You refrigerate for two days and pour off the liquid, only adding the yeast.

So if you steal grain from a kit for a starter, your kit will suffer from lower gravity. Yes you could add DME, but if you have that, make a starter.[/quote]

Yeah, not enough time for a starter. You could freeze or pressure can some wort for the next brew. After I hit my volume in the BK, I continue to drain into another pot, then boil and can the wort for starters.[/quote]

Thanks all!!

I will steal some DME from another extract kit that i have for making the starter.