Thanks for watching! Check out all the equipment featured in this video 👇 Wort Whipper Super Compact Magnetic Stir Plate - www.morebeer.com/products/wort-whipper-super-compact-magnetic-stir-plate.html Yeast Starter Kit - 1000 mL - www.morebeer.com/products/yeast-starter-kit-1000-ml.html www.morebeer.com/products/omega-yeast-propper-starter-condensed-wort-placeholder.html Propper Starter Canned Wort www.morebeer.com/products/omega-yeast-propper-starter-condensed-wort-placeholder.html
I've used yeast starters after my 1st few batches were slow to start. Might want to mention the following as well: 1. If you use a larger flask, you can do 2x or 3x starters. Let the starter grow for 12 hours, add another batch of water+DME, wait another 12 hours, you now have twice the viable cells. I sometimes do a 3x for really heavy beers. 2. The heavier the beer, the more yeast you need. Lagers usually need more yeast as well. Heavy lagers might need 3x or 4x starters! 3. Ratio of water to DME: for 1000ml water (i.e. 1L), use 100g DME. You could also say it's a 10:1 ratio, 10 units of water to 1 unit of DME, i.e. 1000:100. 4. To reduce foaming to less than 10%, add a drop of olive oil after everything is mixed. Only 1/8th of a drop is needed, but just try measuring THAT amount! lol 5. Make sure you have an Erlenmeyer flask that has an absolutely FLAT bottom, else the stir rod will often fly off-center when you power on the stir plate. 6. An alternative to sanitizing using StarSan: Add only water to the flask, heat on stove until quite warm, add DME, stir/shake until even mixed*, cover with foil, bring to boil, let boil for 20min. Remove from stove, cool** to room temp, add yeast, yeast nutrients, and 1 drop olive oil***, move to stir plate, and power on. * It mixes better much easier when the water's warm/hot. ** Don't chill it too fast as even borosilicate flasks can still shatter. I place mine in front of a desk fan for a while. You can also put it in warm water and swirl it while adding ice to the water...it chills it faster than a fan but not so fast that it risks the flask shattering. (I use a fan and let it sit just long enough to drink a beer or 2.) ** Olive oil is optional, but it does 2 things: it reduces foaming by over 90%, and it greatly helps yeast grow healthily.
My wife, who is a chemist, got me an erlenmeyer flask and stir plate for christmas last year. I can't believe how much it improved the fermentation process. After doing it the hard way once, I switched to using Proper Starter®, which makes almost too easy. So thantks to whoever developed that.
I like to make my yeast starters a couple days before my brew day. I'll put the flask in a fridge to get the yeast to drop out. Then on brewday I'll decant the beer off before I pitch they yeast.
I make a yeast starter even for my wines. I made my own stir plate with a piece of sheet metal, cpu fan, a couple of magnets & an old 12vdc appliance power supply...... Dirt cheap & super effective! 😎 👍
If you've been successfully making yeast starters without yeast nutrient, then you won't notice much of a difference when adding it. However, it's helpful for healthy reproduction and provides the nutrients needed to maintain a healthy, active ferment. Yeast insurance!
Is there a particular amount of water and DME to use based on your OG? ie... Can I use let's say 500 ml of water and 1/4 cup of DME on any style and any OG? Is there a good standard ratio to use? I've made 2 yeast starter, new to this. I use brewfather calculator and I'm having a small issue understanding everything within the calculator. Thank you in advance!!
It's easy if you're using metric. A 10:1 ratio should give your starter about a 1.040 SG, which is a good starting point. So 1 liter water and 100 Grams of DME. I'll often make a 2 liter starter, so obviously 200 grams of DME. Cheerz
I've never used a starter, I've always just pitched the packed of dry yeast. When using a starter, will the whole flask of liquid get pitched into the fermenter, or should one decant the extra liquid off the yeast cake and then pitch it? Thank you!
OK, but now how much of that flask of final starter culture do you pitch into a 30 liter batch of wort? In labs, we can use a microscope, hemocytometer (microscope slide with counting grid) and serial dilutions to determine a yeast count / ml. And then calculated the amount to add in order not to over pitch. If we don't have a microscope and all that other stuff, how do I know I have enough or not too much yeast?
Aerating wort when using dry yeast is not needed for the first fermentation. Dry yeast already have very high sterol reserves from the propagation process. Aerating/oxygenating is required if you repitch dry yeast into another fermenation.
@@olinschultz1807 I’d disagree for my 5 cents. I’ve discussed that at length with several brewmasters and head brewers in Germany snd Switzerland and the consensus is that the oxygen helps yeast to reproduce to a good amount of viable cells prior to properly kicking off fermentation. This is for both dry and liquid yeast. Hence it does play an important role in the life cycle during fermentation. Healthy yeast, aeration and temperature control equals great beer and repeatable results! I’m not saying it won’t ferment to FG without- I’m saying it will give you better and repeatable results for each batch.
When picking the DME for the yeast starter, is there a particular type of DME you should use? I saw in the video the pack was light DME, but I have seen dark, pilsen, amber, etc. Is light the go-to for yeast starters or should you match with your brew style?
Most of my starters foam up quickly where its obvious they are viable. However, recently some of the same yeast has shown little to no action in 12+ hrs. How do i know if its still viable and should continue w it or cut my losses and do a new batch?
I use a bit of wort saved from my last batch of beer. Do you think the can stuff is better or stick with what I've been doing? Since I started making a yeast starter my beer quality has much improved. Thanks for the videos, keep em coming!!
I've found it easier to autoclave 300 ml water to 30 g corn syrup mixture the day before and let it cool overnight. DME makes it impossible to check for contamination.
If you're planning to use LME instead of DME, and not going with Propper Starter, then you'd want your ratio to be 20% LME. Propper Starter is 1:1 can to water like Gregory mentioned! Cheers!
Great video, do you think you could do this. And keep feeding them. To just never have to buy yeast again? I know its not expensive, but if you can save money over time. You know? Also you would have a massive collony of yeast for EVERY fermentation!
Suggestion: Since convenience and ease of use are so important to home brewing, DON'T waste your time making your own wort . . . use FastPitch or Proper other canned wort! It's so much faster, cleaner and convenient . . . 16 oz of canned wort, 16 oz water and BOOM . . . ready to go!!!
Thanks for watching! Check out all the equipment featured in this video 👇
Wort Whipper Super Compact Magnetic Stir Plate -
www.morebeer.com/products/wort-whipper-super-compact-magnetic-stir-plate.html
Yeast Starter Kit - 1000 mL -
www.morebeer.com/products/yeast-starter-kit-1000-ml.html
www.morebeer.com/products/omega-yeast-propper-starter-condensed-wort-placeholder.html
Propper Starter Canned Wort
www.morebeer.com/products/omega-yeast-propper-starter-condensed-wort-placeholder.html
I've used yeast starters after my 1st few batches were slow to start. Might want to mention the following as well:
1. If you use a larger flask, you can do 2x or 3x starters. Let the starter grow for 12 hours, add another batch of water+DME, wait another 12 hours, you now have twice the viable cells. I sometimes do a 3x for really heavy beers.
2. The heavier the beer, the more yeast you need. Lagers usually need more yeast as well. Heavy lagers might need 3x or 4x starters!
3. Ratio of water to DME: for 1000ml water (i.e. 1L), use 100g DME. You could also say it's a 10:1 ratio, 10 units of water to 1 unit of DME, i.e. 1000:100.
4. To reduce foaming to less than 10%, add a drop of olive oil after everything is mixed. Only 1/8th of a drop is needed, but just try measuring THAT amount! lol
5. Make sure you have an Erlenmeyer flask that has an absolutely FLAT bottom, else the stir rod will often fly off-center when you power on the stir plate.
6. An alternative to sanitizing using StarSan: Add only water to the flask, heat on stove until quite warm, add DME, stir/shake until even mixed*, cover with foil, bring to boil, let boil for 20min. Remove from stove, cool** to room temp, add yeast, yeast nutrients, and 1 drop olive oil***, move to stir plate, and power on.
* It mixes better much easier when the water's warm/hot.
** Don't chill it too fast as even borosilicate flasks can still shatter. I place mine in front of a desk fan for a while. You can also put it in warm water and swirl it while adding ice to the water...it chills it faster than a fan but not so fast that it risks the flask shattering. (I use a fan and let it sit just long enough to drink a beer or 2.)
** Olive oil is optional, but it does 2 things: it reduces foaming by over 90%, and it greatly helps yeast grow healthily.
My wife, who is a chemist, got me an erlenmeyer flask and stir plate for christmas last year. I can't believe how much it improved the fermentation process.
After doing it the hard way once, I switched to using Proper Starter®, which makes almost too easy. So thantks to whoever developed that.
Shout out to Omega Yeast!!
This is cool for new brews to know and understand. It's good to not so new brews as a refresher course to.
That magnetic stir plate is amazing!
It truly is awesome!
Great video. I'm making beer in 2 weeks so this helps out.
I like to make my yeast starters a couple days before my brew day. I'll put the flask in a fridge to get the yeast to drop out. Then on brewday I'll decant the beer off before I pitch they yeast.
Awesome tip, that's definitely the way to go!
Exactly what I was looking for!. Gr8 video & content.
Bought the whipper and starter kit
I make a yeast starter even for my wines. I made my own stir plate with a piece of sheet metal, cpu fan, a couple of magnets & an old 12vdc appliance power supply...... Dirt cheap & super effective! 😎 👍
That sounds awesome!
Great idea homie
Can I use liquid malt extract instead of DME? Great video BTW
hi what type of sanitizer you used in this video?
Great job! And I fully agree as I swear by yeast starters.
How did you retrieve the magnetic stirrer without dropping it into the wort along with the yeast?
Strainer
I've never used yeast nutrient in my starter, only dme. Have you found it to make that much of a difference to add it?
If you've been successfully making yeast starters without yeast nutrient, then you won't notice much of a difference when adding it. However, it's helpful for healthy reproduction and provides the nutrients needed to maintain a healthy, active ferment. Yeast insurance!
Is there a particular amount of water and DME to use based on your OG? ie... Can I use let's say 500 ml of water and 1/4 cup of DME on any style and any OG? Is there a good standard ratio to use?
I've made 2 yeast starter, new to this. I use brewfather calculator and I'm having a small issue understanding everything within the calculator.
Thank you in advance!!
It's easy if you're using metric. A 10:1 ratio should give your starter about a 1.040 SG, which is a good starting point. So 1 liter water and 100 Grams of DME. I'll often make a 2 liter starter, so obviously 200 grams of DME. Cheerz
I've never used a starter, I've always just pitched the packed of dry yeast. When using a starter, will the whole flask of liquid get pitched into the fermenter, or should one decant the extra liquid off the yeast cake and then pitch it? Thank you!
Hello - when making the starter from DME wouldn’t you want to take a gravity reading to make sure your at least at 1.036.
OK, but now how much of that flask of final starter culture do you pitch into a 30 liter batch of wort? In labs, we can use a microscope, hemocytometer (microscope slide with counting grid) and serial dilutions to determine a yeast count / ml. And then calculated the amount to add in order not to over pitch. If we don't have a microscope and all that other stuff, how do I know I have enough or not too much yeast?
Great description. Personally I use dry yeast in wort I aerated. Never had an issue
Aerating wort when using dry yeast is not needed for the first fermentation. Dry yeast already have very high sterol reserves from the propagation process. Aerating/oxygenating is required if you repitch dry yeast into another fermenation.
@@olinschultz1807 I’d disagree for my 5 cents. I’ve discussed that at length with several brewmasters and head brewers in Germany snd Switzerland and the consensus is that the oxygen helps yeast to reproduce to a good amount of viable cells prior to properly kicking off fermentation. This is for both dry and liquid yeast.
Hence it does play an important role in the life cycle during fermentation. Healthy yeast, aeration and temperature control equals great beer and repeatable results!
I’m not saying it won’t ferment to FG without- I’m saying it will give you better and repeatable results for each batch.
Thanks Vito , that was a great video, Is 1/8 tsp enough yeast nutrient for the mix?
Definitely!
do I need to do anything different from these steps to save some yeast for a later brew?
That's a different topic which we hope to go over soon!
When picking the DME for the yeast starter, is there a particular type of DME you should use? I saw in the video the pack was light DME, but I have seen dark, pilsen, amber, etc. Is light the go-to for yeast starters or should you match with your brew style?
If you are decanting the starter I’ve noticed no difference in taste of the beer. I now use the DME to match the style only because I stock them.
Most of my starters foam up quickly where its obvious they are viable. However, recently some of the same yeast has shown little to no action in 12+ hrs. How do i know if its still viable and should continue w it or cut my losses and do a new batch?
I always use a Y starter with liquid yeast. Not sure how much of a vortex to maintain in the starter. any tips?
I use a bit of wort saved from my last batch of beer. Do you think the can stuff is better or stick with what I've been doing? Since I started making a yeast starter my beer quality has much improved. Thanks for the videos, keep em coming!!
I primarily brew 2.5 gallon batches. What is the recommendation for a yeast starter for that size batch?
How much DME and yeast nutrient should we add?
I like Wyeast California Lager
I've found it easier to autoclave 300 ml water to 30 g corn syrup mixture the day before and let it cool overnight.
DME makes it impossible to check for contamination.
TOTAL noob question, but isn't that too much nutrients for a starter? I thought u were supposed to add just a tiny bit. Am I wrong? Ty!
Great question, and yes just a tiny pinch of nutrients in your starter! We add that at 3:53 in the video!
What’s the ratio for liquid extract?
1:1 rinse the can out with bottled water and you're good to go. They are handy.
If you're planning to use LME instead of DME, and not going with Propper Starter, then you'd want your ratio to be 20% LME. Propper Starter is 1:1 can to water like Gregory mentioned! Cheers!
@@MoreBeer_ Thanks!!
Great video, do you think you could do this. And keep feeding them. To just never have to buy yeast again? I know its not expensive, but if you can save money over time. You know?
Also you would have a massive collony of yeast for EVERY fermentation!
The Propper Starter is the only way to go unless you have the time to make the started and cool it off.
Nice early wood spatula
Suggestion: Since convenience and ease of use are so important to home brewing, DON'T waste your time making your own wort . . . use FastPitch or Proper other canned wort! It's so much faster, cleaner and convenient . . . 16 oz of canned wort, 16 oz water and BOOM . . . ready to go!!!
Hard a flask crack on me the other day.