Amount of Yeast Required

[private4587]

I am wanting to create a yeast starter o use in the making of TT landlord. In using Beersmith 2 i am confused in the starter details, please see attached file.
The recommended starter size is .8L. But i want to create an overbuild of the yeast to use for future use. Would resetting the starter size to 1.3L be OK and this would give a rebuild of .5L. Is this enough for keeping for future use.

View attachment Starter details.zip

 

[Spapro]

I would say a 0.8l starter for a full 23litre brewlength is a bit light.

I tend to make 1.2 - 1.3l starters for regular strength 23litre brews - I was using 1 litre starters but felt this was underpitching a little at times.

So if you can do a 1.8litre starter now you could save 500ml for a future brew.

Or you could do a 1.2l starter and pitch the lot into your TT brew then skim 300ml or so off the top of the fermenting brew after a couple of days (Top cropping - for stepping up or future brews).

I now regularly top crop 300ml of fermenting wort, let that sample ferment out fully alongside your full brew bucket in a small conical flask or whatever, then pop that in a jar and store that in the fridge. Then step that 300ml up in say a 6-700ml starter then step that up in 1.2l starter for pitching in a new brew down the line. Each time you step up you are more or less ditching the wort from your yeast sample and just using the wort, so from a 300ml yeast sample that has been in the fridge, you can usually decant 200ml of spent clear wort and just pitch the remaining 100ml of yeast into your new step up starter.

As long as you are very careful with hygiene, cleaning kit and sanitising etc I have found yeast to be pretty indestructable and easy to step up and build up !

 

[Saisonator]

I would say a 0.8l starter for a full 23litre brewlength is a bit light.

I tend to make 1.2 - 1.3l starters for regular strength 23litre brews - I was using 1 litre starters but felt this was underpitching a little at times.

So if you can do a 1.8litre starter now you could save 500ml for a future brew.

Or you could do a 1.2l starter and pitch the lot into your TT brew then skim 300ml or so off the top of the fermenting brew after a couple of days (Top cropping - for stepping up or future brews).

I now regularly top crop 300ml of fermenting wort, let that sample ferment out fully alongside your full brew bucket in a small conical flask or whatever, then pop that in a jar and store that in the fridge. Then step that 300ml up in say a 6-700ml starter then step that up in 1.2l starter for pitching in a new brew down the line. Each time you step up you are more or less ditching the wort from your yeast sample and just using the wort, so from a 300ml yeast sample that has been in the fridge, you can usually decant 200ml of spent clear wort and just pitch the remaining 100ml of yeast into your new step up starter.

As long as you are very careful with hygiene, cleaning kit and sanitising etc I have found yeast to be pretty indestructable and easy to step up and build up !

What do you use to skim off your 300ml sample and how long does it last in the fridge?

 

[Spapro]

What do you use to skim off your 300ml sample and how long does it last in the fridge?

A stainless steel soup ladle from the kitchen - washed and then soaked for a bit in starsan before using. Ladle off into a funnel into a small conical flask, cover the opening of the flask in sanitised foil and allow that to ferment out fully and settle for a week, then pour the full sample into a a jar/small glass bottle of appropriate size and pop into the fridge to store.

Will keep for months and months - not gone beyond 6 months but sure it would be ok built in a starter before pitching into a brew.

Everything involved - ladle, funnel, conical, foil, jar/bottle, lid off jar/bottle all well cleaned and sanitised before use.

Oh and try not to sneeze or drop dandruff into the brew/yeast sample while working :lol:

 

[strange-steve]

There's a really good yeast starter calculator here which has an overbuild option and tells you how much to pitch and how much to harvest.

 

[DoctorMick]

There's a really good yeast starter calculator here which has an overbuild option and tells you how much to pitch and how much to harvest.

I use that calc as well. Remember that a 23l brew is 6 uk gallons, that's caught me out before and I've ended up under pitching.

 

[strange-steve]

I use that calc as well. Remember that a 23l brew is 6 uk gallons, that's caught me out before and I've ended up under pitching.

You can change to metric in the settings :thumb:

 

[DoctorMick]

There's a really good yeast starter calculator here which has an overbuild option and tells you how much to pitch and how much to harvest.

I must have used that 20 times and I'd never noticed the settings link before. :lol:

 

[peebee]

There's a really good yeast starter calculator here which has an overbuild option and tells you how much to pitch and how much to harvest.

I couldn't get to grips with that one. Or not until I'd learnt a bit more about stepped starters and overbuild.

I was forced to figure it out when I could only get one pack of a liquid yeast for an upcoming brew, not two as Beersmith (and others) demanded. I brew 45L batches so it is always a problem if I can't get packs less than a month old. I found this one a lot less challenging. Appears to reference a good deal of available information to come up with its "guess".