Water Treatment And Starters

[Saisonator]

Hi,
I made my first liquid yeast starter at the weekend and pitched it into my Yorkshire Bitter I made on sunday.
I used one litre of tap water in my flask. Added 200g of dme, heated to boil while stirring, then topped up with one litre of boiled water.
I then boiled it all for 15 mins and then cooled in ice water.
I pitched the yeast and placed it on my stir plate.
It all took off well and made a right mess foaming out the top by the following day.

One thing that is troubling me is I did not treat my tap water as I was worried that Camden would kill off the yeast.
The bottled water I had was Ashbeck which is very low in calcium.
In future I will use a different t bottled water with more minerals but for now do you think that there will be any negative effects with my beer?

 

[Spapro]

Hi,
I made my first liquid yeast starter at the weekend and pitched it into my Yorkshire Bitter I made on sunday.
I used one litre of tap water in my flask. Added 200g of dme, heated to boil while stirring, then topped up with one litre of boiled water.
I then boiled it all for 15 mins and then cooled in ice water.
I pitched the yeast and placed it on my stir plate.
It all took off well and made a right mess foaming out the top by the following day.

One thing that is troubling me is I did not treat my tap water as I was worried that Camden would kill off the yeast.
The bottled water I had was Ashbeck which is very low in calcium.
In future I will use a different t bottled water with more minerals but for now do you think that there will be any negative effects with my beer?

I only use tap water in my starters (boiled then cooled etc just like yours). I do treat my main brewing water with a campden tablet the day before brewing.

You will be fine, the 1-2 litres you are pitching into a 20-23l brew is such a small percentage , once diluted will make no discernable impact on the finished beer.

I tend to make starters 2-3 days before brewing - gives the yeast chance to settle out, then you can decant off the clear liquid element of the starter and just pitch in the yeast slurry into your brew.

Enjoy your brewed beer, I am partial to a good Yorkshire Bitter myself.

 

[henteaser]

I tend to make starters 2-3 days before brewing - gives the yeast chance to settle out, then you can decant off the clear liquid element of the starter and just pitch in the yeast slurry into your brew.

Do this.

The starter beer will be super oxidised from the stir plate, and won't add anything good to your batch. IMO it's worth the extra night in the fridge to crash it and decant.

 

[Saisonator]

Thanks guys, yes I realised on Friday night when a smacked the pack that I was starting too late to let the yeast finish and settle.
I ended up pitching 1.4 litres into my 23 litre batch, keeping back 0.5 litres for future use. Fingers crossed that active yeast might munch at the oxidisation a bit, poor practice I realise now and lesson learned.
I just had a free weekend because the my wife was away.
Act in haste regret at leasure.
Hopefully the beer will come good in the end.
ATB

 

[Spapro]

Thanks guys, yes I realised on Friday night when a smacked the pack that I was starting too late to let the yeast finish and settle.
I ended up pitching 1.4 litres into my 23 litre batch, keeping back 0.5 litres for future use. Fingers crossed that active yeast might munch at the oxidisation a bit, poor practice I realise now and lesson learned.
I just had a free weekend because the my wife was away.
Act in haste regret at leasure.
Hopefully the beer will come good in the end.
ATB

Oxidation (as long as introduced into ambient temperature wort and not warm/hot wort) is a good thing in the early yeast growth stages. Most of us beat the daylights out of our wort or run it through a sieve etc into the FV prior to pitching yeast.

So definately no harm done at all - your beer should be great !

Oxidation later on in the fermentation process or at bottling etc is not a good thing though

Good look with it !

 

[henteaser]

Oxidation (as long as introduced into ambient temperature wort and not warm/hot wort) is a good thing in the early yeast growth stages.

IMO oxygenation, and oxidation, are two different things.

Regardless as to whether the yeast will consume the oxygen in said starter, you're still adding an unwanted flavour (however minimal) in the form of stale, already oxidised beer.

I'm sure it's undetectable, but if I'm doing a bigger beer that needs a 2L + starter, it doesn't sit easy with me!

 

[Spapro]

IMO oxygenation, and oxidation, are two different things.

Regardless as to whether the yeast will consume the oxygen in said starter, you're still adding an unwanted flavour (however minimal) in the form of stale, already oxidised beer.

I'm sure it's undetectable, but if I'm doing a bigger beer that needs a 2L + starter, it doesn't sit easy with me!

Still not convinced this is something to worry about with a starter:
http://howtobrew.com/book/section-1/yeast/yeast-nutritional-needs/aeration-is-good-oxidation-is-bad

Not saying you are wrong mate, the chemistry of oxygenation, aeration and oxidation will be way over my head !

 

[DoctorMick]

IMO oxygenation, and oxidation, are two different things.

Regardless as to whether the yeast will consume the oxygen in said starter, you're still adding an unwanted flavour (however minimal) in the form of stale, already oxidised beer.

I'm sure it's undetectable, but if I'm doing a bigger beer that needs a 2L + starter, it doesn't sit easy with me!

I rarely crash my starters and haven’t noticed any problems from pitching the spent wort. That said, they’re usually 1.5l or less, i would crash a 2l or bigger starter just in case.

 

[private4587]

Just a bit off topic but in making a starter on a stir plate do i let this fully ferment out or do i leave for say certain number of hours. the reason for asking is that i am wanting to make a starter for a lager and the yeast (WL830) is getting close to use by date and so probably will have to do a stepped starter. So will i have to leave each step to fully ferment out before progressing to next stage.

 

[henteaser]

Just a bit off topic but in making a starter on a stir plate do i let this fully ferment out or do i leave for say certain number of hours. the reason for asking is that i am wanting to make a starter for a lager and the yeast (WL830) is getting close to use by date and so probably will have to do a stepped starter. So will i have to leave each step to fully ferment out before progressing to next stage.

If your flask is large enough, I've had good success simply adding more wort after the high growth phase.

E.g. start with a 1L starter, then simply add another 2L of fresh wort after 24 hours, then leave this to floc out completely.

Should you decant the oxidised steam-beer sat on top of your lager yeast?

As others have said, it's likely you'll notice no ill affect. But my aim is to make the best quality beer I possibly can, if that means an additional time consuming step, so be it!

 

[foxbat]

I rarely crash my starters and haven’t noticed any problems from pitching the spent wort. That said, they’re usually 1.5l or less, i would crash a 2l or bigger starter just in case.

I decant my spent wort into the sink as well even though Brulosophy have shown (yet again) that you can tip a whole 3 litres into a something as delicately flavoured as a lager and it makes zero difference to the outcome.