Brewing Master

Question:

- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – Pitch it all. So I pitched my starter (EDME ale yeast) last (Wednesday) night, and wanted to know if I’d done it right. Boiled 2 Tbsp of Briess DME per two cups water for a total of 8 cups (half Gallon) Cooled it to ~70 degrees F and pitched the yeast. It’s been burping along happily, so something’s happy. My questions: 1. When I pitch this to my wort on Friday, do I chuck the whole damn thing in there, or do I decoct the liquid off and throw the stuff on the bottom of the jug in the wort? Thanks, Bill Jankowski

Pitch the whole thing but beware of the temp difference if your doing a lager you need to have the starter about the same temp as with any style to much of a diff will shock or kill the yeast. The more yeast cells you pitch the faster you can bottle or keg your brew.

Response:

You’ll hear of people pitching it all, pitching just the liquid or pitching just the sediment. My understanding is that you want the yeast that’s in the liquid since it is still active. Those that don’t want to add the liquid because it may shift their beer flavor undesirably, pitch just the sediment. The rest of us pitch it all. I tend to rack to a secondary fairly quickly so excess sediment is not a problem for me (much of the inactive yeast will become active as it finds O2 and fermentables available). The trick with starters is to pitch whilst the yeast is still multiplying rather than after it has consumed all of the fermentables in the starter liquid and has gone dormant. I pitch between 12 and 48 hours after mixing up the starter (I also O2-inate the starter so I get quick starts). YMMV Burp, -Dan – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – So I pitched my starter (EDME ale yeast) last (Wednesday) night, and wanted to know if I’d done it right. Boiled 2 Tbsp of Briess DME per two cups water for a total of 8 cups (half Gallon) Cooled it to ~70 degrees F and pitched the yeast. It’s been burping along happily, so something’s happy. My questions: 1. When I pitch this to my wort on Friday, do I chuck the whole damn thing in there, or do I decoct the liquid off and throw the stuff on the bottom of the jug in the wort? Thanks, Bill Jankowski

Response:

So I pitched my starter (EDME ale yeast) last (Wednesday) night, and wanted to know if I’d done it right. Boiled 2 Tbsp of Briess DME per two cups water for a total of 8 cups (half Gallon) Cooled it to ~70 degrees F and pitched the yeast. It’s been burping along happily, so something’s happy. My questions: 1. When I pitch this to my wort on Friday, do I chuck the whole damn thing in there, or do I decoct the liquid off and throw the stuff on the bottom of the jug in the wort? Thanks, Bill Jankowski

Response:

EDME ale yeast?  Is that a liquid culture?  I’ll assume it is. Assuming a 5 gallon batch, a 1/2 gallon starter is pretty big.  I’d pour half of it off before pitching it into the fermentor. Pouring it all into the fermenter won’t hurt either, especially if it’s a partial boil beer. Darren – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – So I pitched my starter (EDME ale yeast) last (Wednesday) night, and wanted to know if I’d done it right. Boiled 2 Tbsp of Briess DME per two cups water for a total of 8 cups (half Gallon) Cooled it to ~70 degrees F and pitched the yeast. It’s been burping along happily, so something’s happy. My questions: 1. When I pitch this to my wort on Friday, do I chuck the whole damn thing in there, or do I decoct the liquid off and throw the stuff on the bottom of the jug in the wort? Thanks, Bill Jankowski

Response:

I swirl the whole starter and pitch it all. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – So I pitched my starter (EDME ale yeast) last (Wednesday) night, and wanted to know if I’d done it right. Boiled 2 Tbsp of Briess DME per two cups water for a total of 8 cups (half Gallon) Cooled it to ~70 degrees F and pitched the yeast. It’s been burping along happily, so something’s happy. My questions: 1. When I pitch this to my wort on Friday, do I chuck the whole damn thing in there, or do I decoct the liquid off and throw the stuff on the bottom of the jug in the wort? Thanks, Bill Jankowski

– James Tomlinson Give a man a beer, and he wastes an hour. But teach a man how to brew, and he wastes a lifetime! Moody Waters Brewery

Response:

Pitch it all. – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text – So I pitched my starter (EDME ale yeast) last (Wednesday) night, and wanted to know if I’d done it right. Boiled 2 Tbsp of Briess DME per two cups water for a total of 8 cups (half Gallon) Cooled it to ~70 degrees F and pitched the yeast. It’s been burping along happily, so something’s happy. My questions: 1. When I pitch this to my wort on Friday, do I chuck the whole damn thing in there, or do I decoct the liquid off and throw the stuff on the bottom of the jug in the wort? Thanks, Bill Jankowski

Response: