I have always made a starter with White Labs stepping it up at least twice. I have a small brew window and need to brew this Sunday. What are your thoughts on a direct pitch from the package into a wort with a gravity of 1.045 - 1.050? If that’s not advisable i would have time to put it on a stir plate for about 20 hours and pitching even if it is at high krausen. Thoughts?
How old is the yeast? Is it a pure pitchable pouch? What strain?
New pitchable pack. Don’t have it with me so I can’t tell you the dates but just purchased. WLP011.
If it is relatively fresh, I think you would be fine just pitching the whole packet. If it is towards the older end of the spectrum you could have two options to choose from -
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A vitality starter - just spin it on the stir plate in a quart of wort for 4-6 hrs then pitch the whole thing.
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Do a SNS (shaken-not-stirred) starter and pitch the whole thing at high krausen. But you need a proper shaped vessel for that to pull it off properly.
----if it were me and the packet was reasonably fresh, I would just pitch the packet (especially if the beer in question was not for a competition or I was not planning on reusing the yeast).
Ok I hear you and that would be the easiest option. But why not 20 hours on a stir plate in a flask?
I think on a stir plate (depending on yeast freshness and starter volume) you would see high krausen well before 20 hrs. You most definitely would not need more than a 1 qt starter either for such a small OG>
So you agee to do the 20 hour starter?
I think you could do a SNS starter late the night before or even the morning of while heating strike water.
You should be okay if it is 1.045-50. But a 2L starter isn’t terrible either?
I would direct pitch without a starter. There is enough viable yeast in the pack for your starting gravity. You also eliminate one possible route of contamination.
I think I am going to direct pitch. The years was manufactured October 12, 2016.
oops … the yeast, not years…
Damn, that is super fresh. You will be more than fine with that!
Whoops…Didn’t account for the honey addition OG: 1.058. Direct pitch…hope the freshness makes up the difference.
Pitch the honey at high krausen. There are some studies showing that simple sugars should be added then for best results.
During the growth phase simple sugars should ferment out easily, but honey always does, it’s one of the sugars that is sure to ferment either way. So I am not confident that it matters either way, you may grab a point or two of attenuation by adding it late but if it isn’t mashed properly I don’t think it matters.
Is there any risk of contamination pitching directly into the fermentor? I have always pitched into the brew pot at 5 minutes.
I don’t think so. What I would do is sanitize the container the honey is in, just in case the act of pouring the honey out of its container drags some little critters that might be hanging out on the lip of the container. The honey itself is clean.
While reality differs with that…at least at my house.
I guess it depends on what best results are:
That study focused on stability, so perhaps a flavor difference is occurring in your experience? I could be persuaded on that - in the short term, at least. In the long term, the science makes sense.