Why I love yeast starters (and stir plates)

[Kealia]

While staring at my near-empty beer fridge a few days ago I found a few vials of WLP007 that I washed back in April. I decided to see if I could bring it back to life and build it up for a future brew by doing a step-up starter on the stir plate. I did the standard 1L starter with two vials of yeast and let it spin for 48 hours before chilling. I wasn't impressed with the outcome and wondered if I had any viable cells left but I decided to pitch into another 1L starter and let it ferment out again. That was yesterday.

This is what I awoke to this morning:


Great activity and a nice little krausen while spinning. I think I'm going to end up with plenty of healthy yeast after this. I'm going to let this go for about 72 hours to fully ferment and then chill, decant and put back into vials. I'm not sure when I'll use it but at this point I'm confident that I'll have 2-4 full vials of yeast ready to work when the time comes.



Not counting the initial outlay for the stir plate and flask (which have long since paid for themselves), I spent about $2.00 to do this versus somewhere between $14.00 and $28.00 to end up with the same 2-4 vials.

[Beer-lord]

If my yeast is over 4 months old, I do a step up starter too. I let the first one ferment out over 3 days then make another starter that is usually big enough for my brew day PLUS enough to put in the fridge for another brew day.

But, I do like what Inkleg does as far as timing and planning his brews ahead of time and using the yeast cake too. It's fool proof ( says this fool)

[Kealia]

You know, I'm thinking that I might just decant this one and do one more step up (given that it was so old) and bottle all that up. That would give me a lot of yeast. Now that I write that, I don't think I will. I don't use WLP007 all that much so I'll just keep what this gives me.

When my Walking Dead Guy Ale is done, I'll wash that and immediately do a starter to build up the reserves. I can use Pacman in a variety of beers going forward.

[wollffy]

What is PacMan yeast?

[Beer-lord]

It's a propriety yeast strain that I think Rogue might use in all their beers. Wyeast has a strain that I think may change from time to time (I'm honestly not sure).

[Kealia]

And the end result of the starters is......

4 nice healthy vials ready to attack their next assignment!

[Brewbirds]

Woo Hoo I envision some yeast parties (with pics one hopes) in the very near future.

[Rebel_B]

What is PacMan yeast?

This is a popular one at all the LHBS's in my area...

From the Wyeast web-site
http://www.wyeastlab.com/Pc1q2010.cfm

Wyeast 1764-PC ROGUE Pacman Yeast
Beer Styles: American Pale Ale, American Amber Ale, American Brown Ale, Brown Porter, Cream Ale, Irish Red Ale, Strong Scotch Ale, Dry Stout, American Stout, Russian Imperial Stout, American IPA, Imperial IPA, American Barleywine, Fruit Beer, Spice/Herb/or Vegetable Beer, Christmas/Winter Specialty Spice Beer, Other Smoked Beer, Wood-Aged Beer
Profile: A versatile yeast strain from one of Oregon’s leading craft breweries. Pacman is alcohol tolerant, flocculent, attenuates well and will produce beers with little to no diacetyl. Very mild fruit complements a dry, mineral finish making this a fairly neutral strain. Pacman’s flavor profile and performance makes it a great choice for use in many different beer styles.

Alc. Tolerance 12% ABV
Flocculation med-high
Attenuation 72-78%
Temp. Range 60-72°F (15-22°C)