Making a Yeast Starter

Making starters for your yeast is a good way to step up your brewing and save money. Pitching healthy, hungry and sufficient yeast cells will greatly improve the quality of your home brewed beer but it will also mean you can pitch large quantities from just one packet of liquid yeast. Here Ed and Tim show how to make yeast starters.
00:00 to 04:10 - Intro
04:10 to 06:10 - Equipment
06:10 to 15:00 - Process
15:00 to 17:15 - Calculator

[@BrewabitRick]

Interesting stuff. I’ve got the kit to do a starter but haven’t done one for ages ,I love dry yeast it’s definitely come on I just chuck it in and off it goes.Nice one again lads cheers 👍🍻

[@BrewBrosUK]

Nothing wrong with dry yeast at all. Super easy to store and use 👌

[@sneekylinux]

So Ed is now a professor of beer, who knew!!😉

[@BrewBrosUK]

😂 he’s a professor of something, not sure if it’s beer though…

[@rossacairns112]

I'm a bit conflicted with starters. If I have liquid yeast that's pretty fresh, the wort is under 1.060 and the wort doesn't have a lot of simple sugars then I just pitch it directly. Now I know there are hundreds of strains and I've only used a few so that's definitely something to think about and ignore what I've just said 😂. White labs Edinburgh yeast and hefeweizen yeast (wlp300) I've found to be especially good without a starter. And kveik all bets are off, had a pouch of omega Voss that was kept out the fridge for 18 months and it still fermented a standard strength beer in 4-5 days, was stunned by that as fully expected the pack to be completely dead.

[@BrewBrosUK]

Yeah I (Tim) am the same. A month or two old and I bung it in from the packet. That’s mad about the Voss 👀 that stuff is an animal!

[@bigsqueegie]

Like an episode of Tomorrow's World. Great content Bros. Never had flask envy before now 🍻

[@BrewBrosUK]

Cheers 🍺 Yeah I didn’t realise Ed had that massive one! And there was me thinking 2L would do the job…

[@TankardBrewing]

Cracking video lads! Watching it gave me the final kick up the ar*e to finally order a wort whipper! Great video for us n00bs when it comes to yeast starters! Have a good weekend 🍻🍻

[@BrewBrosUK]

Haha good bit of kit 👌 Got mine for £23!

[@philthompson3038]

Great vid. Why boil for 15 mins? Isn't it just to sterilise? I boil mine for 5 minutes and experience no negative effects. How quick do you have your stir plate? I have mine spinning fast to ensure there is oxygen getting into the wort to help with yeast propagation (and I get minimal krausen as, I believe, the yeast is prioritising propagation over fermentation). I also have mine running for 18-24 hours as I don't think any longer is worth it . Finally, I also use 25g per 500ml of DME and it works just as well as the more traditional 50g-500ml, if not better (again, I think because the yeast should be propagating and not fermenting)

[@BrewBrosUK]

Good question….i think it’s one of those historical things that most people take as read ye olde 15 minute boil. I think when I (Tim) start making them I’ll go for the 5 minute approach because I haven’t got 15 minutes to be standing around on edge waiting for the eruption! We use the Wort Whipper at 25% on the dial. Again, maybe one of those things but most say it just needs enough to keep the yeast suspended. I’ll try the more vigorous approach too 👍

[@graeme02]

@@BrewBrosUK 10 minutes is the minimum boil time for sterilizing liquids. Anything less than 10 min won't kill off the bugs so, 10 minutes + is a must.

[@alanmorris8783]

A weird mashup between Breaking Bad and Carry On Doctor. With Tim, as Sid James playing the “donor”, Paul Skinback; and Ed, as Jim Dale playing Doctor Longfellow, they work at the fertility clinic at the local hospital fighting to overcome the dreadful sexual performance of men in the West Country town of Little Gonad. With a supporting cast of Ghandi as Hattie Jacques playing Matron (“ooh Matron no!”), Ed’s daughter as Barbara Windsor playing Junior Nurse Winkle and one of Tim’s mates as a “blacked-up” Bernard Bresslaw playing Doctor Hindi the hilariously stereotype’d, Indian gynaecologist. Rib-ticklingly side-splitting fun ensues complete with sophisticated double-entendres about “making large deposits”, “can I give you a hand with that”, “I think I need a bigger cup”, “he shoots, he scores”, “it’s rude to point”, Junior Nurse Winkle bends over making the thermometer in Mr Skinback’s mouth explode and the obligatory reference to Mark Almond’s predilection for quantities of the “white stuff” and the world-class 80’s gag about his trip to the hospital …. “That’s quite a thirst you have on you young man”. Rated PG, “Carry On Onan” is showing at all ABC and Cannon cinemas. I’ll get my coat ……….

[@BrewBrosUK]

😂😂 are you one of the staff writers at Viz? We favour Paul Backskin down in Little Gonad. True story…I once got a shout out from Craig Charles on Radio 2 in the name of Paul Backskin 😂 That’ll teach him….

[@alanmorris8783]

That would be my dream job. Sad there’s no market for Viz any more as it would be too shocking and not PC enough. Love the Craig Charles thing ….. I would switch Paul Skinback with Scow Skunt