Mother of all yeast starters

[bluelou6]

Where is your club located? I'm on Long Island.

[ajdelange]

If I had unlimited time I would. The problem is no one realized quite how much yeast we needed until yesterday and That gives us 15 days to get the yeast. Getting several brews done isn't really an option at this point.

This is not what I had intended (though if you have a member or members with batches coming out of fermenters feeding the cake and using that at a starter or harvesting their yeast, particularly if they are using conicals, is clearly a good option).

What I meant was to have 2 people put 4 lbs of DME and some nutrient in a pot, boil, pitch and use as a starter. Should take 2 days. With a CC, put 8 lbs and 8 gal and pitch. Also should be ready to use as a starter in a couple of days or, after 10 days, blow down the yeast.

[thatguy314]

Where is your club located? I'm on Long Island.

This is the Westchester Homebrewers Organization (our not so often updated website is westchesterhomebrewers.com/). There's a yahoogroup wchomebrew. The group generally meets at the CLB in pleasantville, and we often meet to drink at the Bronx Ale House in Riverdale.

I don't know if that's the closest club to you. There's also the New York City Homebrew Guild in Manhattan (http://hbd.org/nychg) and the Malted Barley Appreciation Society in Brooklyn (hbd.org/mbas).

[thatguy314]

If I had unlimited time I would. The problem is no one realized quite how much yeast we needed until yesterday and That gives us 15 days to get the yeast. Getting several brews done isn't really an option at this point.

This is not what I had intended (though if you have a member or members with batches coming out of fermenters feeding the cake and using that at a starter or harvesting their yeast, particularly if they are using conicals, is clearly a good option).

What I meant was to have 2 people put 4 lbs of DME and some nutrient in a pot, boil, pitch and use as a starter. Should take 2 days. With a CC, put 8 lbs and 8 gal and pitch. Also should be ready to use as a starter in a couple of days or, after 10 days, blow down the yeast.

I was responding to the second response. I got what you meant. I know you certainly know what you're talking about and perhaps I'm over thinking it a bit. This is a pet project for the club. It's going to be barrel aged and stored in the club cellar to open on special occasions (and perhaps send to club-only competitions). Should this go well, the big brew may be an annual event. So basically, we want our inaugural batch to go well.

I certainly appreciate all the advise everyone's given me so far.

[Steelers&Beer]

i'd talk to the brewer and get his opinion...his system, his rules...he may not want your yeast in his house...

[thatguy314]

i'd talk to the brewer and get his opinion...his system, his rules...he may not want your yeast in his house...

He doesn't mind our yeast. I talked to the rest of the club. People are split 50/50 over irish ale or 1056 (house ale).

[Brewbeard]

You could rehydrate 30 packs of dried yeast in a carboy.

[11amas]

Too bad you can't use dry yeast for the batch. You could just rehydrate and pitch; it would probably be much cheaper than all of that DME you are talking about. Or use a cake but do you really want to risk infection on such a big, costly batch?