National Homebrew Club Ireland

I washed yeast several weeks ago from a brew I'd done following some guidelines i watched on youtube.
I kept this in the fridge for the last 8 weeks, again on the advice of youtube guys.

Yesterday created some starter wort  (1 part DME to two parts water) and poured in the yeast
but after over a day later there has been no action.
I only created 350ml of worth tough and I see a lot of people create much more.

Any ideas?

When I last used this yeast I pitched into the brew directly and had no issue with it fermenting.

Take a breath and rewrite that first sentence it reads like you've been drinking

Apologies, edited.

1 part dme to 2 parts water should make a wort around 1019 and as you have only 350 ml you will not show much growth. However that was good to help wake up the yeast so now you should pitch it into a 1 liter starter of 1 part dme to 1 part water,1038. Stir plate if you have one but otherwise shake it up and 48 hours later you should have a good healthy yeast to pitch.

don't apologise for gods sake!
when you wash yeast its very easy to throw out the viable stuff and harder to get right than it looks.
Lets assume you got a small portion of yeast out and it was and it survived the 8 weeks (3-4max next time for health not whether its alive or not)
The correct ratio of dme to water is 10:1 or a target gravity growth medium of 1.035-1.040, what you have done is stressed or essentially killed your yeast by exposing to such a concentrated solution.
Sorry!
Now join up here and get proper brewing advice from proper homebrewers and not the bullshitters on youtube!

Quote from: DEMPSEY on November 30, 2016, 09:34:10 PM
1 part dme to 2 parts water should make a wort around 1019

Mr Dempsey! 1 kilo of DME and 2Kgs or 2L or water does not yield 1019 :P

100g/L will get you 1.036.

So there is not point in diluting the wort now and seeing if it'll lick off, the yeast is actually dead?

I also used yeast nutrient, is tat ok to use next time too?

Also, you temperature have anything to do with how well it performs?  Like is 19c ok?

100 grams of dme added to 1 liter of water makes up 1038. Soo 100 grams of dme added to 2 liters of water makes 1019. No?

Starters are always best at 19C even for Lager yeasts as you are not making a beer but instead growing enough yeast to pitch.

Correct, but calling that 1 part to 2 parts seems arbitrary. Saying 10ml/g or 100g/L is more useful I think :)

Will ye sorry me :)

"Parts" means equal measures not the "Dempsey" international scale of, sure whatever your having yerself
I'm sure what you meant to say was 1 part DME to 10 Parts Water  :-*

ok, so that worked better.  Topped up with some wort 1:10 wort yesterday and now have a nice amount
of yeast to pitch tomorrow.  Now the question is, how much do I know to pitch?  I can over pitch right?

Do I pour the beer out of the flask I made the yeast and only pitch the yeast at the bottom?
It's murkey so I imagine there is plenty of yeast floating about in there

Topped up?
Your yeast is already fucked and stressed to jeebus.
Next time 1-1.5l starter.Good shake, tip your yeast in watch out for bubbles 6-12hrs later
Pour off the fermented beer.
You can try with what you had already but you would be wasting your time imo.

Put it in a cold spot at let the starter clear a bit. When you are ready for pitching you can pour off some of the wort and leave enough to slosh up the yeast so you can pour it into the wort you have prepared. Under pitching is more the worry than over pitching and with the issues you had I'd say you are ok on the amount of yeast you have.

Odd to hear that is might be ruined, it looks really good and read about topping up before but
never negatively.  I'll pitch and see how it goes.

Topping up is not a problem, putting yeast is a super strength wort and stressing the shit out of it is

First new pitch was 1:10 as suggested, topup was also 1:10 as suggested.

Would this be too stressed?

It read like you just topped up your original 2:1 water:wort blend?

No,this is what I wrote " Topped up with some wort 1:10 wort yesterday and now have a nice amount
of yeast to pitch tomorrow." But looks good now so thanks for the advice.

How long should I have in the beaker before pitching.. again I read about 4 days... too long?