16 replies to this topic

[ncbeerbrewer]

Ok so I made about a gallon starter on Thursday night with Wyeast 3522. I am chilling down my beer and figure to do a yeast pitch in the next couple of hours. I have a question though. it looks like the starter is still chugging away a bit from what I can tell, a few bubbles rising to the top, this is not a stir plate just a basic starter. I see there is a bunch of yeast at the bottom of the starter. Should I dump in the full starter while it is going or should I just chill decant and dump. What sorta suggestions do you all have. I appreciate the advice. I am only asking since it looks like it is still going. If if dump it all in I should have like 6-6.25 gallons volume in a 7 gallon carboy.

[ncbeerbrewer]

I ended up with just over 5 gallons of beer after transfer due to the hop usage. I will just pitch the whole starter once i get down to temp.

[Winkydowbrewing]

I know some chill down the starter and then decant off the liquid. I personally have just swirled the whole thing up and tossed it in and have had fine results, so I think one way or another you are fine, Im not sure what the advantage is of decanting, but I think this is a bit more typical, maybe someone will chime in on that with some better info.

[denny]

For a gal. starter, I'd decant. I don't want a gal. of stale, oxidized wort in my nice fresh wort.

[ncbeerbrewer]

Thanks for the responses. I am with you Denny, I am going to chill and decant. Any remaining activity is negligable I think. There is a bunch of yeast on the bottom already. Looking forward to seeing what this 3522 does for an IPA.

[NWPines]

I know some chill down the starter and then decant off the liquid. I personally have just swirled the whole thing up and tossed it in and have had fine results, so I think one way or another you are fine, Im not sure what the advantage is of decanting, but I think this is a bit more typical, maybe someone will chime in on that with some better info.

Yeah, the advantage of decanting is to not pitch a bunch of nasty oxidized starter (especially when using a stir plate) that is usually fermented quite warm, into your nice fresh wort. Have you tasted a finished starter? I don't want that in my wort, especially when you're talking a 1 gal starter into a 5 gal batch.Edit to add: I always let my starters finish out completely before chilling.

Edited by NWPines, 09 May 2009 - 11:26 AM.

[denny]

Edit to add: I always let my starters finish out completely before chilling.

Same here.

[MyaCullen]

For a gal. starter, I'd decant. I don't want a gal. of stale, oxidized wort in my nice fresh wort.

+1 and then some, especially a stir plate starter.

[ncbeerbrewer]

Update: I chilled and decanted my starter. Fermentation is going strong this morning lag time was less than 12 hours. Everything looks great to me. Thanks for the feedback Brew Bros.

[ThroatwobblerMangrove]

For a gal. starter, I'd decant. I don't want a gal. of stale, oxidized wort in my nice fresh wort.

All my starters are 2-4L so I pretty much always decant as well.

[brewguy]

I'm new to the board and still new to brewing. I have not used a starter yet, and I have a couple of questions from these posts. How do you know when the starter is done? When you decant, do you just cool and dump off the top layer? I was listening to a podcast, and they were talking about adding water to the starter, waiting, decanting, adding water to the starter, waiting, and decanting again. Is what everyone does or is it overkill?

[denny]

Adding water makes it sound more like they were talking about washing the yeast.

[brewguy]

Adding water makes it sound more like they were talking about washing the yeast.

I may be mixing up my podcasts. It may have been the one where they were reusing a yeast cake from a previous batch. What about knowing when the starter is done? Do you just keep an eye on the bubbles in the airlock?

[ncbeerbrewer]

Most yeast starters take about 48hrs to ferment out and be complete. I agree with Denny, sounds like you were reading on how to wash yeast for collection after fermenting a beer. Once the yeast starter is finished you will see a large portion of it collect on the bottom of the starter container. The method of chill and decant is to chill for the liquid for X amount of time and the yeast will fall to the bottom, then you decant and pour off enough liquid so that you can at least swirl the yeast back into solution and into your wort to start fermentation. When yeast are fermenting you will see them moving around inside the wort and I noticed a few times that you see Co2 bubbles coming up the sides of the starter container towards the top of the starter liquid. Do a google search for starters and you will find lots of information. John Palmer has a good section on it as well in How to Brew. Hope that helps you.

[ncbeerbrewer]

You don't even need to put an airlock on your starters, a good exchange of oxygen and liquid are good as you are trying to grow yeast. Aluminum foil loosely placed on the mouth of the starter bottle is sufficient as you just wanna block airborne particles from getting into your starter. If you put on an airlock yes most of the activity will go away as it finishes. Remember a starter is just a mini beer without hops as I do mine. The krausen at the top of the liquid will also fall back into the liquid when it is done as well.

[brewguy]

You don't even need to put an airlock on your starters, a good exchange of oxygen and liquid are good as you are trying to grow yeast. Aluminum foil loosely placed on the mouth of the starter bottle is sufficient as you just wanna block airborne particles from getting into your starter. If you put on an airlock yes most of the activity will go away as it finishes. Remember a starter is just a mini beer without hops as I do mine. The krausen at the top of the liquid will also fall back into the liquid when it is done as well.

Thanks for the help. I was just going to put some saran wrap over the top, give it a shake, and put an airlock on it. I'm worried about the nasties in the fridge getting sucked back into the starter when it's cooled.

[ncbeerbrewer]

No problem. Happy to help. You found a great message here so welcome to the board as well. I understand your concern with the fridge and I think thats a good idea, keep it covered. Just as an FYI as well, I do this as well but don't forget to aerate and shake the starter wort well the yeasties need oxygen to start up in a starter as they do in your beer. Its just me but I also say just ferment your beer at room temp. No need to chill it down or hold the temp down for the starter, you are making yeast, not beer. Enjoy!!