Decanting yeast starter: pitch cold or warm to room temp?

I've been making yeast starters for a while now but I just put my first flask in the fridge to cold crash and then decant. I'm wondering what some folks techniques for decanting and pitching are? Particularly interested in opinions on whether its best to pull the yeast out of the fridge early on brew day, decant and let it warm to room temp before pitching...or better to wait until after the wort is chilled and at that time decant and pitch the cold starter?:beard:

I try to pull it out near the end of the boil, decant, then let warm up to hopefully close to pitching temps.

It doesn't seem to take long to warm up some after decanting.

I always take my starters out and decant them just after mashing in. It always seems to be right around room temp when I'm ready to pitch.

No need to go nuts.. After decanting what is left will come to room temperature very quickly. I don't worry about the temperature and have not seen any differences.

I pull out (so does my sofa) during the boil and decant so its room temp when the beer is finally transferred.

Depends on the temperature of the wort, I like to have my wort bring up the temperature of the starter...

anymore, i like to make my starter a couple days earlier than "normal" (cold crash method). this way the yeast always stays at room temp and has enough time to floculate fully prior to brew day. i get great results and i feel like the yeast don't get stressed out by extreme temp swings.



if I'm brewing a small beer (say 1.050 or less) I like to make a small starter late at night before brew day. my goal is to pitch the whole starter at high krausen when the yeast is partying hard. the timing varies greatly with the strain. english yeast such as wlp002/wyeast 1968 you might even want to make your starter early in the morning and pitch that night with this principle.


i should note that I always use a stir plate. this makes a big difference

I used to have a concern pitching cooler yeast into warmer wort, but recently heard Denny claim it makes no difference whatsoever.

I'm no longer concerned, I typically remove slurry from fridge, decant and pitch.

wilserbrewer said:

i used to have a concern pitching cooler yeast into warmer wort, but recently heard denny claim it makes no difference whatsoever.

Click to expand...

+1

I like to let it warm up a bit for the simple fact that it is easier to pour and "blend" into the wort. Straight out of the refrigerator the yeast normally compacts into a thick layer at the base of the flask, which forms into slivers and clumps when swirled around. After setting it out to reach room temperature, it loosens up a bit and returns to a nice easy to pour liquid yeast sample. In any event, there's no difficulty in taking it out of the refrigerator and letting it warm up on the counter so I don't know why I wouldn't do it.

I just take it out of the refrigerator, decant and then put it back on the stirplate to get it in solution...