Decanting yeast starter

DoubleAught · Mar 11, 2012

I made a 1L yeast starter the other day for a big beer I am brewing today. Normally I make small starters and just dump the whole thing into the cooled wort with no adverse effects. I do not want to dump this bigger starter into the wort and am curious of the process of decanting a starter.

Do I only really need the cake, or do I need some of the liquid as well?

DakotaRules · Mar 11, 2012

Leave a little bit of the liquid to get the yeast cake pourable. You'll dump off most if the liquid off.

DoubleAught · Mar 11, 2012

sounds good, thanks!

bruin_ale · Mar 11, 2012

1L is a big starter? How small are your regular starters if 1L is a "big" starter?

DoubleAught · Mar 11, 2012

bruin_ale said:
1L is a big starter? How small are your regular starters if 1L is a "big" starter?

Did I say big starter? No I said "bigger" starter. I know 1L isn't a big starter, but thanks for going off-topic.

NordeastBrewer77 · Mar 11, 2012

KaiserBierMann said:
I made a 1L yeast starter the other day for a big beer I am brewing today. Normally I make small starters and just dump the whole thing into the cooled wort with no adverse effects. I do not want to dump this bigger starter into the wort and am curious of the process of decanting a starter.

Do I only really need the cake, or do I need some of the liquid as well?

after the starter is done fermenting, fridge it over night to knock the yeast down. on brew day, take it out, decant almost all of the 'beer' leaving just enough to swirl the yeast into suspension, allow the slurry to come up to temp as you brew, then pitch.

Pezman1 · Mar 11, 2012

KaiserBierMann said:
Did I say big starter? No I said "bigger" starter. I know 1L isn't a big starter, but thanks for going off-topic.

I'm confused also. How big a starter are you talking about?
Pez.

DoubleAught · Mar 11, 2012

NordeastBrewer77 said:
after the starter is done fermenting, fridge it over night to knock the yeast down. on brew day, take it out, decant almost all of the 'beer' leaving just enough to swirl the yeast into suspension, allow the slurry to come up to temp as you brew, then pitch.

Thanks for that, I wasn't aware of that process. This place is invaluable.

DoubleAught · Mar 11, 2012

Pezman1 said:
I'm confused also. How big a starter are you talking about?
Pez.

I learned that for beers under 1.060 OG to use 600ml with 3 oz of DME for a starter. The one I'm brewing today is 1.080, so I doubled the DME but my starter flask is only a 1L so thats as much water as I used.

I may be incorrect, but I've never had a problem with these techniques. If there is a better technique I'd be interesting in knowing.

Thanks

NordeastBrewer77 · Mar 11, 2012

i use this site to figure how large of a starter i need for a brew. to make the starter i use 1 g extra light DME per 10 ml of wort. (so 100 g for a 1 L starter, etc.) the 1 g /10 ml ration will get you around ~1.04 for your starter, which is considered the ideal gravity.

bruin_ale · Mar 11, 2012

KaiserBierMann said:
Did I say big starter? No I said "bigger" starter. I know 1L isn't a big starter, but thanks for going off-topic.

Wow take it easy.. I was trying to figure out if that was a typo because 1L is the smallest starter I ever do and probably too small for a "big beer". I routinely make a 1L starter the day before and pitch the whole thing at high krausen. 2L is where I start to think about decanting.

Gtrman13 · Mar 11, 2012

KaiserBierMann said:
I learned that for beers under 1.060 OG to use 600ml with 3 oz of DME for a starter. The one I'm brewing today is 1.080, so I doubled the DME but my starter flask is only a 1L so thats as much water as I used.

I may be incorrect, but I've never had a problem with these techniques. If there is a better technique I'd be interesting in knowing.

Thanks

I'm shocked noone has thrown in a plug for mr malty yet! MrMalty.com has an excellent tool to calculate the proper size for starters. Input your method and your OG and it will give you the necessary volume. As for the amount of DME, the rule I go by is 10 grams of DME for every 100 ml of starter volume.

BrewKnurd · Mar 11, 2012

KaiserBierMann said:
Did I say big starter? No I said "bigger" starter. I know 1L isn't a big starter, but thanks for going off-topic.

I'm not one to tell anyone what they can or cannot do, so do whatever you want. But as a piece of advice, responses like the above make it less likely that people will want to facilitate the following.

KaiserBierMann said:
If there is a better technique I'd be interesting in knowing.

As for starter sizes, mrmalty.com is an excellent resource.

Pezman1 · Mar 11, 2012

KaiserBierMann said:
I learned that for beers under 1.060 OG to use 600ml with 3 oz of DME for a starter. The one I'm brewing today is 1.080, so I doubled the DME but my starter flask is only a 1L so thats as much water as I used.

I may be incorrect, but I've never had a problem with these techniques. If there is a better technique I'd be interesting in knowing.

Thanks

OK - gotcha, now you got some calculators to work with. If your total liquid volume of the starter is 1 liter or less - regardless of the amount of DME, I would pitch the whole thing and not decant.

Down and dirty yeast starter: 1/2 cup DME in 650 Mls water. Works in anything.....

Pez.

NordeastBrewer77 · Mar 11, 2012

Gtrman13 said:
I'm shocked noone has thrown in a plug for mr malty yet! MrMalty.com has an excellent tool to calculate the proper size for starters. Input your method and your OG and it will give you the necessary volume. As for the amount of DME, the rule I go by is 10 grams of DME for every 100 ml of starter volume.

NordeastBrewer77 said:
i use this site to figure how large of a starter i need for a brew. to make the starter i use 1 g extra light DME per 10 ml of wort. (so 100 g for a 1 L starter, etc.) the 1 g /10 ml ration will get you around ~1.04 for your starter, which is considered the ideal gravity.

i did, just disguised the link as part of the convo.

BrewKnurd · Mar 11, 2012

NordeastBrewer77 said:
i did, just disguised the link as part of the convo.

Because he's sneaky like that.

NordeastBrewer77 · Mar 11, 2012

discnjh said:
Because he's sneaky like that.

yep, i'm a regular HBT ninja! :ban:

DoubleAught · Mar 11, 2012

bruin_ale said:
Wow take it easy.. I was trying to figure out if that was a typo because 1L is the smallest starter I ever do and probably too small for a "big beer". I routinely make a 1L starter the day before and pitch the whole thing at high krausen. 2L is where I start to think about decanting.

It came off to me as a condescending question in the way it was written. Now that I know it wasn't I apologize for my response.

DoubleAught · Mar 11, 2012

Pezman1 said:
OK - gotcha, now you got some calculators to work with. If your total liquid volume of the starter is 1 liter or less - regardless of the amount of DME, I would pitch the whole thing and not decant.

Down and dirty yeast starter: 1/2 cup DME in 650 Mls water. Works in anything.....

Pez.

Thanks Pez!

bruin_ale · Mar 11, 2012

KaiserBierMann said:
It came off to me as a condescending question in the way it was written. Now that I know it wasn't I apologize for my response.

Got it - internet doesn't convey tone well, apology accepted.

DoubleAught · Mar 11, 2012

Thanks for all the advice today. I did not decant the starter, and after only 6 hours it's fermenting it's ass off in the ferm chamber. Never had one take off this fast before.

Decanting yeast starter

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