How does one know if they have enough yeast when they culture from dregs?

Cultured some dregs from Bell's amber to make a 2-hearted 'clone' with adjustments.

I did a 2-step starter, totaling about 1.8 liters of wort. OG is right around 1.070 from a base malt addition.


You guys think I have enough yeast?

Definitely! Well definitely in terms that you have a healthy colony to build up starters from in the future if you have a big brew lined up!

So I'm planning to pitch the yeast I made into this 1.070 batch. Should I step the starter up once more or should I be fine with a ~2L (2 stages x 800mL each)?

Am I right to understand that your process was: Dregs->800mL starter->decant->800mL starter->now ?

If so, I don't think I would call that enough for a relatively big beer (1.070 is borderline "big beer"). My system is usually slant->10mL->50mL->500mL-> 1-2L depending on the size of the beer. If I am doing a tiple or something (1.080 and up) I will even add an extra step of 1-2 L at the end. I will do a cell count right now on my latest starter and post back with how many cells that gave me.

Edit: Just checked, and my steps of slant->10mL->100mL->1000mL->Decant->1500mL gave me around 120 billion cells. About 1/2 of what I need for my 1.080 Belgian.

Do you use a stir plate?