Stepping starter with small vessel

I'm making a starter for a belgian strong but only have a 1/2 gallon growler available for making it in.

If I do a starter with 1200 mL of water and 120 g of DME, can I wait a few days, pour off the starter wort and add the same amount back in to step it up or do I actually have to double the size of the starter for the 'stepping' to work?

i smacked the pack last night, boiled up 1300 mL of water and 130 g of DME tonight, cooled it, added a pinch of yeast nutrient, pitched the smack pack and have it sitting on my stirplate. should the stirplate run continuously?

anyone have any experience with the previous question about pouring off the initial starter wort and adding the same thing in again to step it up?

You can do what you are describing and get some extra growth but it won't be double. Yeast are inhibited by the presence of high concentrations of other yeast around them. In terms of the stirplate- yes you run it continuously. The constant mixing is needed to keep the beer aerated.

GT

i think i accidentally forgot to dump the starsan out of the growler before i put the wort and yeast in, it was only a few ounces of starsan liquid, but the starter doesn't seem all that vigorous, but maybe a stirplate starter doesn't get the krausen a non-stirplate would?? or maybe i haven't had it mixed too long, it does seem to have a larger number of bubbles on the surface than it did when i first put it on the stirplate.

in case anyone ever does what I did (see above), the yeast was fine with the few ounces of starsan in the jug.

I've had starters on stirplates with very few visible signs of active propagation.

Sometimes it's hard to tell what's going on.

Sometimes its subtle, like the yeast start spinning slower or the vortex gets smaller, then eventually speeds back up again.

Sometimes I pitch those starters and wonder in the back of my mind if it's really been going long enough.

Sometimes, after I pitch those starters, I end up cleaning wort off the ceiling in my basement 12-18 hours after pitching because the blow off tube couldn't contain the fermentation...

i'm in the same boat, it looks like a storm on jupiter in the fermenter right now.

i saw very few signs of active fermentation in my starter jug as well, but now i know!

android said:

i'm in the same boat, it looks like a storm on jupiter in the fermenter right now.

Click to expand...

That's a pretty good description...