Yeast starter.. To decant, or not to decant?

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superfknmario

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I made a 2 liter starter, so I'm thinking that I should decant. However, I'm mAking a Belgian beer and was thinking I could just up the other ingredients. I made it on Friday night EST.. If I cold crash, when should I do it? If not, do u guys think it will hurt the final product if I don't decant?

S
 
Decanting is easy, just put it in the fridge overnight. I always decant starters, fwiw, I don't want the 'beer' from the starter in my real beer.
 
Add more ingredients to the Belgian beer? If you increase the fermentables, just make sure you have enough yeast to cover the increased OG. I'd use mrmalty.com or yeastcalc.com to calculate the starter volume.

Regarding your decanting question, if you were to decant, it's best to cold crash for a day or two, and then carefully decant most of the liquid. There are different opnions on decanting, some don't want the plain tasting, possibly oxidized starter wort going into their finished beer. Others don't feel like it makes a big deal and don't want to waste any of the yeast that's in suspension. Personally, I decant.
 
Like @papper said, decanting the starter is usually easy if you have are using a moderately floculant yeast. Overnight in the fridge causes the yeast to settle out. The morning of your brew day you can pull it out of the fridge to warm up. When it is time to pitch, carefully decant the yeast and swirl it up before pitching into the wort.
 
OlieNH said:
Like @papper said, decanting the starter is usually easy if you have are using a moderately floculant yeast. Overnight in the fridge causes the yeast to settle out. The morning of your brew day you can pull it out of the fridge to warm up. When it is time to pitch, carefully decant the yeast and swirl it up before pitching into the wort.
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Or even easier, decant while cold then warm up. Takes less time to warm. :mug:
 
OlieNH said:
Like @papper said, decanting the starter is usually easy if you have are using a moderately floculant yeast. Overnight in the fridge causes the yeast to settle out. The morning of your brew day you can pull it out of the fridge to warm up. When it is time to pitch, carefully decant the yeast and swirl it up before pitching into the wort.
Click to expand...

Assuming I cold crash, wouldn't it be better to dump out the liquid while it is still cold? Wouldn't the yeast start to wake up as the temp increases and therefore lose yeast when I dump the liquid?
 
superfknmario said:
Assuming I cold crash, wouldn't it be better to dump out the liquid while it is still cold? Wouldn't the yeast start to wake up as the temp increases and therefore lose yeast when I dump the liquid?
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Yes, maybe a little. I decant while still cold, all but a tiny bit of beer on top. When it's time to pitch, I swirl and pour.
 
And that is the plan for now. Chill, decant, then swirl and pour. Now, is there a cut off time? Like I said, I made the starter on Friday night, so when should I put it in the fridge? Once in the fridge, how long before I take it out?
 
superfknmario said:
And that is the plan for now. Chill, decant, then swirl and pour. Now, is there a cut off time? Like I said, I made the starter on Friday night, so when should I put it in the fridge? Once in the fridge, how long before I take it out?
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I use a stir plate, so I normally put it in the fridge after ~18-24 hours. Without I might let it go 24-36 hours. Put in the fridge at least overnight. It can go a week or two in the fridge with minimal loss in viability. I like to do mine a week ahead of time so I know I have my yeast ready to go.
 
I still see A LOT of activity in my starter.. Given that I started on Friday, should I wait to see no activity or should I pop it in the fridge regardless?
 
I saw no mention if you used a stir plate or the "shake it when you walk by" method. On a stir plate 24 hours is usually good. If you have a refractometer you can do a gravity check to see where your at. You can also look close and see if any tiny bubbles are still rising. Yeast that are working still blow off gas. But there is no reason to wait till you no longer see bubbles. If you get a kraussen and it falls that's another indicator.
Whenever you cold crash, do as suggested above, pour off the liquid when removed from the fridge, before it starts to warm. If you want to pitch the entire starter, pitch at high kraussen or whenever it is time to add to your wort.
 
iaefebs said:
I saw no mention if you used a stir plate or the "shake it when you walk by" method. On a stir plate 24 hours is usually good. If you have a refractometer you can do a gravity check to see where your at. You can also look close and see if any tiny bubbles are still rising. Yeast that are working still blow off gas. But there is no reason to wait till you no longer see bubbles. If you get a kraussen and it falls that's another indicator.
Whenever you cold crash, do as suggested above, pour off the liquid when removed from the fridge, before it starts to warm. If you want to pitch the entire starter, pitch at high kraussen or whenever it is time to add to your wort.
Click to expand...

I haven't touched it. No stir plate. It was overflowing a little bit the first day, but it slowed down and there is still a ton of activity.
 
superfknmario said:
I haven't touched it. No stir plate. It was overflowing a little bit the first day, but it slowed down and there is still a ton of activity.
Click to expand...

It's always better to give it a shake anytime you think about it. Now it really depends on your brew date. What day do you plan on brewing?
 
iaefebs said:
It's always better to give it a shake anytime you think about it. Now it really depends on your brew date. What day do you plan on brewing?
Click to expand...

It's a recipe by a LHBS called a "Belgian abbey". It calls for 1 lb of turbinado sugar during boil, but I plan to add another 2 lbs during the 1st 3 weeks of fermentation
 

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