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CBK

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I made a 2 liter starter using a stirplate. My plan is to put it in the fridge overnight, decant the liquid and pitch the slurry. My question is does the slurry need to warm to room temp before pitching?
 
depending on how long it's been on the stirplate and the strain of yeast, you may not need to put it in the fridge to get it to floculate.

Also, I often pitch the whole 2L starter (no decanting) of the stirplate and it works great.
 
The yeast is WL028 and has been on the stirplate 24 hours. Could brew tommorow AM would be on plate ~40 hours at that point.
 
The yeast is WL028 and has been on the stirplate 24 hours. Could brew tommorow AM would be on plate ~40 hours at that point.

I'd bet if you turn off the stirplate 3-4 hours before your ready to pitch it will all floculate to the bottom so you can decant.

If you want more assurance give it 10 hours to floculate.

I don't think you need to cool it.
 
On light color beers I would not pitch the whole starter. What is so hard in pouring off the liquid? I decant morning of brew day and let it warm up to pitching temp then back on the stir plate for an hour or so before I pitch.
 
I made a 2 liter starter using a stirplate. My plan is to put it in the fridge overnight, decant the liquid and pitch the slurry. My question is does the slurry need to warm to room temp before pitching?

No, it does not need to be warm. I brewed 10 gallons of brown ale this weekend. I stuck both 2000ml starters in the fridge the night before and at pitching time, I decanted the spent wort (I left a little in the flask to swirl up the yeast) and then pitched. I've got a great fermentation going and there wasn't much of a lag time before it started.

Denny Conn told me that it is actually better to pitch it cold than warm (I'll go fish me email inbox for his reason). Either way will work just fine. I know putting all that spent wort in your beer won't hurt much, but I guess my feelings are "why put it in if you don't have to?"

Here is what Denny had to say on the subject:

Yeah, I'd do them at least 3-5 days in advance to be sure. You can always stick 'em in the fridge if they're done too soon. Actually, it's advantageous to pitch yeast when it's cold. I don't use a stir plate and do mine 5-7 days in advance. When I'm ready to use them, I just take 'em out of the fridge, pour off the spent wort (except for a bit to swirl up the yeast), and pitch. By not letting the yeast warm up first, it doesn't start using up it's glycogen nutrient reserves til it's in the wort.

---------->Denny
 
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