Big starter with no o2

I had a cube of my house ale. Starter was from washed yeast 1.2 litres for what ended up to be 3 days on the stir plate. I poured the wort through a strainer to catch the hops and trub. It splashed A LOT. I had a head of foam to the top of the fermenter. (2" or one gallon). I pitched the yeast with out o2 for the first time in a long time.

Last batch with a comparable starter, I gave it 5 minutes of o2 in the ball valve. I had yeast on top in 5 hours and full krausen in 12. It came right out the top of the keg that had 2.5 gallons of head space.

With out the o2, in 6 hours, I had foam on top. I don't know if it was from the pouring or the yeast and a 1" head on top by 14 hours. It was a little slower, but still a good start.

SO I guess what I am rambling is a stir plate seems to work as good as o2 or even better to get things going, and both together make for an even better start.

David

I learned a LOT here, Thanks

Droot said:

SO I guess what I am rambling is a stir plate seems to work as good as o2 or even better to get things going, and both together make for an even better start.

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I agree, the stir-plate will continually get oxygen into the wort as well as keep the yeast in suspension. Not something I'd want when doing the main batch of course, but wonderful for a starter. I've read a couple different papers online about using a stir-plate, you get more than double the yeast as compared to other methods if I remember right.

Mr Malty sez You need 1/2 as big of a starter if you use a stir plate. I see I need less than 1/2 the time.

I used to think a stir plate was a $900.00 toy. Then I bought one for forty bucks. Used it twice. Its the only electronic part of my brewery. I have used o2 for a long time. I still will.