I'm using Wyeast Belgian Abbey 1214 Propagator with an extract kit. I have three 1/2 gallon glass jugs and one 1 gallon glass jug available and want to grow my starter to a sufficient quantity for this big Belgian. What size should my starter be, and how big do I need to step it up? Anticipated SG will be in the neighborhood of 1.076.
Help starting a Belgian Tripel
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JBmadtown
Well-Known Member
Go to mrmalty.com and use the pitching rate calculator. You can fill in the OG and then simple (no shaking) or intermittent shaking.
If I was smarter, maybe. Using the calcs for a "simple" starter, it says I need 5 vials or packs with 9.61 qts. or wort. I only have 1 pack, so I need to step it up. As far as I can see, there's no feature there for stepping up a starter.
JBmadtown
Well-Known Member
I am not sure what you put in, but I got for an OG of 1.076, ale yeast, 5 gal volume, and simple starter 4 Liters. If you intermittent shake (which I do because I will aggitate the starter whenever I think about it) it is 2.48 L.
The other thing to think about it late addition of simple sugars. If you post your recipe I am sure others will help. There are threads about adding the candi sugar a couple of days after fermentation begins with the bigger belgians. This gives the yeast some easy food and, from what I have read, keep them from getting stuck. This would lower your first OG and decrease the size of the starter as well.
The other thing to think about it late addition of simple sugars. If you post your recipe I am sure others will help. There are threads about adding the candi sugar a couple of days after fermentation begins with the bigger belgians. This gives the yeast some easy food and, from what I have read, keep them from getting stuck. This would lower your first OG and decrease the size of the starter as well.
I used the Propagator mfg date of 3/24/2010 in my calcs.
Recipe is
4 lbs Extra Light DME
3.3 lbs Pilsen LME
1.5 lbs Light Belgian Candi Sugar
.5 lbs Caravienne + .25 lbs Aromatic specialty grains
2 oz. Stryian Goldings
1 oz. Willamette
1 oz. sweet orange peel
The kit also includes Safbrew T-58, but I'm using the liquid yeast instead.
Recipe is
4 lbs Extra Light DME
3.3 lbs Pilsen LME
1.5 lbs Light Belgian Candi Sugar
.5 lbs Caravienne + .25 lbs Aromatic specialty grains
2 oz. Stryian Goldings
1 oz. Willamette
1 oz. sweet orange peel
The kit also includes Safbrew T-58, but I'm using the liquid yeast instead.
I see what you are saying. 4 liters worth of starter seems like a lot for a 5 gallon batch, that's why I take the output from the calculator with a grain of salt. I brewed a tripel in may with a 2 - 1L starters from washed yeast. I got tremendous fermentation and attenuation. I'll bet you'll be fine stepping up to 2L.
Yes, Jamail discusses that in BYO. I added the sugar after active fermentation was waning, about day 4. You'll need to age it though, for awhile!
JBmadtown
Well-Known Member
I have not used the propagator pack before. If it was me, I would do the following.
Make an approx 2 L (1/2 gal) starter. I would use the 1 gal jug. After 24 hours chill the starter for a few days to get the yeast to settle.
Brew day:
steep the grains and add the LME for 60 min boil. Add the DME near the end of the boil. Do your hops as instructed. Decant the starter and allow 30 min to come to room temp. Pitch starter.
After 2-3 days of fermenting, boil the candi sugar for 10 min in 1 qt water, cool, and pitch into fermentor.
Let me know what you decide and how it works.
Make an approx 2 L (1/2 gal) starter. I would use the 1 gal jug. After 24 hours chill the starter for a few days to get the yeast to settle.
Brew day:
steep the grains and add the LME for 60 min boil. Add the DME near the end of the boil. Do your hops as instructed. Decant the starter and allow 30 min to come to room temp. Pitch starter.
After 2-3 days of fermenting, boil the candi sugar for 10 min in 1 qt water, cool, and pitch into fermentor.
Let me know what you decide and how it works.
a10t2
Well-Known Member
OK, for 5.25 gal at 1.076 you need about 270B cells. Your pack will be about 30 billion, so I'd do a 1 L starter (should grow to ~100B), then 2.25 L. If you leave out the sugar your OG will be about 1.063 and you could go 0.75 L, then 1.5 L.
Edit: I missed that it's a Propagator. That's going to be more like 10 billion cells at this point. You'll probably need to step it up three times. 500 mL, 1 L, 2 L would be about right. Just pitching that small an amount of yeast into a big starter won't get significant growth - at least not in a reasonable amount of time.
Edit: I missed that it's a Propagator. That's going to be more like 10 billion cells at this point. You'll probably need to step it up three times. 500 mL, 1 L, 2 L would be about right. Just pitching that small an amount of yeast into a big starter won't get significant growth - at least not in a reasonable amount of time.
