size of yeast starter really that important

I know Mr. Malty and alot of people talk about doing 2-3 liter starters all the time from liquid yeast but is it really that neciessary as opposed to a small 1 liter starter? The reason I ask is i got a free 1 liter flask and i dont really feel like spending $25 to get a 2 liter when i already got a nice 1 liter flask. If i start the starter 2 days before brewing with a stir plate using a 1 liter and then pitch that, the yeast are still in exponensial growth phase and already awake and eatting up sugar. Would the one extra day at a lower cell count really give me that much of a difference opposed to a 2 liter starter?

I make 1 liter starters all the time from washed yeast for a typical 1.050 beer. Works out just fine for a 5 gal batch. For a high gravity beer or a 10 gal batch you would want a bigger starter tho.

1 is ok, 2 is better, 5 is best. The more yeast the better your beer will turn out.

to a point - it is possible to overpitch

Over pitching is not good so is under pitching. Want the best beer possible then you want to pitch the correct amount of yeast.

How do you determine the optimum amount of yeast cells for your particular batch of beer? How do you know how many yeast cells there are in a starter of a particular size?

I hear people say you need a 2, 3, or 5 L yeast starter. Is this a yeast starter of 1.030 OG or 1.060 OG? Doesn't the sugar concentration as well as the volumetric size of the sample impact the number of yeast cells? Thanks!

Ben

Ben,

Try this calculator out it has made starters much easier for me to understand.

http://www.mrmalty.com/calc/calc.html

Cheers...

Mick