Last night I just began the first step of making a starter for the high gravity brew I plan on making this weekend. I plan on doing what amounts to a 3L starter with three steps of 1L each just to keep things simple. The question is should I decant after each step or should I only decant after the last step? Or, does it really even matter?
About starters and decanting
- Thread starter GLWIII
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Decanting between steps is a way to build the colony without having to pitch 3 liters of wort. The trouble is that it's a longer process and a pain in the butt. You want to ferment each step out, then let it settle overnight so that the yeast settles to the bottom. Decant, add more wort.
However, you don't want to keep adding only 1 liter. If you start with 1 liter and decan't, you'll probably have about .25 liters of yeast slurry. You'll want to add about 1.75 liters of wort to that. Honestly, that's about as far as I'd go for an Ale. Once you have a .5 liter of dense slurry, it's not going to grow much more in 2 liters of wort.
However, you don't want to keep adding only 1 liter. If you start with 1 liter and decan't, you'll probably have about .25 liters of yeast slurry. You'll want to add about 1.75 liters of wort to that. Honestly, that's about as far as I'd go for an Ale. Once you have a .5 liter of dense slurry, it's not going to grow much more in 2 liters of wort.
how big is your flask / container?
I think somewhere around 1/2 gallon. It definitely won't hold three liters.
