First Starter - Do I need to Step Up?

I've read a lot on this form about yeast starters, beginning with this tutorial. I'm a little confused about when you need to step up and when you can just do a simple starter.

I plan to brew a 5g batch with OG 1.066. Per Mrmalty and yeastcalc.com I need about 229 billion yeast cells. MrMalty shows approximately 1.5 L of starter needed. Yeastcalc.com appears to default with 1.5L for the first step - yielding 225 byc, which is close to the target.

So...can I get away with a single 1.5L starter? Or, best to step it up with 800mL to 1.6L (per the tutorial)? I understand why you don't want to start with too large a volume of wort - but yeastcalc seems to default to a 1.5L starter, so I'm confused.

A single-step 1.5L starter should be fine.

I will also be making my first starter on my next batch OG of 1.064. I only have a 1 ltr flask so I was thinking of doing 750ml, decant the fluids and step it with another 750ml.
Am I thinking right there?
Edit: I just realized I don't know how much dme to use each time.....time for more research.

Do you have mason jars, or something else you can use? A one liter starter at 1.035 will support 100 billion cells, but there is not going to be much growth. I would split the yeast between four 1 quart jars each filled 3/4 of the way to produce about 300 billion cells.

For creating starters it is recommended to use a 10:1 ratio of DME to water so that translates into 100 grams of DME to 1L of water. You add the DME to the vessel and then add the water up to the desired level so for this example you would add up to the 1L mark or 1000ml, boil for 10 minutes, cool and pitch yeast.

By using this ratio you will achieve a 1.035-1.040 gravity. If you require a step, then you cold crash for 18-24 hours, decant the liquid. BOil up what is required for the next step, cool and add directly to the original vessel.

I prefer using yeastcalc as it allows for stepped starters.

So, is 1.5L the cutoff? If you need more than 1.5L step it up?

slcdawg said:

So, is 1.5L the cutoff? If you need more than 1.5L step it up?

Click to expand...

No, yeast calc will let you change the size, just delete and change the amount in the box, you can start with a 2L if you want

I am asking what is the recommended method. I've read the negatives of to big a starter without stepping it up. At what volume sites it make sense to step it up?
I.e. yeast calc will let me input 5gal with plenty of cells.

slcdawg said:

I am asking what is the recommended method. I've read the negatives of to big a starter without stepping it up. At what volume sites it make sense to step it up?
I.e. yeast calc will let me input 5gal with plenty of cells.

Click to expand...

Not sure I get your question....
If you calculate he proper size of the starter with or without steps and use the proper amount of DME, fresh yeast, stir, shake, allow O2 in you will grow a nice healthy colony of yeast cells ready to go to work.

Some beers will need 1l and some lagers require 3-5L, just depends

Maybe I'm misunderstanding....or maybe there are multiple opinions on when to step up. These threads thread1 and thread2 suggest not to pitch the yeast directly to a large starter as it can stress the yeast and make it more succeptible to a bacterial infection. They encourage stepping up to get your needed yeast cell count.

I guess I'm looking for a general rule to follow - a threshhold. That if the yeast calculations (mrmalty or yeastcalc) say you need less than X volume of wort in the starter then a simple 1 stage starter is fine. But if you need more than that, a 2 or 3 stage starter is needed.

My question is what is X? Or, at what OG do you need to step it up?

I think 2L is about the limit, but there's not really a line in the sand. It's hard to put a number because it's not that it suddenly stops working when you cross a threshold, it just becomes less effective.

Old rules of thumb were far lower, with pint-sized starters at low gravity. Modern brewing yeasts are far superior to the old ones, so 1-2 L of 1.040 wort is not too stressful. I think the limiting factor is really going to be the growth factor. Try as you might, it's going to be hard to get much past 2.

OG is kind of a separate game. I don't think there's a huge benefit to increasing, because I don't think it's sugar supply that limits yeast growth so much as oxygen and other nutrients. Certainly at higher OG, you start to produce a ton of alcohol which creates a toxic environment for the yeast. So I would really stick to 1.035-1.040 and just play with volumes.

slcdawg said:

I've read a lot on this form about yeast starters, beginning with this tutorial. I'm a little confused about when you need to step up and when you can just do a simple starter.

I plan to brew a 5g batch with OG 1.066. Per Mrmalty and yeastcalc.com I need about 229 billion yeast cells. MrMalty shows approximately 1.5 L of starter needed. Yeastcalc.com appears to default with 1.5L for the first step - yielding 225 byc, which is close to the target.

So...can I get away with a single 1.5L starter? Or, best to step it up with 800mL to 1.6L (per the tutorial)? I understand why you don't want to start with too large a volume of wort - but yeastcalc seems to default to a 1.5L starter, so I'm confused.

Click to expand...

Step it if you can't reach pitching rate with one step.
In your case one step- 1.5L is enough, just watch for sanitation.

When to step up, or what starter is too small, might be easier to figure out if you think of it in terms of inoculation rates. If you have very little yeast in a large volume, there is more bacteria for the yeast to compete with. Conversely, if you have lots of yeast in a small space, the yeast will consume all of the sugar before it really has a chance to do much dividing.

So instead of adding all your 100 billion cells of yeast to one 750ml starter you might consider making two starters with 50 billion cells in each.

The lowest inoculation rate, or largest starter I would recommend would be using the same rate as pitching for beer. That's about 10 billion per liter, which is 100 billion in 10 liters (2.5 gallons) Keep in mind however, that this will likely have a two or three day lag compared to the typical 24 hour fermentation time you may be used to.

Thanks for the feedback everyone. To clarify: The beer I'm brewing will have an OG of 1.066. The wort for the starter will be between 1.030 and 1.040.

Its a little confusing - because using yeastcalc, I can get to the yeast count from a single step or two step starter - but the second step really ups the cell count! Think I will try a single step for this one.

Thanks again!