Stupid question about yeast starter

Okay...so there's no such thing as a stupid question, right?

When making a yeast starter (I generally use wyeast), what should I be adding to my wort when I pitch the yeast?

Should I add:

-the converted wort as well as the yeast bed at the bottom?
-the yest bed with just enough wort to make a pourable slurry?
-only the converted wort?
-only the yeast bed?


I'm confused how people can pitch huge starters (up to one gallon) without affecting the nature of their brew when it struck me, maybe I shouldn't be adding all the liquid.

So how far off am I?

For the record, I haven't had any major yeast issues, just trying to figure things out.

Thanks.

The info you are looking for is here in wiki

Swirl it all up and pitch the whole thing.

There is a ton of yeast suspended in the liquid, and obviously the yeast cake is the “treasure” you were striving for.

I vote for "it depends".

For a huge starter, I'll cold-crash to get as much yeast to drop as I can, then decant much of the liquid off. Why add more over-oxygenated, non-hopped beer to my wort than I need to? Swirl the rest up to get all the cake into suspension and pitch.

For a smaller starter, just swirl.

For the former, the yeast is usually done fermenting the starter beer, while for the latter, most people will pitch while it's still actively fermenting the starter. Therefore, you wouldn't want to cold-crash and make the yeast stop working again. Make a big starter a few days in advance, a small starter the day before.

the_bird said:

I vote for "it depends".

For a huge starter, I'll cold-crash to get as much least to drop as I can, then decant much of the liquid off. Why add more over-oxygenated, non-hopped beer to my wort than I need to? Swirl the rest up to get all the cake into suspension and pitch.

For a smaller starter, just swirl.

For the former, the yeast is usually done fermenting the starter beer, while for the latter, most people will pitch while it's still actively fermenting the starter. Therefore, you wouldn't want to cold-crash and make the yeast stop working again. Make a big starter a few days in advance, a small starter the day before.

Click to expand...

Damn, Bird you beat me to it!!!! Pretty much what I was going to say. I don't like to pitch the whole thing, but if it's still busy making more yeasties, then I will pitch the whole thing.

I'm with Bernie and the Bird on this one.

Dr Malt

The wiki is a good resource. Also, I like MrMalty.com. It's a great resource for a lot of things, including starters.

Dr Malt said:

I'm with Bernie and the Bird on this one.

Dr Malt

Click to expand...

Me, too. I you can read this, you need to go have another homebrew!